It finally snowed here in Gavar. The fact that it waited until December to do
so is awesome considering by this time last year, snow had been on the ground
for over a month and the very cold temperatures I am currently experiencing had
been around just as long. So while it’s
getting pretty cold here and each day I seem to need to add another layer (I don't quite look like Randy, Ralphie's brother from A Christmas Story, but it's coming ), I am
so grateful that this winter, so far, is very mild compared to last!
Quick update from my last post, the World AID’s day event
went very well in Gyumri. I presented
alongside two other PCV’s, Chris and Brian and we had about 30 people in the
audience including our PC Country Director, David Lillie, our Training
Coordinator, Liana, and the Regional Manager for the North, Liana. I also decided to stay the night in Gyumri so
I got to spend time with Kim, an A-19 who I adore, Brian, one of the other
presenters, and Amie and Brian from my PST village. Then on Saturday, one of the bars in Yerevan
hosted a World AIDs Day event which we all attended. AIDs still tends to fairly taboo here in
Armenia so the fact that a bar held an event was a pretty big deal.
I actually have lots to report on, as I have said pretty
much every post, I am never without something new happening in my life over
hereJ First, I got to be on Gavar TV! A couple of Sunday nights ago, I, along with 6 other members of the community spoke about volunteerism. It was a really great experience and was also very interesting for me to hear the perspectives from the other ladies on the panel. I did have to have a translator as my Armenian is not nearly good enough yet, so I lost a little but of what was said, but it was still a pretty cool experience!
The big news is, I have switched NGO’s. While I enjoyed getting to know and become friends with the social workers and director of VIA, there is not enough work for me to be doing with them right now. They are currently meeting with World Vision to develop an action plan and, at this time, it is not the right place for me to be working, though I will be acting as a consultant for them as they work through next steps for the NGO. We ended things on good terms and Gegham, my former counterpart, and I will continue to work with each other on small projects and trainings, so our relationship will continue to grow over the next two years.
The big news is, I have switched NGO’s. While I enjoyed getting to know and become friends with the social workers and director of VIA, there is not enough work for me to be doing with them right now. They are currently meeting with World Vision to develop an action plan and, at this time, it is not the right place for me to be working, though I will be acting as a consultant for them as they work through next steps for the NGO. We ended things on good terms and Gegham, my former counterpart, and I will continue to work with each other on small projects and trainings, so our relationship will continue to grow over the next two years.
So I am very excited to report that I now have a dual
placement with two really amazing NGO’s and three even more amazing
counterparts! I began with my new placements
this past Monday, and, while everything is new and we are just starting to work
on a schedule and project ideas, I couldn’t be more excited about the next two
years with them.
My first placement is with an NGO called Bari Huys (Good
Hope) NGO. Good Hope NGO works with
Gavar’s rehabilitation center and helps support the children and parents of
children with disabilities who are seen at the center as well as children
throughout our Gegharkunik region. My
counterpart at Good Hope is Gevorg, a very motivated and active member of
Gavar’s community, who worked with a Peace Corps volunteer in the past and grew
a great deal during his time working with Chris. Gevorg is incredibly enthusiastic and so
excited to work with me. I will also be working with Gevorg's sister, Mariam, on a few projects as well. At Good Hope
NGO, I will be helping with new project ideas, strategic planning, social media
and public relations, and fundraising.
Below is Good Hope’s mission:
The mission of Good
Hope NGO is one that empowers special needs children and their parents on
health, social, and educational issues facing disabled children in Armenia and
particularly in the Gegharkunik Marz. We believe in protecting the rights and
interests of children with special needs, including access to legal, psychological,
and physical council. We believe in challenging the legal establishment in
favor of children with special needs.
