Guinea is a former French colony and many people speak French, but I also learned some Pulaar, their mother tongue.
The deep questions that I started asking in Guinea led me to pursue a Master’s degree in International Education and Development in England. There I focused my learning on how education policies are created alongside classmates from around the world. My professional dreams continued shifting, and while I no longer had dreams about working for the UN, I thought that I might like to work as a policy advisor for a government or a big international organization.
Just as I was finishing writing up my Master’s program in the summer of 2008, I got an unexpected call from an American company that I had applied to two years earlier asking if I was interested and available to lead a group of American high school students on a fall gap year program in West Africa. I was thrilled with the opportunity to go back to Guinea and Senegal (Guinea’s neighboring country) so I agreed, and I flew back to the African continent just three days after I submitted my Master’s thesis. That fall, I worked alongside two exceptional colleagues and eight fantastic students, and again, I felt my focus and priorities shifting. My students’ exceptional bravery and curiosity facilitated my ongoing learning about a place that I loved, and my colleagues gently nudged me toward goals more oriented around developing my values, rather than seeking status in my work.
After the gap semester program finished, I returned to the United States to find more stable work. I got an office job in Washington, DC working for a company that works on U.S. government contracts.
