I volunteered with Congo Initiative for a year teaching courses within the social sciences and assisting UCBC's administration with curriculum development. In addition, Congo Initiative has given me the opportunity to continue working with them, this time from both Congo and the US. The differences to Congo Initiative and UCBC in Congo from just one year to the next were profound. The quality of the students, academic buildings, student resources, and teaching had risen so much, and I felt more than ever that this was a university.

This encompasses how I see Congo Initiative and UCBC. It is a young organization and university, and change is happening very rapidly in large part to the desire of the Congolese students to learn. In the Congolese context, which is also changing rapidly, I am very excited to know that more and more UCBC students will be seeking the same changes they went through but in the whole of DRC. Watching Congolese students decide how to reconstruct their home continues to be formative of how I learn and work in the US and Congo.