Stereotypes and Roma Culture Workshop

Understand: Like the word "gypsy" is used in English to refer to a Roma person with rather derogatory connotations, the word "țigan" is used in Romanian to refer to a Roma person who supposedly lies, cheats, and steals. 

A year ago, a girl at the youth council started a new relationship with a Roma boy and was teased mercilessly for it. Ignorance is rampant all over the world, no doubt about it. 

 Hence, a few Peace Corps Volunteers recently ignited a new effort specifically dedicated to increasing understanding and respect toward Roma people in our communities. This group calls itself RISE: Roma Inclusion, Support, and Education. 

Almost a year from the day I first heard that ignorant language at the youth center, RISE came to facilitate a workshop on stereotypes and Roma culture. The workshop required participants to learn definitions of key terms, identify their own prejudices, and learn about the Roma communities in Moldova.

All throughout the workshop, I could see the kids either a) wanting to believe whole-heatedly everything the facilitators told them, or b) wanting to argue every point the facilitators told them. Result you ask? Great discussions all around.

Here are a few of the key learning points, paraphrased:

Boy: I don't think this 'Roma' word is correct because I've never heard it. We say 'țigan.'

Facilitator: Roma is correct term. Ask a Roma person and that is what they will identify as.'

Girl: This is all so hard to believe because all our lives, we are taught that these people are this way, or do that. Then, when my father was taken advantage of by a Roma person, we say 'look, he's Roma and he did this.

Facilitator: But I bet a lot of Moldovans have also stolen too.

Boy: Discrimination means treating someone wrong because of who they are or what group they belong to.

Facilitator: You are going to be a great president some day!

Softball Camp!

 One of my colleagues in Moldova used to coach a girls softball team. Her team sent her a bag full of equipment recently, and she is traveling all around Moldova with it this summer--spreading love of the game one village at a time!

This week I traveled down south to Gagauzia and a neighboring raion to help out with a three-day softball camp. Waking up at 06:30 to go play ball before the heat melted us away was amazing. Three perfect summer days.

 On the first day we managed work in two sessions. One in the morning which Vanea (the boy squatting in the center of this photo) attended, and one in the evening, when Vanea came back with the rest of the boys pictured.

I have to say, I did pick favorites, the two small boys standing next to me (Dima and Vanea) came to the field with a soccer ball and quickly joined our game. They were quick learners and generally enthusiastic. Dima even took the opportunity to practice his Romanian with me. See the previous link for Gagauzia and you'll understand why Romanian is not his first language.

 The second day, the Peace Corps Moldova Volunteers headed to a neighboring district to teach another group of youth about the game. Most of the participants there are part of a sports club run by Coach Mihail (pictured in red). Here is where my colleague who's traveling around Moldova is really making a difference. Not only were the kids learning the game, but this educator took the time to understand the rules, wrote them down, and even kept score. Transfer of skills and knowledge? I think so!


The sports club boys are natural athletes and picked up the easily, but there were still a few reoccurring phenomena of note:




1) Moldovans often "squat" in a very low position when they are tired of standing. All too often this meant that the person playing second base, by which I mean ON second base, was seen squatting on his perch.

2) Lots of football/soccer experience creates certain habits. Catchers and shortstops alike were stopping grounders with their feet, then reaching for dead balls. One time a second baseman stopped a grounder on his shin, realized with sincere discomfort that he was not wearing shin-guards, and that he had a perfectly good piece of leather in his hand that might do the trick!

3) We had a particularly difficult time getting across that only one player can be on a base at a time. So, when a batter would round first, sometimes he's smash into a teammate still standing on second. Mass confusion would ensure as to which direction everyone was supposed to be going to avoid force-outs.

Finally, on the third day, we brought the kids from the first village, to the second village, and fielded a game between the two. Even though one village's team dominated the other, we still went on to mix the teams and play a few more innings before the day was done.

Big thanks to the organizers of this camp who let me be a part of it. I had a fantastic time! Multumesc! Spaseeba! Merci! Thank you!

The scene at the last youth council meeting

Irinia: "We have an invitation to attend a discrimination seminar in Chisinau."

Cristina: "What's discrimination?"

Melissa: "Discrimination is when you deny someone something because of who they are. In America, we pride ourselves on being diverse and respecting one another. But that wasn't always the case. In an ugly part of our history, we didn't let black people have things that white people used. Now look, we have a black president!"

