'06 Alum Visits TheWorld.org Class

Caitlin Clements ’06 visited Ken Clark’s TheWorld.org senior elective class today to speak about her experience working in Kigali, Rwanda. Her interest in Rwanda was initially sparked when she took Mr. Clark’s Genocide class as a senior at Hawken. While a student at Yale University, she joined the advocacy group STAND, through which she encountered Gretchen Wallace, producer of the documentary film “The Devil Came on Horseback,” who went on to form a non-profit organization in Rwanda. During her senior year at Yale, Caitlin contacted Ms. Sundberg about working for her organization and, after securing fellowships and grants to help support her mission, has joined the staff of the Rwanda-based organization that supports social entrepreneurship for women.

Caitlin shared photos, videos, and stories relating to Rwandan culture and politics, gender and social issues, Rwandan tourism, and her work at Global Grassroots, where she helps train women in developing a mission statement, managing budgets and financial statements, and utilizing grant money for starting their own non-profits.

As Caitlin prepares to return to Rwanda to complete her work there, she remains cautiously optimistic about Rwanda’s future, though she acknowledges that the election six years hence presents some cause for concern. After encouraging TheWorld.org students to pursue a passion during a gap year if they have any inclination to do so, she leaves them with this thought: “If the Rwandan people can make a difference with so little resource, imagine what a difference each of us can make given our resources.”