The other NGO I will be working with is Armenian Caritas
Gavar. I will be working with two
different programs at Caritas, the Little Prince Program and Aramazd. My counterpart for the Little Prince Program
is Tatavik and Diana, who I go to the orphanage on Sundays with, is my
counterpart for the Aramazd program. The
Little Prince program “aims at alleviating the poverty among disadvantaged
children and their families living in Gegharkunik Marz through the enhancement
of the social protection system.” Little
Prince has an after-school program, which I will be helping Tatevik with (coming
up with new training and project ideas for) as well as a psychologist who all
of the children can meet with as much as necessary. In addition, Tatevik and I are going to work
on trainings for the parents of the kids as well as projects that will bring
together the kids from Caritas and the Orphanage to assist with relationships
and integration for both groups and most of the kids tend to be considered
outsiders.
The goal of the Aramazd program is “to support the
development process of the refugee-populated communities in sub-regions of
Amasia, Varednis, and Chambarak through continuation of capacity building
activities of the local NGOs in the targeted sub-regions and provision on
mini-grant opportunities.” Diana and I
will be working together with the NGO’s located in Vardenis and Chamabarak
assisting them with needs assessments, capacity building, fundraising, project
ideas, etc. Vardenis and Chambarak are
both located about an hour drive from Gavar, so I will have the opportunity to
work in a different community which I am very much looking forward to.
Working with both of these organizations this week got me
really excited for what the next two years of my service will be. I look forward to updating you with all of
the good things happening with Caritas and Good Hope as well as with my really
awesome counterparts.
Diana and I continue to go the orphanage every Sunday
afternoon and I really enjoy this time, not only with the girls, but also being
able to work with Diana. We have two
groups with about 12 girls each. The older
group tends to be a little tougher to work with, there are a lot of
personalities, some psychological issues, and a little push back, but at the
end of the day they are all wonderful girls and I love being able to spend
Sunday afternoon with them. This past
week was our most successful yet, we did a lesson on what the similarities are
between the girls and what makes each of them unique. After a discussion, we put together a
personality/unity puzzle. Each girl got
a puzzle piece to draw a part of her personality which was most important to
her, then we put all of the pieces together. I was
quite surprised how successful the activity was given some of our more
challenging gatherings the last couple of weeks and was pretty excited that the
girls immediately hung their puzzles on the walls. Next week is our last week with the girls
before Nor Taree (New Years) and then we will start back up with them
mid-January.
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| some of the older girls with their puzzle |
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| some of the younger girls with their puzzle |
My new work is my biggest news these days. Otherwise, it has gotten quite cold around
these parts, so I have started to come up with ways to cope with the cold. The first being a morning challenge, how long
it takes me to get out of bed, take a shower, get the guts to get out of the
shower, run back to my bedroom, get back in bed and then get warm. The amount of will power it takes is actually
pretty amazing and I have to laugh at myself every time because I keep trying
to convince myself that it is not going to be that cold, but it seems to get
worse. The good thing is, because I can
mostly live in the bedroom/dining room area of my house, it’s pretty easy to
get that space warm pretty quickly. It’s
just the bathroom and kitchen which are tough, but again pretty entertaining, I
can see my breath when I am cooking and when I am brushing my teethJ
The other big excitement in my life these days is I will be
seeing my sister, and a few of my dearest friends in 18 days! I will be celebrating the New Years holiday with
them in Prague and Budapest and am beyond excited! While I will be here for Christmas, we, the
other PCV’s and I, have a lot of fun things planned. Next weekend, I will be headed to Yerevan
Friday night and Talin Saturday night for a Pre-Christmas celebration with a
bunch of the other PCV’s. Saturday we
will be singing Christmas carols, watching Christmas movies, and doing a
Chinese auction. Then, I believe I may
be hosting Christmas Eve here in Gavar with a few other people. I even decorated with purple lights, bday
present from Dorrie, a handmade Christmas tree centerpiece, and a walk hanging
of Santa. So definitely getting in the
spirit around here!
Last but not least, I realized today that I can’t walk down
the streets of Gavar without running into someone I know, feel like that’s a
pretty good sign that I am starting to become a part of the community hereJ
Hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful December, sending lots
of love your way!
