1 post tagged “global health”
Hi everyone!
Thanks so much for checking out my blog. I'm been traveling around Western Europe since May 28th staying with friends in Paris, then doing a Eurail/hostel trip with my friend from high school Kate (Amsterdam, Brugge, and Luxembourg), and now I'm in Strasbourg (a French city on the border of Germany) staying with our family friends Agnes and Anna Polonyi. It's been an absolutely amazing time, but I can't believe the next phase of this summer is coming so soon - on Thursday I'm going to Rwanda!
In case you haven't head about what I'll be doing in Rwanda, I'll explain now...if you've already heard, you can ignore this paragraph :)
My friend from Duke Jessica Green and I are going to three cities in Rwanda where ZOE Ministry has been active since 2004 - Kigali, Gitarama, and Butare. ZOE has been assisting the youth in Rwanda as they work to rebuild their lives and develop independence after loosing their parents in the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. Some of their parents were murdered while others died later as a result of events that took place in 1994, such as the spread of HIV/AIDS through rape. A million people were killed in this country about the size of Connecticut, so it really impacted every aspect of life in Rwanda. ZOE is trying to empower orphans so that they can live on their own. Their project was envisioned and made possible by the executive director of ZOE Ministry Reverend Greg Jenks and an incredible Rwandan woman named Epiphanie, with whom we will be working closely. ZOE teaches orphans essential life skills such as cooking, maintaining good hygiene, sexual education, and methods of obtaining a salary (farming, sewing, etc). Their methodology is entitled "Giving Hope" and is explained in fuller detail on ZOE's website: www.zoeministry.org. When the programs began in 2007, hundreds of orphans filled out a survey about their lifestyle, family life, and financial situation at that time. Now, ZOE wants to find out how much of an impact their programs have had on the orphans' lives. Jessica and I are going to research ZOE's activities by way of surveys, interviews, observation, and interaction. We are staying for about 5 weeks in Rwanda and will leave August 2nd, by which point we expect to have enough data to write a thorough report. ZOE will use this report as a self-evaluation and a way to let potential donors know what about their activities so hopefully ZOE can expand its programs and continue to touch the lives of many more communities in Rwanda.
Feel free to email me if you have any questions about ZOE, Rwanda, or anything like that. I also want to add that this internship would not have been possible without the generous support Jessica and I received from the Duke Global Health Institute, the Stay in Focus Grant, and from our friends and family.
So over the course of those five weeks, I'll be keeping this online blog. I will try to update it as frequently as possible and I'll add some pictures too when I get a chance.
I'm still figuring out how to use this blog so hopefully this posting will work! Thanks again for reading!