Marcela: "Oh, ok. Like sometimes that still happens to gypsies."

Melissa: "Yes, but let's call them Roma, not gypsies."

Thirty minutes goes by...

Colea: "Marcela, you are only 14 years-old. You cannot be a trainer at the leadership course because you are too young and no one will listen to you. I will not listen to you."

Marcela: "I may be young, but I am the only graduate of the leadership course on the whole district council! And, besides, I've already taught these topics at other trainings."

Melissa: "Colea, are you discriminating against Marcela because of her age?"

All: "Yea! You can't do that!"

GLOW workshop: "How to run a youth empowerment camp"

Meet Irina and Marcela, president and vice-president of the Local Youth Council. These two young ladies are standing in the Peace Corps Volunteer lounge the morning of GLOW's workshop on "How to run a youth empowerment camp." They wanted to attend this workshop to see what new ideas they could take back to the council for this summer's upcoming leadership course. 

Dozens of other Moldovan youth and Peace Corps Volunteers came to the workshop with similar intentions. School ends next Tuesday and then summer camp season will officially commence! This year, GLOW is focusing on a local day camp model, encouraging Peace Corps Volunteers to work with local partners to hold day camps in their communities. Day camps, unlike overnight camps, do not require transportation and boarding costs that sometimes prohibit camps from actually taking place. 

At the workshop, participants learned about the logistics of running a summer camp, how to finance a camp, potential activities, instructional topics, and the wide-range of resources available from our partner organizations. The workshop was an all-day commitment and the room was stifling, but enthusiasm remained high for most of the day. As with similar events, this workshop provided time and space for ongoing experience exchange throughout the day and camp organizers learned from one another's stories.

At the workshop, I facilitated a session on local fundraising. I've delivered this session five times in the last ten months, but I think this was my last. As it turns out, one of the Moldovan camp organizers and a Peace Corps Volunteer in attendance at this session heard my talk before and were able to tell me about their local fundraising efforts since we saw each other last. That feels good!

 

When I joined the local fundraising movement two years ago, things were a little more challenging. I'll never remember the first people to come "taste" our chocolate chip cookies, say thank you, and walk away without making a donation to our cause. But now, penny wars are one of the most popular ways to raise funds in a school. Benefit discos are organized for teens, tweens, and children alike. Local fundraising might be the only grassroots movement I've ever participated in successfully.

Once again, big THANK YOU to the organizers of this workshop!

World Map Project | Proiectul Harta Lumii

When a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer had to urgently leave the country, she wasn't able to finish the World Map Project she initiated in her community. The World Map Project is a worldwide Peace Corps initiative that began in 1988. A Volunteer in the Dominican Republic was struggling to teach her geography lessons without materials, and thus resorted to painting the map directly on the wall of her classroom.

I traveled to my friend's former village this week to help her community implement the project. Through a penny war, the students raised close to 300 USD, enough to re-finish a wall and buy all the necessary supplies to paint a map in their main corridor. Though I was rather intimidated by this project, my friend's former partner (Liliana) and I found the Peace Corps' World Map Handbook extremely easy to follow. We even finished the project hours ahead of schedule.

We spent the first day reading the manual and organizing our plan. Day two we made a grid on our map to make the sketching of the countries practically fool-proof and started painting. According to the manual's color-coding, Russia was painted yellow, Ukraine red, and China pink. If you are eager to make a political joke about the color coding, too late. I've heard them all this week!

By the end of the third day, we had every country painted and came back the next morning to make last minute touches and let two girls from the eighth grade scribe the names of each country.

I could not be happier with the results of this project. I was a skeptic at first. Had no idea what I was doing. How could I help with a project I knew nothing about? But now I am seriously considering doing a World Map Project in my own community. I owe a big THANK YOU to the other volunteers who gave me advice along the way. You know who you are!

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...

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. 

Youth Exchange, take two.

Recall my trip to Zachariah's village last December. The purpose of my trip was to facilitate a youth experience exchange between Zachariah's youth group and another youth group in a neighboring village, led by PCV Shannon. Both of these volunteers are facilitating youth initiatives according to the Public Achievement curriculum. 

