Kent to Kigali: An Interview with our Team Leader

This week I was inspired to write a blog about our Team Leader – Felicity Martin-Daly. She is the youngest woman to lead a cohort in the history of ICS and it seems quite fitting that she was placed in Rwanda, a country that leads the world in female representation in Parliament.

I sat down with Felicity to ask her about her ICS journey so far.

Felicity and her counterpart Fred

Hey Fliss! Let’s gets started. So, what was it like arriving in Rwanda for the first time?

Scary! I travelled from the UK on my own and arrived at Kigali airport at 2am feeling exhausted and disorientated. It was strange arriving in a new place in the dark too, I didn’t really know where I was until I woke up the next morning to see the rolling green hills of Rwanda. I thought I would experience culture shock, but I felt comfortable very quickly. My counterpart helped me understand some basic Kinyarwanda and taught me about Rwandan food and culture.

You mentioned meeting your counterpart. Tell us about your first impressions of him.

He’s so tall! When I first met Fred I knew we would get along because he instantly made me laugh; we joke a lot and I tease him all the time.  In my first week, Fred was really considerate of me; he realised that I might be feeling culture shock and that things like public transport might be a new experience for me. He also helped me to be comfortable in my host home by explaining Rwandan traditions and what my host family would expect of me.

It must be hard living with a new family, especially since you don’t live with your counterpart, how have you adapted?

I’ve loved the host home experience. Although it was difficult at first because I didn’t have my counterpart at home to help me, I quickly got to grips with living in a Rwandan family. I was really lucky to get placed in a host family who speak both English and French, but we mainly speak in French. I had to adapt to the food; in Rwanda people eat a lot and my host mum expects me to eat much more than I typically would at home. Eventually I had to have a conversation with her and be honest that I couldn’t manage to eat her portions! I’ve also had to adapt to cold showers – my host family are always happy to heat water for me when I want it but I don’t like to add to the housework. Washing my clothes by hand was also a totally new experience; at first I had no idea how to do it and it was a bit of a chore every Sunday. But after all this time, I’ve started to find it quite therapeutic.

Felicity helping street child Jean-Claude with his writing skills

Ok, now let’s get into the nitty gritty of being a Team Leader. How did you find meeting your first cohort?

It was quite a strange experience to be honest. The first cohort arrived early in the morning, so we briefly said ‘hello’ and they went straight to bed to recover from their flight. It was also strange that they already knew each other from pre-placement training and had formed friendships, so I had to make an effort to engage with all the volunteers and form my own relationships with them. I enjoyed training with them and we quickly formed a strong bond. It was exciting to pair them up with counterparts and I really enjoyed bringing them to Huye and introducing them to their host families.

What did you learn from the first cohort and has it changed how you lead our cohort?

I learnt so much from my first team. We experienced all the challenges of ICS together and went through so much as a team, I’ll never forget them. They taught me a lot about my leadership style and through their advice and constructive criticism I think I’ve adapted a lot. In the first cohort I think I was probably trying to be too authoritative; it’s very hard to lead a team of people who are your own age and who you spend all your time with (during work and during social hours). So I felt that I needed to impose myself at work to distinguish work from our free time. But my team showed me that it was unnecessary and that I should be myself. This has influenced how I treat the second cohort a lot; I think I am a lot more relaxed as a Team Leader but I think this also partly comes from the confidence of having already led one cohort. In the first cohort I was still figuring everything out. The first cohort also taught me a lot about supporting my volunteers; although our three months together were relatively drama-free, I still had to ensure the wellbeing of certain members of the team. Having that experience has made it much easier to support this team, and I feel that now I am able to spot the signs of volunteers beginning to have problems and I can help them before their problems become more serious.

Felicity and volunteer Gianne helping to build a kitchen garden

 That’s really insightful, I think I can speak for the rest of the team and say you’re a great team leader! You mentioned the challenges of ICS, what would you say have been the main challenges of your ICS experience?

I think the challenges of Rwanda and LUTI specifically are quite different to any other ICS country or project. Rather than culture shock or the climate, the main challenges for me personally have been adapting to a culture where people are quite private and tend not to say what they think. I think it has been a big adjustment for all the UKVs and it has been the cause of our team disagreements. Professionally, the biggest challenges have been working with a wide range of beneficiaries and working with our project partner. LUTI has not always been the easiest partner to work with and our professional relationship is not the smoothest. Meanwhile, LUTI has a wide range of beneficiaries with complex needs; it has been challenging because our teams do not always have all the expertise that we need, also our beneficiaries’ needs are often far beyond the team’s capacity and budget. Although I’m extremely proud of everything that has been achieved by both my teams, I know that there is still a long way to go for many of our beneficiaries and there won’t be any more ICS volunteers to help them.

Felicity with some of the street children during a sports session

You’ve spent almost 6 months in Rwanda, what will you take away from this experience and how do you think it will impact the rest of your life?

As much as I am looking forward to going home, I know I’m going to miss Rwanda immensely. I’ve learned so much about myself, including my own resilience and strength, but I’ve learned much more about leadership. Apart from all the new skills I have acquired, I’ll be going home with a newfound confidence in myself and my abilities and the knowledge that I want to work in international development and the charity sector in the future. Over the course of the last few months I have made so many new friends within my teams, in our community and amongst our beneficiaries. Although I know I’ll be sad to leave Rwanda next month, I hope that the relationships I have formed and the things I have learned here will stay with me forever.

We’ll be sad to say goodbye to you!  Our experience would not have been the same without your encouragement, passion for the beneficiaries and positivity. Thank you for taking the time to share your journey with us, you’ve certainly inspired me.

By Melissa Lindsay

Edited by Naomi Bodo

Pictures by Gianne Pineda