Staff Profile: Xenia

Xenia at creche as a volunteer in June of 2010.

Xenia Rybak, St. Lucia’s current Volunteer Coordinator says it has “always been a dream come true to come and volunteer in South Africa.” After a friend of hers in New York volunteered with African Impact she decided to follow suit, volunteering for our community project in May and June of 2010.

“I had such a great time and such amazing memories,” says Xenia of her time as a volunteer.

Xenia returned to St Lucia in January of 2012 to provide the same great memories for other volunteers. She said her goal is to provide volunteers “a very positive experience, one that they feel like they’ve had an impact on the community however big or small it is. That they know for even a moment they’ve impacted a child’s life.“

In the U.S., Xenia has worked as a teacher, providing childcare and working in hospitals and has a masters degree in child life. Her expertise gives her a solid foundation for coming up with innovative lesson plans for our education programme. She says her favourite part of working with African Impact is just how much she gets to interact with a wide range of people.

“Interacting with the community and even team members, having conversations that are so welcoming where people want to know your name, where you’re from, is the best part,” says Xenia.