The previous attempt to have the event was cancelled due to a blizzard, literally. But this time we pulled it off and had a lot of fun doing it. Big thanks to Zach and Shannon for the invitation!

The Purpose

The goals of a youth experience exchange (Schimb de experienta) are rather simple; to give the youth a chance to share their ideas and intentions, learn from one another's experience, and foster new acquaintances. 

On the bus ride from the first village to the village were the event took place, we couldn't help but conclude that this afternoon outing was one of the few "field trips" these kids have been awarded. The distance from one village to the other is just 15 minutes by bus, but as a student group, the practice of visiting another group is not yet venerated like the countless youth exchanges an American student leader might attend during his/her high school career.

Standard Beginning

Shannon's facility was a great place to have our event, and after her director and the mayor of the village said a few introductory words, the director introduced the first activity: Human Bingo.

Up until that moment, as my colleague noted, the scene was so terrifyingly typical of high school students it made us cringe. The two groups took seats on opposing sides of the room, looking at the other group but trying as they might to pretend they have not a care in the world. Lipgloss shimmered off the shy smiles of almost every girl in the room, one boy wore a full suit, and though many of the participants introduced themselves as 18 year-olds, I hardly believed they could be 15.

Project Ambitions

Each of the youth groups is working on a community project. At this point, each group has identified a problem in their community and a potential solution. We wanted to give the youth an opportunity to discuss their projects and improve their solution proposals at the youth exchange.

Representatives from each of the groups gave a short presentation about the problems in their respective communities and their potential solutions. Shannon's group yielded the floor for Zach's group (the guests) to present first. Two of the youth described the problem their village: no place for the youth to congregate in their free time (very common opinion in Moldova). Their solution to this problem is to build a youth park, near the school. The youth showed off their sketch of the proposed park, as well as the results of a survey they did in their school, which speaks to the support they have from their peers in undertaking this initiative. 

Shannon's group then spoke about the limited access to food in their school cafeteria, the problem they have chosen to attack. Their proposed solution, to provide a tea service service during class breaks, is having trouble attracting the necessary support.

Teamwork

Since both of the groups are rather new, it seemed only appropriate that our interactive break from project analysis came in the form of a team-building activity. The human knot is a perfect way to do this, with groups who have never done it before, because they will participate in the debrief with sincerity. In order to continue the acquaintance building, we mixed the two groups together for this activity.

One team manage to complete the task of untangling themselves. When I asked the group how they succeeded, the common response was perfectly textbook, "We had to listen to everyone's ideas." (Thanks for playing, tell them what they win Bob!)

I asked the other group, which didn't manage to finish the task, if there was a clear leader in their group. "Yes!" They shouted, "Zach!" Hmmmm....

  

Project Analysis

Keeping the two groups mixed, but divided equally. We spent the next 20 minutes analyzing the project proposals. We decided to use an activity called "Driving Forces," that I found in a Peace Corps manual. It requires the participants to consider the "positive forces" propelling their project forward, and the "negative forces" pushing back the progress. Both groups needed to hear the truth, that they need support of other partners (school directors, other administrators, parents, etc) in order to succeed.

At the end of the day, two participants said that they learned something new about their project through this activity. Thus, my job was done and I went home a satisfied facilitator.

Diplomas, Pizza, and New Friends
At the end of the event, Shannon's director awarded each of the participants a diploma (very important in Moldovan culture). Though I somehow don't have a picture to prove to you...Shannon created beautiful diplomas complete with a photo of yours truly and the title "Moldovan Youth Facilitator." Shannon is amazing like that.

The Mayor of the town took a moment to speak again, awarding the Peace Corps Volunteers who participated our own diplomas too (pictures in the slideshow, above).

Then it was on to the pizza party, where we observed as the youth took it upon themselves to make sure there were youth from each village sitting at each of the tables. Way to go kids! Job well done!

After seeing how impressed youth from Shannon's group were with the youth from Zach's group, and vise-versa, I am once again convinced that experience exchanges are the way to go in youth development here. It hardly matters if I, an American, go to a group of youth and tell them they can be the change they want to see. If they hear it and see it being done by their neighbors, the youth are much more likely to believe that they can do it too.

Meet the sun's rays

As I mentioned before the holidays, Yoel (another PCV living in my town) and I are starting to collaborate with a center for "socially vulnerable children." The beneficiaries of this center are sometimes abandoned by their families or sometimes families are unable to care for them. In either case, the idea is that is a short-term care facility. After their stay, children either go back to their families or to one of the new foster families in our district.

