My name is Tzviatko Chiderov and I was born and raised in Bulgaria - a beautiful country in eastern Europe. In 2000 my family moved to the United States. I graduated college with a business degree in Chicago and I entered the corporate world. I was well on my way to achieving "traditionally-defined" success and the happiness that is supposed to come with it... then I realized that my view of that was a little different. I had grown increasingly interested in international development work. I was spending almost as many hours volunteering for NGOs and advocacy groups as I was working in the office. My great desire to experience first hand the challenges and opportunities in the developing world, that I had for so long read about and advocated for, led me to seek out ways to reach this goal.
For the next 6 months I will be living in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. I'll be serving as a VSO volunteer, working for an organization called the National AIDS Council (NAC). The NAC empowers communities to undertake appropriate and thorough action in the fight against HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe. I'm extremely excited and very much looking forward to what will surely be an incredible learning opportunity.
This Blog:
The purpose of this blog is to share my thoughts, experiences and adventures during my time in Zimbabwe. I'll try to post often and I'll attempt to include photos and videos for your viewing pleasure :)
Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) is the world's leading independent, international development charity that works through volunteers to fight poverty in developing countries.
A major focus for VSO is sustainability. VSO volunteers are experienced professionals who are tasked with not only completing their primary assignments but also training local workers to effectively take over and expand on the success of the VSO volunteer's project.
For more information on VSO please visit their website at vsointernational.org.
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. The official language in Zimbabwe is English, but other widely spoken languages include Shona and Ndebele. The population of Zimbabwe is about 12.5 million people and around 1.5 million of them live in the capital city of Harare.
For more on Zimbabwe please visit the Wikipedia page for the country - it has some great information.
