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....

Because he wasn't going to celebrate...

Lemon bars are absolutely not a Jewish tradition...just plain tasty.

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?!"

This perfectly normal thing I do

My absolute favorite Moldovan hobby is called "going as a guest" or "plec in oaspetia." Some families (like the Popa Family) actually get upset when I don't invite myself over often enough. Yes, inviting myself is a perfectly normal thing I've learned to do. And...after separately running into three different members of this family, last week, and trying to explain why I haven't been to their house in a while, I decided to make the call.

But there is a catch. Guests should never go empty handed. In the summer, I might take a basket of apricots or bake a sour-cherry pie. Last winter, this family got introduced to a slew of American baked goods...Aurel digs banana nut muffins, and if her mother isn't in the room, Aura can eat five rice krispy treats really really fast. 

On this occasion, I baked nothing and brought nothing we grew in our garden. Instead, I picked up a box of chocolates and a bottle of Moldovan champagne at the corner store so that we could celebrate my Mom's birthday. Make no mistake, I don't mean my host mom, Maria. I mean MY MOM. Maammmica! This too, is a perfectly normal thing, in Moldova. I took a bottle of bubbly to another family's house to celebrate someone's birthday that couldn't be with us today.

Mom, the ladies of the Popa family (and the walking Kansas adversitsement, Yoel) wish you a wonderful birthday. Health. Happiness. Everything you wish in the coming year!

Obligatory Thanksgiving Post

The best job in the world. A supportive family that is one member larger than it was this time last year. Dozens of  loving Moldovan friends and family members. Phenomenal friends, both old and new. A beautiful language. This day of thanks!