As seen in that one American movie: Twister

My youth council has been working really hard. So I invited them for an afternoon of games. When I pulled out the Twister board, Rodica (pictured below, left) got so excited and said she saw this game in an American movie.

A big thank you here to my family, who sent me the game as a Valentine's Day gift. Muah!

Youth Council Open House

Last fall, a number of my Peace Corps colleagues started asking questions about my youth council. What is a council? How is it different than a volunteer club? Can I come visit? Thus, we developed the following program to both educate Volunteers about the council model and provide a space for an experience exchange between two youth councils and the Peace Corps community. 

The Guests

From the Peace Corps community, I first invited another Volunteer working with a Local Youth Council in a neighboring district. She and three of her most active council members came to help us convey the essence of the youth council model. In this picture, the visiting youth council is presenting our President with a medallion and pennant from their city.  

Other Peace Corps guests included Volunteers working with civic education curriculum, and those interested possibly starting a youth council in their villages. 

Part One: Youth Councils

In the first half of the program, both my youth council and the members of the visiting council discussed their activities. In true contemporary Moldvan fashion, each group presented picture slideshows of their favorite activities. My council also showed a short video, with a Mandy Moore song for a soundtrack that makes you...well....pray for it to end quickly.

As if anticipating the day's second act, I watched as the presentation to Peace Corps guests, about council activities, soon turn into a series of discussions between the two councils about how each group pulled-off their respective activities.

Lastly, my youth council presented their summer leadership course model, the best youth program I have seen in Moldova yet (credit to a previous Volunteer, not me). This is an 8-week course taught by youth, for youth. Each year's graduates are given the chance to be trained as trainers for the next year, making it an incredibly sustainable event. Since the program's initial success via a small grant, the district and city councils continued to fund it annually, no questions asked, no grant applications.

Coffee Break

Almost every Moldovan event comes with a coffee break. Ours was very typical, instant coffee and tea made available with hot water from an electric kettle, cookies, chocolates, and pastries. 

Naturally, as the group migrated to coffee break, it settled into three distinct communities: my youth council on the couch, the visiting council at one end of the table, and Peace Corps Volunteers at the other. But, since I happen to work with the best youth around, Victor volunteered to provide a mixer, resulting in the activity shown above, mixing the participants and providing an opportunity to present a united presence via a perfect circle. 

Part Two: Experience Exchange

The goal of part two was to generate as many ideas as possible. Additionally, since the Peace Corps guest learned so much from the youth in part one, this was a way for them to give back a little, and provide examples from their own experience in clubs and organizations.

Using a very simple rendition of the Open Space Technology, we brained stormed a list of topics, chose three (recruiting volunteers, maintaining and motivating volunteers, and promoting youth talent), and divided into small groups.I loved watching these small group discussions. Frequently, expressions of intimidation (upon hearing about another's success) turned to curiosity, and finally enthusiasm crossed the faces of those most engaged in the discussions.  

After 20 minutes of sharing experiences and ideas, each group reported their notes (which each participant will receive an electronic copy of), and we closed the day with our Local Youth Council secret clap, the one we use to finish every event at our council. Though, I guess that gave away our secret...

Job description: Fundraising Connoisseur

About 18 months ago I attended a conference with all the other Peace Corps Volunteers in my program. There was one Volunteer, Becca, who was in the middle of compiling a local fundraising book and looking for a group of volunteers to pass the project on to when she finished her service. Before she left, Becca compiled information from more than a dozen local fundraising activities done by Volunteers (see our Wine Day Bake Sale), including what the activity was, the target group, tips for others, and a short narrative of the experience.

Getting involved in this project was one of the most decisive moments in my service. Another Volunteer and I took over the Romanian translation of the book, which was finished in time for it to be printed for every Peace Corps Volunteer and his/her partner by the In-Service Trainings, in winter 2010. We again distributed it during the Pre-Service Training for new Volunteers, made it available online to all Peace Corps Moldova Volunteers, and distributed printed copies at the same winter In-Service Trainings to Volunteers and Counterparts. Somehow, getting involved in this project meant that the rest of my service I would continue to promote the use of local fundraising throughout my service. 