Yoel and I have been to the "Centru Raza Soaralui" or "Center of the Sun's Rays" a few times in the last couple weeks. Our first mission is to get to know the staff, the program, and the children. After we have a better idea of what they have and might need, the director is very eager to work with us in a development capacity. The first day we played a name game incorporating animal sounds, duck-duck-goose, and a handful of Moldovan games before the afternoon disintegrated into serious cross-examining from our little questioners.

As per their request, we came back a second day prepared to teach them a little something about America (Peace Corps' second goal, verbatim!). Yoel, prepared the history lesson--he can recite the names of all three of Columbus' ships from the 1492 voyage, in descending order by size--and I prepared to talk about my state when Yoel prompted, then do a demonstration of the "melting pot" metaphor.

Since we used the maps to explain how most American families descend from more than one culture, discussed the geography and corresponding recreational activities in different parts of the country (they drooled over the Olympic Mountains, pictured among those from my last day hike in Washington, Mount Ellinor, Memorial Day 2009), and even touched on where corn can and cannot grow in the United States, I think they understood that the United States is a big, diverse place.

Here's a fun fact I found preparing these activities, which clearly validates the continued use of the "melting pot" metaphor in the twenty-first century. According to the CIA World Factbook, the 2010 net migration rate in Moldova was -1.13 migrations/1000 people. In the United States, we welcomed +4.25 migrations/1000 people. Hence, Yoel and I repeatedly explained to these kiddos "we are a mixed people." What else is there to say?

Unwilling to be disappointed

With the planning complete, my guides to working with youth thoroughly adorned in sticky notes, and diplomas for participation printed by my colleague, I headed south this week to help two fellow volunteers facilitate a youth experience exchange.

For the youth from these two villages, we planned an exchange that would quite intentionally direct them to clear action plans in the projects they have already selected. One group has a problem, but is seeking an appropriate solution. The other has a solution that needs to be fine-tuned for optimum success and sustainability. By mixing the groups and conducting two separate activities (one for each of the respective projects, in their respective stages of development), we hoped to expose both groups to tools appropriate for both needs. And finally, end the evening with a small disco-tech, as requested by all the involved parties.

The hour before we were to depart from one village to the other, I quickly lost track of the number of phone calls my colleague, Zach, was fielding. Partner teacher. School director. Bus driver. Youth. Until finally, despite our best intentions, we had to resign to the decision by the school district to cancel all extracurricular activities in the region due to the poor weather conditions (something Zach and I had been ignoring all day, unwilling to admit that the event might be in danger).

We allowed ourselves a few moments of despair, but I absolutely refuse to be disappointed about this site-visit. And the youth exchange WILL happen shortly after the holidays.

Zach is a volunteer in the Health Education in Schools and Communities program. This means his program manager assigned him to partners at both the school and local health center. In Zach's first six months at site, he's also began working with partners at the social cantina, a kind of soup kitchen for elderly members of the community. I learned so much about the Peace Corps experience of my health education colleagues by spending this day and a half in his village. I think they have the best of both worlds: a set schedule and routine at the school, plus flexibility to build capacity and meet the needs of the communities through the health centers.

For more on what it means to be a health education volunteer in Peace Corps Moldova, check out part one and part two of Zach's recent discussion on this.

Winter Work

Beautiful shots like this really are a part of winter. Despite the cold, it's almost always post-card perfect during a Moldovan winter.

Work life can be a little more difficult in winter, January is packed with holidays, offices like mine are cold, and because it gets dark so early, we go home much earlier. As such, I made a list of the major projects I'm planning to tackle this winter. I freely encourage your questions as to how they progress.

[+] Children's center programming: In my town, there is a center for children whose families are not able to care for them. The children aren't orphans, per say, because the idea is that after a few months the children can move back home. My sitemate and I are going to spend some time getting to know this center's ins-and-outs. After doing a bit of research on similar centers, my hypothesis is that this center isolates these kids from the rest of the community. After doing some investigating, my sitemate and I are seriously interested in helping them initiate a peer mentor program (think big brothers/big sisters) with other youth in the community. 

