Justin lives in Kigali, Rwanda. He graduated from the former National University of Rwanda (current University of Rwanda) with a Bachelor’s degree in English in 2011. Justin has extensive experience in cross-cultural communication and training.
He worked with Peace Corps in 2012 as a language and cross-culture facilitator. From 2013 to 2014, he worked as an academic program officer with a study abroad program in Rwanda. From 2014 to 2016, Justin was the training lead with One Acre Fund while hosting Kivu Gap Year students in Kigali, Rwanda. He is very passionate about helping young people reach their full potential through mentoring, training and shared life experience.
What is your favorite travel memory?
My favorite travel memory was in April 2017 when I took Kivu Gap Year students to Queen Elisabeth National Park in Uganda. We got a flat tire while driving through the park, got lost in the park two times, and drove two hours in the dark in the middle of the park without a tour guide. We almost hit an elephant and we were both excited but also very afraid. We slept in the park and hypos grazed around the hostel all through the night.
How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?
Managing a team of teenagers from a different culture was not something I thought I could do. But over the last three years, I have grown into an understanding and servant leader. I enjoy being a cultural bridge between our students and the hosting community (Rwandan host families, peers, and internships).
What is the best story you've heard from a return student?
This is the best story I have heard from one of our return students.
"Everyone I had known that traveled to Africa did so to give it something or to spread something or build something or fix something. As I spent time there, I began to wonder if Africa was tired of people trying to give it everything when those people had so much to receive from it. I wondered how helpful it truly was to have outsiders impose on their matters and take the role of superhero. I wondered if this made Africans feel more incompetent than helped, if perhaps it hurt more than it helped.
In these wonderings, I quickly accepted that I did not have much to give Rwanda and that had so much to give me. My beautiful host family gave me a sense of unconditional, cross-cultural love that I will never fully be able to articulate the sweetness of. The scenery and slowness of it all gave me the space to find peace and solitude. The genocide gave me an understanding of radical reconciliation and how tragedy shapes culture. The vast differences in our cultures gave me a sense of the beautiful diversity of humanity but also the inherent commonality of it.
More than anything, Rwanda gave me the chance to take ownership of the things I felt I had become all year and simply be them. It was a time of being a woman and taking pride in that, it was being an admirer of beauty, it was being confident in my capabilities to explore and navigate on my own, it was being present in the stillness, it was being one with others, it was being freely myself in sweet community, it was being an advocate for others, it was, more than anything, being a girl who can do hard, daunting things.
In Rwanda, I had a great sense of accomplishment. Despite the challenges and anxieties of the year, Rwanda showed me that I did it and I am doing it and I can do it. For this, I am so grateful. I hope someday I can give back to Rwanda all it gave me and to use what it gave me to fight the good fight in the world."
If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?
I would choose the Middle East (Jordan and Israel) program. I would want to learn and explore the middle eastern culture and learn about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?
Our company is unique in a sense that it has a small but multicultural team. This helps us understand the world much better. I was very proud of my team last July when we had a visionary meeting and it was such an insightful time as people presented their regional programs which of course were different in the format but all giving the same experience.
What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?
I believe the biggest factor in becoming a successful company is to have a committed and skilled team that has a strong belief in the company mission, vision, and values.
