Episode 15 - Katie Waldo (RPCV Rwanda)

In this episode, we are joined by Katie Waldo, an RPCV who served in Rwanda as a Maternal and Child Health volunteer from 2018 to 2020.Katie arrived with a plan to implement Rwanda's critical 'first 1000 days program,' leveraging her expertise as both a food scientist and a postpartum doula focused on the needs of the mother. But her most important project began when she had to abandon her Peace Corps mandate—building 787 kitchen gardens—to instead figure out what her community truly needed, rebuilding relationships along the way. Tune in to hear how Katie navigated the complexities of project misalignment, the isolating reality of being a queer volunteer in the field, and the dramatic, inside perspective of the evacuation during 2020, relying on the strength of the Peace Corps queer community to get home.------A recording with a transcript of this episode is available via Apple Podcasts and Spotify. If you enjoy this LGBTQI+ RPCV content please consider joining our growing community at ⁠www.lgbtqirpcv.org⁠. If you have questions about our community please contact us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.All opinions presented in this podcast are those of the individual and do not represent official positions or statements by the US Peace Corps, the National Peace Corps Association, or any other affiliated organizations.