During the summer, I spoke with the new Volunteers in my program about the differences between local fundraising in the United States and Moldova. First of all, it is a completely new concept in a civil society that developed on a grant-to-grant budgetary model. Because it is so new, it takes a lot more publicity. One of the four best-practices we've developed is to "Talk it up!"

We have to tell our community:

Before--what we plan to do and why

During--what we are doing and why

After--what we have done and how the community contributed

The Volunteers that arrived last summer are no longer "new," as they are biting into the absolute flesh of their service right now. Over the last couple months I've spoken with Volunteers and their partners at In-Service Trainings about the best-practice above and the three others we've developed: define the budget, be an accountable team, and be transparent. At these trainings we distributed copies of the fundraising manual in English and Romanian. Very few partners have experience with local fundraising activities, but it would be an interesting project to sift through the records and find out just how many Peace Corps communities have used Penny War competitions to raise money for local schools, since Peace Corps arrived some 19 years ago. 

Yesterday, what is soon to be dubbed "Melissa's Roadshow" had its debut with a completely Moldovan audience. I distributed the guide and facilitated a short workshop for university and college students who volunteer at Medicii Lumii, in their human-trafficking prevention program.

But to be completely honest, I'm just the one who ended up compiling the information. The grass-roots work is being done by so many other great volunteers. Check out this piece about an English Education volunteer that can't get her students to stop churning out new fundraising ideas.

Vice President Biden's Visit

On Saturday, Vice-President Biden visited Moldova, the final stop on his Eastern European tour. The largest (logistically speaking) event of the day was a 15 minute speech he gave in the public square in front of the opera house. People began arriving for the 14:00 speech at 08:30. Roads all throughout the city center were closed to pedestrian and motor traffic. Secret service agents patrolled streets, building roofs, and oversaw the security stations where metal detectors were operating on electricity tunneled in through thick orange cords. 

Not sure how dedicated we were to the madness of the crowds (Peace Corps usually tells us to avoid them, not flock to them), my friends and I planned on a late arrival. Regardless if we didn't make it to the speech, we still had tickets to the meet-and-greet event afterwards. The first gate we came to was closed. The police officers said the area was full, no more entry allowed. But this is where I give a shout out to Boris, a Moldovan guest of one of my colleagues, who sweet talked the officers into letting  in the Americans and their guest.

Next we made our way through the metal detectors, but were denied entry to the main viewing area. All full, said the police. So I picked a spot on the fence that still gave us a good view of the stage. A volunteer came by and gave me a paper Moldovan flag to wave, and we were fairly content with the cards we'd been dealt. Moments later, a Peace Corps Volunteer on the other side of the fence said, "come with me," and back at the same officer who said the area was full, we were given a free pass once more. 

All told, we only spent about thirty minutes walking from the Peace Corps office to the stage, which is where we eventually ended up listening to the speech, directly behind the podium. This is a picture of Dr. Jill Biden arriving, she was looking at her feet as she walked, that is, until all the Peace Corps Moldova volunteers delivered a hearty, unison, "Welcome to Moldova!" 

The full speech can be viewed on YouTube, or you can read the Associated Press coverage. Biden spent most of the time reassuring the Moldovan people and government that the United States intends to be its partner on the path towards democratization, not just of Moldova, but the whole region. He said the work won't be done until Russia too achieves this measure. On the recent world events, Biden said he was glad “to be here at this transformative moment in your history and quite frankly the history of the world. Freedom is in the air, and democracy is emerging in countries that for generations have known nothing but authoritarian rule.”

Given that I've spent a large portion of my service working in human trafficking prevention, I was very pleased to hear Biden attend to this issue several times throughout the day. 

At the meet-and-greet event, the Ambassador introduced Dr. Jill Biden, who was the first to acknowledge the devastating events occurring in Japan. The event was only open to Peace Corps Moldova and the U.S. Embassy, so the children on stage are young Americans, many of whom I know have no recollection of ever being stateside.  

At the end of the event, we all lined up to have a Peace Corps photo with the Vice President. He happened to stand right next to me, and I chose this photo because you can see that he was clearly engaged in a conversation with us. He says we have to ensure three things in this country 1) transparent government without corruption, 2) an end to the human trafficking crisis, and 3) free press. 

