Wow – so much has happened since I began my CAPS Fellowship! I moved to Austin, TX almost two weeks ago and moved into my own apartment for the first time.  I really enjoy being in my own apartment and I love living with Nosi as my housemate! Together we have started exploring Austin and we have found there is so much to do there! Austin is a unique blend of being proudly Texan, but welcoming to all, liberal and conservative and business-oriented with laid-back, bohemian vibes. So far I have found that the city possesses lots of live music, record stores, cute coffee shops, funky art museums and a profound (and inspiring) love for tacos. Nosi and I are staying in University of Texas housing so there is quite a few shops and restaurants within walking distance of our apartment, which is really nice.

After getting settled in at Austin, I started work at Water to Thrive! Water to Thrive raises money to build wells in communities in Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania, where there is little or no access to safe, drinkable water. The organization builds wells in the central hub of communities, provides easy access for the whole community to safe water and saves women and children from spending hours in a day walking miles to collect water. As an intern, I am currently working on marketing strategies for the organization and running their social media. So far, I have created a best practices guide for social media use (as volunteers also post on their social media), created a calendar to plan posts, created goals for the marketing of the organization and started posting in hopes to grow their social media following (shameless plug: you can find/follow us @WatertoThrive on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter😊).

After being placed with Water to Thrive a while ago, I was made aware of the opportunity to travel to Ethiopia with the Executive Director, Susanne, and another intern, Kendall. Of course this was an opportunity that I knew I couldn’t let go. So, after spending one week in the Water to Thrive office in Austin and meeting all of the amazing womenwho work in the office, I left for Ethiopia! We had to fly from Austin to Washington D.C. before flying to Ethiopia and we had a free night in D.C., so Kendall and I met up with CAPS fellows Jade and Maddie! They gave us a tour of their apartment and then we went to a rooftop restaurant in the city! The next day we boarded our plane and thirteen hours later landed in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. We have now been in Ethiopia for three days and I have already learned so much about Ethiopian society, customs, food and the Amharic language! Throughout our trip we will be visiting old and new water project sites and talking to the local people about their current access to clean water. I will still be running social media as well as taking pictures and blogging about our experiences for the Water to Thrive website. We have already visited four villages, and the people have been so friendly and welcoming to us when we enter their spaces. I am so excited to continue to travel throughout Ethiopia and learn more about the effects of the global water crisis and Ethiopian culture!