[+] Defining the role of youth service providers: Another service provider was added to the mix this week. The phone call I received this week went something like this: "Hello, is your name Melissa? I am the new director of the youth center. When can you come show me around the center?"

[+] Spreading youth council goodness: This comes in many parts. Next week, I travel down south to help two volunteers facilitate an "experience exchange" between their two youth groups. For as much as I travel to this southeastern district, I'd say soon the bus drivers and I will be on a pretty solid acquaintance. In January, a few other volunteers are coming to my site to observe our youth council elections. After that, I'll head to another youth group in central Moldova (hopefully with some of my volunteers), to continue spreading the benefits of volunteerism.

[+] Reading good books, drinking hot wine, and and attending lots and lots of holiday parties....

WORLD AIDS DAY

Somewhere around December 1, 2009, a member of the youth council read about World AIDS Day events on the internet and wanted to see something done here, in our town. Not that an informational campaign isn't useful at anytime, but due to the lateness of the request, the idea never caught on at the council...the moment passed. Moreover, the youth council members would have struggled to put together a campaign on an issue they themselves knew very little about. 

Thus, I am happy to report the success of World AIDS Day 2010, a three-part story.

Part One: Getting Informed

Peace Corps applicants are told that they will probably work in HIV/AIDS prevention at some point during their service, no matter the field of work. It's a worldwide Peace Corps initiative. But in Moldova, due to strict regulations regarding what can be taught in the classroom on the subject, it isn't exactly an area where we are encouraged to seek work. 

Thus, my politically correct strategy for getting the youth informed on the issue was to call in a third-party expert. Tinerii pentru Dreptul la Viață (Youth for the Right to Life), an organization from a neighboring city, is an organization with which we were already acquainted from our mutual participation in a human trafficking prevention event. 

Why it took a political loop hole for me to consider calling in a Moldovan expert to speak to Moldovan youth on this issue, I have no idea. Corina presented the information better, more fluently, and more creatively than I ever could. She's done this seminar hundreds of times, and it shows in all the best ways.  I particularly appreciated how she took the time to describe every word and definition in the acronyms HIV/SIDA. As we discussed immunity with the group, she clarified her point using an umbrella. A normal functioning umbrella protects us from the rain. A damaged umbrella, like a deficient immune system, fails to protect us.

By the end of the seminar the group felt comfortable with Corina and the information she was sharing. We sat around the table and I watched a quizzical look come across an eighth grade girl's face...

"Miss Corina, I have a question...where did the HIV come from?" She managed.
"Well, there are some theories," Corina started, before a tenth grader interjected.
"From the homosexuals of course!" The tenth grader stated.
"But, where...I mean from whom did the homosexuals get it in the beginning?" The eight grader fired back.

Watching Moldovans react to subjects like these is fascinating. In America, we have (mostly) sensitized ourselves to these issues. The generation of Moldovan youth I work with is just starting to question if sensitization is something they want for their country, for their culture. Guess what? They don't all agree.

Part Two: Preparing the Information

The day before World AIDS day, volunteers prepared materials for the street campaign. While some painted signs, others worked on finding a maxim to post around town, I translated a fact sheet to be printed, and everyone got quizzed by yours truly on the facts.

Not only did I ask the youth who attended the previous week's seminar to repeat pertinent facts, but we also worked through a basic HIV/AIDS Quiz I found online. Between the quiz and the expert opinion, there was still at least one volunteer believing that HIV is contractible from mosquitoes. But to be honest, as long as she understood all the other ways you can definitely contract the disease, I'm happy to hear the group argue and repeat the facts.

Part Three: Disseminating the Information

   

Finally, on World AIDS Day 2010, we took to the snowy streets with our signs, brochures, fact sheets, ribbons, and positive energy. Since the snow seemed to fall heavier by the minute, I can't say this is our most successful campaign (in terms of numbers of people we actually spoke with), but we stayed out there until all our materials had been distributed. When I got home, my host mom said that thing again...

"Melissa, your eyes are smiling! Where have you been?!"

Youth Consultancy

My role in Moldova is changing again. There was the "try to fit in stage," followed by the "now you fit in and try to work with what you are given stage," but now, it's all about delivering change using what I've learned. Bring it on.