When asked about the future of Peace Corps funding, Biden commented briefly on the political situation back home (I have completely missed the Tea Party phenomenon), and noted that it was his generation that started the Peace Corps; we have his support. 

He also shared a few personal stories, thanked us for our work, and said what we have to continue doing is changing attitude each and every day.

Engagement Party

Meet Justin and Rachel. Their story is much like the hundreds of others that you've heard about; the classic Peace Corps romance. They are one of two couples in my group about to tie the knot. As Justin would tell you, he planned to propose while riding on a camel during their winter vacation in Egypt. But he just couldn't wait and ended up popping the question as they did their laundry, on an average weekend at his site, and didn't even have the ring with him! 

I am so glad these couples decided to organize their own engagement party and let us celebrate with them. It was a rather classy night on the town, and one of the first gatherings (of which I fear there will be many) marking the closing of our time in Moldova. Over cold pivo, conversations inevitably turned to who's attending which graduate program next year, who's taking a year to travel, and who's still trying to figure it all out. 

We spent the evening toasting the happy couples in the only way we know how--Moldovan well-wishes include homes full of children, health, and happiness--and even dancing a huge hora to the live Irish music. 

Congratulations to Justin, Rachel, Erin, and Petru! Toate cele bune!

Melt winter, melt!

Today was the second day in a row of absolute, unadulterated sunshine. Though it's probably too early to work on this year's freckles, I set out anyway to give it a try. These are just some snapshots from around town.

The sun feels amazing. Melt winter, melt!

Human trafficking prevention for youth

For a little to  over a year, I've been serving as a board member on a Peace Corps Moldova committee dedicated the issues of human trafficking and migration. Our primary work is to connect resources (which are concentrated in cities) to rural communities (through Peace Corps Volunteers across the country). I had no particular interest in these issues before I came to Moldova, but migration is such common fate for Moldovans that it was hard not to notice.

I work rather closely with a local branch of Medecinus de Monde (Doctors of the World), a French human rights organization. This organization's post in Moldova is a pilot program, the first in the organization's history to occupy itself with the issues of human trafficking. This office offers both assistance to victims, as well as a prevention program. I only work with the prevention staff, chiefly Cristina (pictured below). Cristina's volunteer program was named best in the country, in December 2010--an award they absolutely deserve.

Cristina and I have worked together to promote her organization's youth seminars among Peace Corps Volunteers. Last fall, we hosted a joint event with the Medecinus de Monde volunteers and the youth council in my town. We also held a small open house for Peace Corps Volunteers at her office, in October, where we discovered that more than one volunteer actually lives in a "priority location" for prevention programming.   Months later, the seminar featured in this post is a direct result of that meeting.

On Monday, I traveled with Cristina and two of her college-aged volunteers to a village in my district that is denoted as one of the "priority locations." Thanks to the help of Rachel, a fellow PCV in that village, we were able to schedule two simultaneous seminars for ninth grade classes.

Now having seen the Medecinus de Monde seminars several times, I can practically recite the material by heart. First, Cristina helps the students come up with a working definition of human trafficking, followed by activities and discussions related to what trafficking looks like, the steps of trafficking, why people are trafficked, and how to prevent oneself from falling victim to it.

In this picture, Cristina is reviewing a drawing the students made of a trafficking victim. She is pointing out that while the students drew a sad, weak, and female victim (presumably trafficked for prostitution), there is a growing trend in male trafficking. I know this to be true from the reports I've seen, and as Cristina is discussing in this photo, male victims are typically those who go off to work three months at a time in Moscow, Russia and never get paid for their work. These men do not identify themselves as victims, but merely unlucky individuals who took a risk by taking an under-the-table job, and therefore do not often report their experiences to officials.

This class of ninth graders took all of 30 seconds to remind me why I hated junior high school, and I wasn't particularly certain the students would allow us to make progress. I ached for the five female students in the first row as their 15 other male classmates attempted to one up each other in all their ruckus. But I admit, I was too quick to judge. The best moment of my day was made by those who were the most disruptive students of all. At one point, towards the end of the seminar, Cristina recited the phone number of a 24 hotline, based in Chisinau. I wouldn't have guessed that these three boys in the back of the room were paying attention, but as Cristina recited the number a second time, all three boys took out their cell phones, and entered the number.

Whoa. That was a great moment.