It’s amazing how quickly the time has gone by here in Armenia, even though some days have felt like some of the longest I’ve experienced, I can’t believe that in 5 days, it will have been a year since I arrived in Armenia. From not knowing the language at all, learning how to live and work in a new culture, finding ways to do and be successful at things I’ve never had experience in, to figuring out how to overcome challenges and learn to appreciate the really great moments here, I have truly learned a lot both about myself and this country and her people in the last year.
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| View from the top of Gavar |
Currently, the
A-19’s are transitioning to go home, the A-21’s will start their staging this
week and arrive in Armenia on Friday, and my fellow A-20’s and I are reflecting on the last year and figuring
out where we want this experience to take us over the next 15 months and how we
make that happen. I spent most of
tonight packing in preparation for my trip home in a little less than 2 weeks and
have realized that my timing for going home is just right for me. Work has picked up a great deal and I am
really starting to see progress both with my relationships with my counterparts
as well as with the projects we are working on, but as with many things in my
life, I am looking forward to a little break to refocus and see this experience
from the outside. I think my time home
is really going to give me a chance to regain perspective on everything I want
to accomplish when I get back and over the next year as well as what I have
accomplished, realized, and experienced over the last year. I have learned so many things about myself, especially
over the last few months, and greatly appreciate the opportunity to be here, I can
already see how my time here has been life-changing. But I also recognize that the cultural
differences here can be really tough to navigate and finding my place and ways
in which I can make some sort of a difference takes a lot of time to discover
and understand. A friend of mine
recently reminded me of the Serenity Prayer and its words really resonate with
me and truly define a major aspect of my Peace Corps experience thus far…”God,
grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change
the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
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| Pretty awesome view, American flag with Mt. Ararat in the background |
The longer I have been here, the faster the time does seem
to go, partially because of how busy things have gotten! The talent show is still underway and I am
hoping it will be a huge success. We had
over 40 children audition and have selected 14 acts. Today was our first rehearsal and it went
quite well. The show is this coming
Sunday and will include the 14 talent show acts, singing, dancing, acting, and
more, as well as an exhibition in the lobby and a play following the awards
ceremony. This is the first time
something like this has happened in Gavar, so fingers crossed it goes off without
a hitch and that the community enjoys the show!
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| Flyer for the Talent Show |
Last week, I was in Yerevan Monday thru Friday working on
the Pre-Service training for the Community and Youth Development (CYD)
volunteers. I, along with 4 other PCV’s,
am a part of the Training Advisory Group, working on all of the trainings, practicum,
handbook, site visits, and many other things to try to make their CYD training
the most successful and useful training to date. It was a lot of work, but we had a great team
and I really hope that what we put together is beneficial for the new
volunteersJ I will also be able to facilitate some of the
sessions, so looking forward to meeting all of the newbies and also share some
of my experiences and advice with them.
Gevorg and I have also moved forward quite a bit with plans
for Good Hope NGO in response to the questionnaires we distributed to the
parents and staff of CDRC. As a result of the questionnaire, we
identified three top priorities, the most important being issues with
transportation (the other two are trainings and resources). The majority of parents surveyed explained
that transportation to and from the center causes serious financial strain on
their family and expressed the need for alternate options from having to always
take a cab round-trip (there is not an option for a marshutni to many of the
villages/towns which CDRC serves and the cost of the round-trip fare is quite
high for these families), particularly since the majority of children have
appointments at CDRC 2-3 times a week.
The staff also identified issues of transportation for their families as
one of their top concerns. We are currently working on ways to meet the needs
of transportation for our beneficiaries and have been able to come up with a
solution. Our Director spoke with
Arabkir Medical Center, for which CDRC is a beneficiary, and they have agreed
to fund the salary of a driver, insurance, property tax, and the gas and
maintenance of the van. In return, it is
now our responsibility to secure a van, so Gevorg and I have been working on a
proposal and started conversations with some potential donors. We are working with CDRC on the logistics
necessary to make the van service work ie creating a schedule so that all of
the families from the same village have appointments on the same day and working
on having the Resource Center open for the parents and their children to use
while waiting for their return trip home.
We are also hoping to implement some trainings during this wait time,
starting with trainings on how the parents can continue rehabilitation
treatment with their children at home.
Other than the big projects, I’ve had some other good things
going onJ We had the grand opening of Caritas's new office complete with a puppet show and a dance party in the streets.
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| Dance Party in the street |
Diana
and Rima have begun their requirement of Gender Equality trainings as a result
of the TOT which we all participated in.
They have completed two successful trainings, one addressing gender,
respect, and communication with the children from Caritas’ Little Prince program
and the second addressing domestic violence and gender with some of the parents
of the Little Prince children. This
Friday, they will be holding a leadership seminar with women who are victims of
domestic violence. I was also fortunate
enough to be invited to hold a two day seminar on fundraising and donor
relations at the Social Support Center in Gyumri.
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| Fundraising Seminar in Gyumri |
And, some of the last few weekends, I have
made my way into Yerevan to play softball at the Embassy with a mix of PCV’s,
Armenians, and Embassy folks, which has been a great little taste of the states
and a blast to play! I've even gotten the chance to pitch, no more handstands and cartwheels in the back field:)
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Speaking of a taste
of the states, last week, I went with a few others to the Opera House for
Non-stop Hollywood, a wonderful concert put on by the Armenian Youth
Orchestra. In addition to great music
reminding me of home, there was a big screen behind the orchestra with clips
from each film the group played including The Matrix (got to see Rob Dougan’s
Clubbed to Death live!), The Godfather, Braveheart, Pirates of the Carribean,
Life is Beautiful, Mission Impossible,
James Bond, and many, many more. And
this past weekend, I spent my time in Talin for their Spring clean-up, which
included painting a fence, planting trees and laying carpet, as well as for
their Spring 5K.
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| Talin 5K |
So that’s a little update from Armenia, have a pretty busy
two weeks ahead, tomorrow I am heading
to Yerevan for Sylvie’s (my little host sister from Argel) 3rd
birthday party, my Program Manager and Regional Manager will be in Gavar
Wednesday for site identification, visiting potential host families and NGO’s….hopefully
getting a new volunteer in August!, Thursday we have our tech dress rehearsal
for the Talent Show, Leadership Seminar Friday, Talent Show Sunday, heading to
Yerevan for a training for BRO camp, the boys leadership camp where I will be a
counselor this summer, visiting the NGO which Diana and I work with in Vardenis
on Wednesday, BINGO with the Little Prince kids and the elderly from Caritas’
Homecare project, celebrating my site
mates birthday Monday, June 3rd, then flying out 4:30am June 5th! Thanks again to all of you for your love and
support, hope to see some of you while I am home!
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| PCV's at the end of the Talin 5K! |
