SEQUIM — State Department Professional Fellow Aydan Rzayeva from Azerbaijan is living with Sequim host families and working with the city of Sequim through Nov. 13.
American Councils, a nonprofit that administers the Professional Fellows Program, competitively selects fellows and short-term host families in the city he or she will be involved in.
This year, Rzayeva was Sequim’s selected professional fellow. She arrived Oct. 13.
Rzayeva works in Baku, the nation’s capital, for the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the human resource and training department.
She works on promoting public service accessibility among citizens and is passionate about public service and human resources.
“I love Sequim a lot,” Rzayeva said. “You can see the mountains and the trees; the nature is really amazing.”
Rzayeva has participated in such city events as the Business Blitz and city council meetings.
She said she has enjoyed getting to know the people in the Sequim community.
“What I love here is the volunteers,” she said. “I really love people trying to help their city and trying to be involved in the process.”
Rzayeva said she is visiting some of Sequim’s lavender farms this weekend with her host family.
She tried Thai food for the first time.
Rzayeva said she hopes to continue working with the city.
She suggested the possibility of doing “trainings together, or we can share ideas,” she said.
To learn more about the Professional Fellows Program, visit exchanges. state.gov/non-us/program/professional-fellows- program.
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Erin Hawkins is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach her at ehawkins@sequimgazette.com.
