Staff Spotlight: Alex
Alex enjoying coffee in Kigali with Benie
Alexandre Marara joined US Together in March 2020 as our Program Coordinator in Rwanda. He had previously served as a guide to the tourists from US Together who visited Rwanda back in 2019. With a smile, he said, “I was impressed by how humble and generous they were. I was very happy when I was proposed to work for US Together in Rwanda. I immediately resigned from my job and joined US Together without hesitation."
He finds great joy in serving others, as he coordinates four central projects that US Together is partnering with MOUCECORE to implement. He greatly enjoys seeing the refugees and other vulnerable populations he works with receiving basic needs for their families, such as meals, shelter, clothing, health insurance, and children’s education.
His four projects are to:
Empower 40 vulnerable households as they cultivate a banana farm in Gisagara. Individuals will receive customized training and guidance on banana growing, modern farming techniques as well as business saving methods.
Promote handcrafted goods from Rwanda and facilitate their exportation to the United States
Train people who are engaged in the customer care component of the hospitality industry and assist with developing English proficiency
Coordinating the visit of US Together supporters from the United States to Rwanda
Alexandre lives in Muhanga district and works in the capital city of Kigali. He is multilingual and speaks 6 languages: English, French, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Swahili and Lingala. One of his big wishes is to travel to Columbus, and can you guess why? With a laugh he expressed to me: “I’ll go to Columbus to see Dmitriy and Nadia. They are special people I have met. I hope they travel to Rwanda very often.” US Together received it’s certificate to operate in Rwanda in August 2021.
Thank you to our Virtual Fellow, Benie, for putting together this blog post.