By Manzi Eric

Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has launched a World Friends Korea (WFK) program that had been suspended for more than a year due to COVID-19 pandemic. Five volunteers arrived in Rwanda last week December 22, 2021 at the Kigali International Airport.

The five volunteers who will be assigned to different institutions in Kigali where they will share their experience at each institution for a year, involve one volunteer in charge of Youth Development at Club Rafiki, the second for Nursing at Kabuga Yego Center, the third for Social welfare at ACDS, La fraternite, the fourth for Early childhood education at Sana Academy, and the fifth for Music Education at St. Jacob School.

To be familiar with the Rwanda community and working environment, the volunteers will receive eight weeks of in-country training to help them adapt to Rwandan society, culture, tradition as well as Kinyarwanda.

Furthermore, KOICA has been supporting five remote volunteers since December 16, 2021, who have been providing Rwandan partners with real-time lectures, lecture material production and consultation through online activities. They are volunteering in the fields of Textiles and Clothing, Social Welfare, and Primary Education at Nyamirambo Women's Center, Kabuga Yego Center, ACDS La Fraternite, and others in the country.

Starting with the opening of the volunteer program office in 2006, KOICA Rwanda Office dispatches volunteers every year to share expertise and experiences in support of Rwanda's economic and social growth and to strengthen the mutual understanding between the government of Rwanda and the Republic of South Korea.

So far a total of 410 volunteers have been active in Rwanda since the volunteer program begun in 2006, and more will continue to be dispatched in the future to promote friendly and cooperative relationship and mutual exchanges between Korea and Rwanda