To my absolute pleasure, this transition doesn't just affect my work here at site, but more and more I am taking on a consultancy role, helping other PCVs working with youth in Moldova. I am writing the chapters of a book every time I respond to emails from Zach and Cammy. They are both working with brand new youth groups, trying to identify missions, solve community problems, and keep kids motivated. I do not even begin to claim to have all the answers, but it is incredibly rewarding to be able to help them prevent mistakes that I made (or continue to make). Also, as a colleague doing similar work on another topic recently pointed out, I am finally given the avenue for organizing all my thoughts and experiences. 

In a sense, this work is also why I was down south last week at Jen's site. Her partner has a group of youth that are too old to be direct beneficiaries of their children's center, but are quite interested in staying involved and developing new skills and understandings. I offer up the session we put together for them as an example of what it is I do in Moldova, it's been a while since I wrote about something other than birthday parties and my awesome host family. 

The Afternoon:

1) Evaluation of the group's Halloween party the previous week: What was the best element? What was the weakest element? What will they change if they do it again next year? Since this was one of their first major events...what was it like to work as a team?

2) Team-building activity: The human knot. Moldovans are not afraid of physical contact and have few personal space boundaries when compared with Americans, so it's an easy, and fun activity. What happened during the activity? Did they have to work as a team or could they succeed individually? Which was more important, listening or leading?

3) Building on their interests: The problem tree method (had I not prepared for this the day of, I probably would have chose a more asset-based activity, but I sadly fell for my old stand-by). After making a list of four youth problems in their village, the youth chose to attack teachers' vulgar vocabulary in the classroom. 

This is the most original problem I've ever discussed with a group of youth in Moldova. I was thrilled that they didn't chose litter in the street or poverty. Though, I cannot comment on the actual extent of the bad language problem and it should be noted that eventually it was admitted that possibly pupils' behavior is a contributing factor of the vulgar vocabulary. Anyway, moving on...

With the problem tree, we put the problem on the trunk, then address the visible consequences of the problem in the branches. This is the easiest part and usually takes only minutes to complete. Then, we move back to the bottom of the tree and identify the causes, or "roots" of the problem. This takes longer and just like always, the girls in this group were not all in agreement about the cause of the problem. 

4) Identifying solutions: Once our tree was developed enough, and the youth were focused again on the causes of the problem, we began to identify possible solutions. This is as far as I was able to lead them during this session, but next time they meet, the director of this center will continue with them to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of their two proposed solutions: A) Writing a letter to the school director and B) Doing a pupil's campaign for good classroom behavior and teacher appreciation activities. I wish them the best of luck and can't wait to hear how it goes!

All in a day's work...

I'm down south working at my friend Jen's site for a couple days. She works at a center for kids that is funded by the American NGO "Keystone." Today, our mission was to teach a smidgen of English, and play a new game. 

Duck, Duck, GOOSE!

Duckling's Ball

Last night I attended the "Duckling's Ball" at the local high school. In this case, duckling is a metaphor for the tenth grade class, who entered the high school last month. I felt like I belonged in high school every time I giggled as the "ducklings from class 10A" were called to the stage, but the whole event is rather steeped in tradition and esteem. It truly is a rite of passage.

On a semantic note, I'd like to explain that this ball did not include gowns and king's of Siam dancing the night away with English teachers. The event actually took place in a theater, and students from the tenth grade class performed songs, dances, poems, and skits.

As I sat in a room packed with adolescents, flash backs from every high school pep rally came whizzing by. I liked high school a lot, but it's probably best for humanity that all good things come to an end.

Semi-surprise birthday

There was a small, modest, birthday event planned for me today at work. As per Moldovan custom, I planned it. It was to involve a double-batch of chocolate chip cookies, a game of spoons, and hopefully, a hora or two. As we were walking to my center, a fellow PCV said to me, what if they surprise you with something more. Immediately I said, "no, they won't do that," and backed it up with a short list of reasons why. 

But of course, he was right. There ended up being a far from modest table arranged by my partner and some of the other youth. There were balloons, notes, flowers, and a delicious cake (mulțumesc frumos Doamna Brashovsky și Alina!). Check out this video I managed to capture while the youth council sang a Romanian song, equivalent to "happy birthday."

By the way, we did eventually get to that game of spoons...we literally played until someone's fingers bled! They are a little intense!

