My Journey

Yes. I’m aware. It has been a reallyyyyy long time since my last post. Sorry. Sooooo with that out of the way, here it is. 

Year One DONE! I’ve officially been in Rwanda for over a year. In the past year I’ve been riding the rollercoaster of intense emotions and strange experiences that make up a Peace Corps Volunteer’s service. I’ve felt extreme joy, sadness, excitement, loneliness, self-fulfillment, and most of all pride. We’re almost done with the school year, and I can’t even begin to describe how proud I am of the great strides that my students have made at school. As proud and happy I am with my students, I think I am most satisfied with the progress that my teachers are making in our trainings. I’m watching them grow into strong mentors for their colleagues thanks to their dedication to education and to some very supportive NGOs, Peace Corps Staff, and Rwanda Education Board Staff. 

Have you ever had the feeling that you really belong somewhere? Or had a sudden realization like “Wow, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.” If you haven’t ever found a passion so strong that makes all of the challenges worth it, I hope that you find it. Everyone deserves to experience this. When I was young, everyone in my family would joke and tell me that I would either be a teacher or a vet. As I grew up I always fought them and said no, I wanted to be a… marine biologist…forensic scientist… anthropologist… marine biologist… Until one day, I met a sixth grade teacher, Mr. Axelrad. I will never forget this man, and what he taught me, and the path he sent me down. To this day I don’t think he understands, or is even aware, of how massive of an impact he had on my life. Mr. A, as he was fondly called by his students, was a social studies teacher. My favorite subject. He would always tell us about the teaching he had done in Zimbabwe (or maybe it was Zambia?), and the time he spent there working with his wife. I was always fascinated by his stories, and this “community-based culture” that he would talk about. I wanted to know more, to experience it. By the end of sixth grade I had narrowed down my choices for college to either teaching in third-world countries or becoming a marine biologist. By the time I reached high school, I knew. I would be a teacher. Not a teacher like the ones I had in high school, but a teacher like those I had in elementary and middle school. A good teacher. A teacher who helped students learn. A teacher who didn’t discourage their students. A teacher who didn’t give up on their students.

In high school, I was a difficult child (to put it lightly). My teachers gave up on me, and always told me that I wouldn’t go anywhere in life. I was stupid, I was useless. What they didn’t know was how much I was going through outside of school. My abusive relationship. Substance abuse. They didn’t know, and they didn’t care to find out. Despite everything, my guidance counselor, vice principle, and principle never gave up on me. They knew I was smart. They knew I had potential. So they never gave up. They pushed me through high school until I was accepted by Keene State. There. That small state college, is where everything really began. 

I wanted to prove my high school teachers wrong. That I was a good student. That I could do it. I was motivated, taking classes I enjoyed, and living far away from a place that had only caused me pain for so many years. In college, I met so many professors who influenced the way I now view the world. They shaped my thinking. They shaped my profession. It is because of people like Mr. A, Mr. Martin, Dr. Len Fleischer, Dr. Paul Vincent, and Dr. Therese Seibert that I am now in Rwanda serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  

Now, I am that teacher that I aspired to be. I will never give up on my students, no matter what they are going through. I will always try to understand what they are going through outside of school before I judge their behavior. And most of all, I hope that I can support and inspire just one student to follow their dreams and accomplish things that they always thought were impossible. The challenges are worth it, and I feel like I have finally found my purpose. Here, as a teacher in a small, rural village in Eastern Rwanda.

This post is to thank all of the people who supported me throughout my journey to get here, and to all of those who have yet to enter my life and have a positive impact. Thank you. It is because of you that I am here, that I am happy, and that I am growing into the person I always aspired to be.