Emily Dorward packs her bags for a 27-month stay in Rwanda. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

After her 2002 Bromfield graduation, Emily Dorward may not have expected to find herself in Rwanda this June when her brother Sam graduates. But she may not have been surprised either. Dorward left Monday for Washington, D.C., to begin Peace Corps training and a two-year assignment in Rwanda, continuing a path since high school that had been shaped by her interests in health, service, travel, and challenge, with external influences along the way.

There are few countries whose mention evokes as strong reactions as does Rwanda and its horrific history of genocide in the 1990s, but Dorward appeared calm and relaxed in an interview just before she left.

“Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, is one of the safest cities in Africa,” she said, unfazed by its past reputation. Since the civil war 15 years ago, she said, “Rwanda has received much international aid and it is now very stable.”

After attending a short orientation in Washington, receiving immunizations, and meeting other new Peace Corps volunteers, Dorward planned to fly to Kigali Wednesday. After a few days in the city, she will head to Butare and begin three months of intensive training in health care skills, the Kinyarwanda language, and Rwandan cultural background. At the end of this preparation, she will be given her service assignment, most likely as a pubic health education adviser assisting local HIV/AIDS workers somewhere in Rwanda.

Looking back, Dorward traced part of her personal road to Rwanda to her interest in science, an interest in the larger world, and being “motivated to contribute, to make a difference.” She credits Bromfield teachers Steven Besold and Karen Dineen with influencing her early college direction. According to Dorward, Besold offered an international perspective that included the work of Jeffrey Sachs, a leader in combating poverty in Africa. Dineen’s psychology class sparked an interest in neuroscience that led Dorward to Trinity College in Hartford and a bachelor of science degree in the subject.

“I remember Emily as a member of a close group of friends in the Class of 2002 who were talented academically but humble and modest personally. She possessed a terrific sense of humor and a high degree of concern and compassion for others. It does not surprise me that she is making her mark on the world at such a young age,” Besold offered when told of Dorward’s current venture.

Dineen also remembered her: “Emily was the type of student who loved learning and challenged herself to delve beyond the classroom coverage.”

While studying in Hartford, Dorward volunteered at an HIV/AIDS clinic. “It opened my eyes to the enormity of needs,” she said.

Initially, Dorward had expected to go into medicine after college. She appeared surprised to discover how strong her interest in public health was. Unlike hard sciences, “public health doesn’t have single right answers,” she reflected. “There are always side effects to actions. It is absolutely the right place for me.”

From Trinity, Dorward earned a master’s degree in international health and development from Tulane University in New Orleans. She was attracted by the international aspect of the program and because Tulane is one of the few schools that offers a program in tropical medicine. Dorward’s Peace Corps assignment will complete the practicum requirement for her degree.

While waiting for her Peace Corps acceptance and assignment—a long process as Dorward described it—she worked for the Clinton Foundation in Boston in the Center for Strategic HIV/AIDS operations research. There she was able “to see the NGO experience from the headquarters side.” It also gave her the opportunity to meet many staff members with on-the-ground experience that relieved whatever apprehensions she had and gave her a sense what to expect in Africa.

According to Dorward, her parents were at first nervous, but once she had made up her mind, “They were 100 percent behind me.” The whole family plans to visit her in Rwanda next Christmas.

Dorward hopes to work in international public health policy, but time will tell where her path continues.

“Everyone says that you are not the same person after the Peace Corps as when you go in,” she reflected.