Reporting Time

I'm a little confused about what to do with this blog space. Of late, Google is telling me my readers are Mac users, Google Chrome users, and in Moldova. In short, somehow this blog has become more popular with fellow PCVs than with it's intended audience of friends and family back home. And last Saturday, a colleague quoted one of my posts back to me (which was awesome). For now, I'm going to keep providing the same kind of content I have been, keeping Peace Corps' third goal in mind. But I'm open to suggestions.

    

I don't have an original idea for a post this time, but it just so happens that it is the end of the quarter and fiscal year, and I am spending my Monday night completing the beloved "Volunteer Report Form" for my program manager. I'll share here what I came up with for my "lessons learned entry." 

    

Over the past few months I have learned to be a bit more assertive. Now that I have the language abilities to offer new ideas, there is no reason to hold back. Furthermore, my relationship with my youth council is developed enough that they trust my ideas and give them honest consideration. 

     

Often, the youth council decides to have important discussions on the spot, with the goal of making a decision quickly. In the past few months, I have tried to slow down the conversation and help them develop more creative and effective ways of doing things. 

For example, in September we were responsible for advertising an event with another organization, Medicii Lumii, from Balti. The youth started to discuss the advertisment strategy by assigning someone to the task, using the same methods we always use in promoting events. I slowed the conversation and forced the youth to be more creative using a metaphor (like my program manager's use of the grapevine during last summer's PST).

After we brainstormed a list of potential advertising strategies, I assigned each person one of the strategies. I gave the youth a piece  of paper and asked them to draw a flower with the following conditions: the roots needed to represent the support/permission we would need to implement that strategy, the stem needed to represent the strategy itself, and the petals the positive outcomes that strategy could provide. After they presented "the idea garden," we chose a set of fundraising strategies that would lead to different outcomes. For example, we didn't pick two methods that would both be aimed at students, but rather a set of strategies aimed at attracting an audience from a variety of age brackets. 

My ideas work, and the youth council listens. I have learned that I just have to speak up and slow down the snap-decision making the youth council has become accustomed to with tradition.

Count 'em!

The transfer of skills and knowledge continues at the local youth council…Today we held an open house, inviting all youth in town to come see what we are up to, and what we are all about. The open house idea is not a new one, in terms of volunteer recruitment, at our organization. But the fact that we got it right today is a big accomplishment for the new leadership team. Last fall, we did okay in recruitment. In the spring, we pretty much failed, bringing in only one new face to the open house. Today’s record total (at least in my service, with this generation of youth leaders)—19 potential new volunteers in our town. Woot!

To get that many new people to our center and that many shoes at our doorstep, we stepped up our advertising scheme a bit. Two days ago, I met the vice-president of the youth council and went to her old elementary/middle-school and spoke with students in three classes. Our excellent turn-out means that a full third of the students we spoke to were convinced to come today.

Of course, everyone already knows that coming to the center means making new friends and having fun…here’s a clip from a trust-building exercise that turned into an abdominal workout for those who couldn’t stop laughing.

And the other reasons youth gave for coming to our open house: to learn public speaking, to use my free-time effectively, to learn about youth development, to work as a volunteer.

YIKES! I think they are going to like it here…

"If not you, then who will break the chain of trafficking?"

This morning my youth council, several NGOs from a neighboring city, and a social-theater club from another district hit the stage in an effort to inform the locals about the dangers of human trafficking, and how to avoid it.

Though our rainy, Sunday morning program didn't draw the biggest crowd possible, those who did come, were both thoroughly informed and entertained. I'm glad I had the chance to be a part of this event, because our primary partner in the event wants to take to the road, visiting other Peace Corps Volunteer communities throughout our region of Moldova. Next month, I am tasked with helping coordinate that process. Having seen one of these events, now firsthand, I can only sing the praises of these organizations.

Though, I must say, the five year-old girl singing "My heart is full of longing, my parents both went away...its full of longing and can't hold anymore," was rather difficult to listen to...because it's the truth. Migration and trafficking tendencies in Moldova leave too many families torn apart.

I particularly enjoyed the final act, a social-theater production by a club of high school students known as ANTIVIRUS. The group portrayed the impact of trafficking on not only the victims, but also the families left behind. Their main message was displayed overhead on a projector, "Life is a battle, so fight for yourself!" Those young actors are literally attempting to "be the change [they] want to see in the world," or at least, in their country. Bravo lor! Good for them!