Volunteer Advisory Committee
By Katie Hall
"You mean we're going to be in a meeting for 8 hours?"
When I first learned the full details of my new obligation being a member of VAC, or the Volunteer Advisory Committee, I was in shock. For those of you that know me well, you know I love meetings and having the opportunity to delegate
random tasks, but 8 hours seemed a little excessive. After serving as the VAC chairperson for the past 10 months, I can honestly say that 8 hours a meeting seems like too short and the day always flies by in a whirlwind.
When Mary came to Rwanda as our CD she saw the need of starting a VAC as a forum for volunteers to have direct access to senior staff and vice versa. After setting up an interim VAC for about 6 months, the real thing came into fruition. I was honestly a little nervous about serving as a VAC member and making sure that it was actually something worthwhile, not just an excuse to come to Mary‘s house. With my service on VAC almost finished, I can honestly say that it has been one of the best experiences of my PC service.
Many people often ask me, "So, what exactly do you do?" It sounds like a silly answer, but we just talk. VAC meetings provide the time to directly ask questions that we want answers to, such as do Rwandan holidays count as days of our annual leave on leave requests? Answer: no! If a Rwandan holiday falls during your leave request, you do not have to count it, it‘s a freebie! We basically spend the first half of the meeting hashing out nitpicky logistical questions that people have, and then we move onto senior staff visits and the fun part. At each of our VAC meetings we‘ve had another senior staff member come to ask them specific ques-tions, like can we somehow use a flash drive at the IRC? Answer: Yes, if you can give the flash to Jacques when he‘s at the office and if he has time to check it for viruses and he checks that it‘s clean, you
can use it in the IRC. Then, the fun gets going.
Usually at our meetings we also have a larger question to talk about that is more of a theoretical discussion for the post as a whole so that the staff can see the volunteers‘ perspective. For example, we‘ve had Gloriosa come and talk about genocide discussions at all different trainings (PST, IST, MSC, COS) and what we‘d like to see happen in the future. From this discussion the idea of the video project immerged, where we can start to document our own experiences to share with future PCVs. Other topics we‘ve discussed are the general atmosphere at training and sending a consistent message to the PCTs as discrepancies in group attitudes are far and wide as we all know.
It‘s during these real discussions that I think VAC ac-complishes something and honestly just has fun. We usually crack open a beer at this point and just let the conversation flow. Some interesting insights have come out that I think have greatly strengthened the relationships between the PCVs and the staff and how we all see the future of the post in Rwanda as a whole. Topics such as integration in a post-genocide country, dealing with PTSD, overcoming the initial hesitancy of our Rwandan community members treating us as a whole member of the community, are all discussion topics that we‘ve had the opportunity to share and discuss with staff as a VAC.
As you‘re reading this I‘m sure you‘re wondering, why do I care about what exactly VAC does? Answer: Elections for the next year are coming up soon! Now with the departure of our wonderful and incredibly supportive Country Director, the future of VAC is a little up in the air, but we‘re all fairly confident that the new CD, Steve Miller, will be keeping the VAC alive as well. If you are interested in serving on the VAC please talk to your current VAC representative for more information and thoughts. To serve you need to be at site for at least 6 months (which will be everyone come July) and final approval to serve is subject to approval of the CD, so know that even if you‘re voted in by your region, there is a chance that you could not be approved. Serving on the VAC has been a truly eye opening experience. It gives you an op-portunity to see
Peace Corps Rwanda, not just your village, and to see that the staff really does have a rhyme and reason for everything that they do.
As we transition into some new leadership in our post, having a VAC will be more important than ever. It obviously serves as direct access to volunteers across program and geo-graphical lines. Serving on the VAC has been a lot of fun, but not going lie, it does come with some real work at times. If you‘re interested in serving as the next VAC rep in your re-gion please start the discussion with your current representa-tive now. Each region handles elections a little differently, and it never hurts to be informed early.
random tasks, but 8 hours seemed a little excessive. After serving as the VAC chairperson for the past 10 months, I can honestly say that 8 hours a meeting seems like too short and the day always flies by in a whirlwind.
When Mary came to Rwanda as our CD she saw the need of starting a VAC as a forum for volunteers to have direct access to senior staff and vice versa. After setting up an interim VAC for about 6 months, the real thing came into fruition. I was honestly a little nervous about serving as a VAC member and making sure that it was actually something worthwhile, not just an excuse to come to Mary‘s house. With my service on VAC almost finished, I can honestly say that it has been one of the best experiences of my PC service.
Many people often ask me, "So, what exactly do you do?" It sounds like a silly answer, but we just talk. VAC meetings provide the time to directly ask questions that we want answers to, such as do Rwandan holidays count as days of our annual leave on leave requests? Answer: no! If a Rwandan holiday falls during your leave request, you do not have to count it, it‘s a freebie! We basically spend the first half of the meeting hashing out nitpicky logistical questions that people have, and then we move onto senior staff visits and the fun part. At each of our VAC meetings we‘ve had another senior staff member come to ask them specific ques-tions, like can we somehow use a flash drive at the IRC? Answer: Yes, if you can give the flash to Jacques when he‘s at the office and if he has time to check it for viruses and he checks that it‘s clean, you
can use it in the IRC. Then, the fun gets going.
Usually at our meetings we also have a larger question to talk about that is more of a theoretical discussion for the post as a whole so that the staff can see the volunteers‘ perspective. For example, we‘ve had Gloriosa come and talk about genocide discussions at all different trainings (PST, IST, MSC, COS) and what we‘d like to see happen in the future. From this discussion the idea of the video project immerged, where we can start to document our own experiences to share with future PCVs. Other topics we‘ve discussed are the general atmosphere at training and sending a consistent message to the PCTs as discrepancies in group attitudes are far and wide as we all know.
It‘s during these real discussions that I think VAC ac-complishes something and honestly just has fun. We usually crack open a beer at this point and just let the conversation flow. Some interesting insights have come out that I think have greatly strengthened the relationships between the PCVs and the staff and how we all see the future of the post in Rwanda as a whole. Topics such as integration in a post-genocide country, dealing with PTSD, overcoming the initial hesitancy of our Rwandan community members treating us as a whole member of the community, are all discussion topics that we‘ve had the opportunity to share and discuss with staff as a VAC.
As you‘re reading this I‘m sure you‘re wondering, why do I care about what exactly VAC does? Answer: Elections for the next year are coming up soon! Now with the departure of our wonderful and incredibly supportive Country Director, the future of VAC is a little up in the air, but we‘re all fairly confident that the new CD, Steve Miller, will be keeping the VAC alive as well. If you are interested in serving on the VAC please talk to your current VAC representative for more information and thoughts. To serve you need to be at site for at least 6 months (which will be everyone come July) and final approval to serve is subject to approval of the CD, so know that even if you‘re voted in by your region, there is a chance that you could not be approved. Serving on the VAC has been a truly eye opening experience. It gives you an op-portunity to see
Peace Corps Rwanda, not just your village, and to see that the staff really does have a rhyme and reason for everything that they do.
As we transition into some new leadership in our post, having a VAC will be more important than ever. It obviously serves as direct access to volunteers across program and geo-graphical lines. Serving on the VAC has been a lot of fun, but not going lie, it does come with some real work at times. If you‘re interested in serving as the next VAC rep in your re-gion please start the discussion with your current representa-tive now. Each region handles elections a little differently, and it never hurts to be informed early.