by Elsa Steiner So I am back in Chapel Hill. I have been in and out of town since I got back from my gap year on June 20th, the big music festival my family and I have been organizing … Read more

by Elsa Steiner Up until I went to Rwanda most of my volunteer work had been with children. I had my first experience teaching ESL to adults at the Ruhengeri Hospital. Rwanda recently changed its official language from French to … Read more

by Elsa Steiner Should we volunteer wherever we are needed, even if it isn’t something we enjoy doing, or is it okay to pick and choose what projects we want to be a part of? This was a question I … Read more

What is my role as an 18-year-old volunteer with only a high school education abroad? That is the million-dollar question I am wrestling with here in Rwanda.  Lots of articles have been written about volunteerism; the cliché of the white … Read more

Visiting the DLZ Center for Asylum Seekers was the most valuable experience I have had here, and it almost didn’t happen. When I arrived in the morning ready to spend the day with the 60 people who live in the … Read more

Last week I had one of the best days of my past two months! I had heard that the Salvation Army has a sector that works with refugees in Switzerland, but I was reluctant to call them because I have … Read more

When I last updated everyone, quite a while ago, I was heading off to Switzerland in early February, somewhat concerned about how things were going to unfold. Well, it turns out I had a right to be concerned. My service … Read more

This blog post is going to serve as my pre-departure blog for the Switzerland leg of my gap year because I am leaving in less than a week! I want to focus on my goals as well as some things … Read more