Prologue: R-what-nda?
When I first told people I was moving to Rwanda, I heard one of three things:
- Africa isn’t safe. Wasn’t there a genocide in Rwanda?
- Rwanda has gorillas.
- Rwanda… where’s that?
Unsure how to respond to those statements, I left for the very safe country of Rwanda, located in East Africa, which, yes, does have gorillas. Upon leaving, I thought that my time there would be a standalone, 27-month chapter in my life. Little did I realize that Rwanda would weave its way into every stage of my life after service.
Chapter 1: The first 27 months
I was a Peace Corps education volunteer in the northwestern province of Rwanda from 2017 to 2019. I taught English to both primary and secondary students. Instructing in the Rwandan classroom sparked my passion for educational equity and my love of teaching. One of my favorite students was Oda Serge. Serge had a high-pitched voice that was constantly filled with excitement and eagerness to learn; he was very intelligent and talkative (in a good but sometimes class-disrupting way). Beyond helping me translate directions into Kinyarwanda, Rwanda’s native language, Serge was also a co-facilitator at a Peace Corps GLOBE camp, which taught students about goal setting, healthy living, refusal skills (for girls), and positive masculinity (for boys).
Photo courtesy of Cassie Barrett
Serge also helped lead our after-school digital and information literacy club. Our school was a pilot school for SolarSPELL, a global education initiative by Arizona State University. SolarSPELL creates offline, solar-powered, digital libraries filled with locally relevant educational resources like storybooks in Kinyarwanda and English. The offline version of Wikipedia, Wiki For Schools, was very popular, allowing students to search for animals and famous soccer players. Serge took the lead on showing students how to find the Wikipedia page for Lionel Messi.
Chapter 2: A piece of peace and justice
After closing out my service in Rwanda, I was able to afford grad school thanks to the Coverdell Fellowship, which offers tuition assistance to Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who want to pursue a graduate degree. My time in Rwanda had helped me further recognize the importance of conflict resolution, justice and equity. Whilst exploring Coverdell-affiliated programs, I applied and was accepted to the Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego to pursue a degree in Peace and Justice. Through this program, I deepened my understanding of restorative justice, conflict resolution and global peacebuilding.
One of the highlights of my program was a two-week practicum in Rwanda where we delved into the history of the genocide and the growth of Rwanda to be the innovative, safe country that it is today. Naturally, I extended my stay there to visit my former school, counterparts, neighbors and lifelong friends that I made during my service.
Image courtesy of Cassie Barrett
Chapter 3: Empowering learners globally
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine finding a job that would allow me to perfectly combine my teaching experience in Rwanda with the equity component of my graduate school program. Remember that after-school SolarSPELL club that Serge helped me to facilitate during my Peace Corps service? Well, that is where I now work! I am the student engagement coordinator for the ASU SolarSPELL Initiative. We are a global strategic partner with the Peace Corps and are working in 15 countries to provide access to localized educational materials combined with training on how to use the libraries and practice digital and information literacy.
Photo by Rachel Nova / SolarSPELL
In January 2024, the SolarSPELL team and I returned to Rwanda to implement our conservation agriculture library in partnership with B2R Farms. I dusted off my Kinyarwanda while collaborating with Rwandans to make sure farmers have access to hundreds of resources that support their crop yield and farming practices whether or not they can afford data. Of course, I visited my village, and I reunited with Oda Serge, who is now even taller than I am!!
Photos courtesy of Cassie Barrett
Epilogue: Far from the eyes but not far from the heart
In Rwanda, there is a saying: “kure yamaso sikure y’umutima”, which means “far from the eyes but not far from the heart”. I began each chapter of my life without knowing how it would shape the next. However, I am confident that I would not be where I am today if I had not joined the Peace Corps. That beautiful, safe, gorilla-filled country in East Africa will forever be in my heart and shaped the trajectory of my life. I am very excited to see the upcoming chapters that will ensue. For anyone considering the Peace Corps, know that your service may be just the beginning of a lifelong journey. I thought I was signing up for 27 months — turns out, Rwanda was signing up to be part of my life forever.
The ASU SolarSPELL Initiative empowers offline communities globally by providing localized libraries and building the 21st century skills that people need to make informed decisions, increase their self-reliance and improve their quality of life. SolarSPELL is a global strategic partner of the U.S. Peace Corps and has equipped more than 500 Peace Corps Volunteers and local counterparts with offline digital libraries in nine countries since 2015. This piece was published in celebration of Peace Corps Week 2025.
