Peace Corps Project

Besides visiting a new town and host family last Sunday, I also met my work partner and visited the agency where I will be volunteering as a community consultant as my primary Peace Corps project.  Here you see me with my partner, the Director of the community Centru Universul, Doamna Viorica Osfatinschi.  She is the founder of the non-profit organization that operates this multifunctional community center.  About 80 people a day come to the center for a variety of activities.  It serves everyone from the very young to the elderly and homeless.  It has a staff of eleven that includes a social worker, a psychologist, a home-ec teacher, a speach therapist, a personal trainer, a music and nutritionist.  My job is to assist with program delivery as well as find new methods of youth involvement, teach some English and business classes, and do some promotion of volunteering fom the community.  Of course some of this work may involve grant reasearch and writing.  Next you see our town Mayor, Doamna Parascovia Negruta.  I of course stopped in to introduce myself.   Small world, her married daughter lives just outside Chicago.  On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, we came to Chisinau with our work partners to attend a workshop put on by Peace Corps.  It was held at the Institutul Munchii (Labor Institute).  It focused on mutual expectations we have about our work projects in Moldova.  Hopefully it means we are all on the same page to begin with. 

Home Sweet Home Jeloboc

Just twenty minues east of the city of Orhei, the road comes to a stop.  At that point the routiera does a u-turn and starts back to Orhei.  But you have arrived at the towns of Piatra-Jeloboc.  Together the two towns list about 3,000 people and have one Mayor's Office to serve themboth.  My new home will be in Jeleboc and my new work will be in a community cener in Piatra.  Here's a little tour of my new home.  In the first picture you see the front gate of the property.  The open window above the gate is my bedroom.  It's actually in the casa micha (small house) which is separate from the house my host family lives in.  You can see the entrance to the casa micha.  That's where you take your shoes off.  People to do not wear shoes in the house!  You can see I have a bright and beautifully decorated room to sleep and work in.  Next is the kitchen, that is kitchen table.  This is where we eat...of course this is very seasonal.  The balcony is attached to the main house and you can see the beautiful iron work and petunias.  From the balcony you have a wonderful view of the valley.  Its a gorgeous stretch of land as far as the eye can see.  And there's a natural spring or "Izvor" snaking its way through it towards the Nistru river.  (more pictures later)  Now what about those free range chickens!!!  Excuse me, you're looking at the door on the right of our solar shower.  Neither Piatra nor Jeloboc have running water.  The people rely on their wells to supply water.  Next we have the out house.  Notice the durable construction.  Remember this is a four season location.  Currently this is a squat only facility, but I am seriously hoping for a seat upgrade.  And here are a couple of the friendly family members who are willing to adopt me for two years.  Iulie Leca is the mom of the family.  Her husband, Ilie, is already out in the fields with the four family cows.  The young man is their 28 year old son, Sergei.  He is a social worker at the community center that I will be working at starting in August.  Well there you have it.  Oh no address needed.  The streets don't have names.

Stauceni Scenes

Here are some sights from the town I have been living in and will continue to train in for one more month.  That's Stauceni  ("stau-chen").  It has a pretty impressive soccer field that's kept groomed and watered for regional teams.  You can see the score board above and a great view from the soccer field on the south end of town.  That's Chisinau ("key-sha-now") in the distance.  The nation's capital.  Stauceni has a seciton of town that are the cinder block apartments from the Soviet era.  It also has a very stylish modern apartment building.  Most of the town is just rows and rows of the traditional homes that are often under some reconstruction or improvement.  Summer time is home improvement time in Moldova.  Garbage pick up is twice a week and provided by the blue tractor and wagon above.  The next picture shows a little brick house in the center.  That's a "fontana"  or well.  You can find these sprinkled throughout the community.  People still come here and take water by the bucket full to their houses, although most of Stauceni has running water in the house.  And lastly we have the shining domes of the local Orthodox briserica ("bree-sara-ca") or church.  Thanks for taking a walk around my town. 

Sunday in Jeloboc

Where the heck is Jeloboc you say.  Well it's not too far from Orhei. (or-hey)   That's where I was last Sunday visiting the renovated church from 1914.  It amazes me that Moldovans think a hundred year old building is "ancient".  Put that question on the parking lot for furhter research.  But today I am making my acquaintance with people who will be my hosts for the next two years.  You're going to have to wait a few days for pictures.  I left my attachment for transferring pictures in Stauceni.  My new work site will be in Piatra, and Jeloboc is a "twin city" with Piatra.  I've spent the day here in Jeloboc with Julia who is the wife and mother here, and her 28 year old son Sergei. The father Ilie is away working but will be here in August when I come to stay permanently.  I think I've mentioned that Piatra means "rocks"  and Jeloboc means the place with water that animals go to.  And right outside my door there is the most wonderful meanering spring (river) in a valley that streches for miles and miles.  And there are lots of rocks on the hillsides.  So I think you are getting the rocks and springs connection of Piatra-Jeloboc.  This location is a short 20 minute ride east of the city of Orhei or a good hour and half from Chisinau.  It is a quiet, quiet village.  Much more stories to come once I get my pictures up loaded.  Have a great week.

Site Selection Announced

The long awaited day has come.  We know our Peace Corps assingment sites and what organization we will be working with for our time in Moldova.  We gathered in the usual conference room of the Liceum (high school)  where we have our training in Chisinau.  Liliana Botnaru gave us an overview of how sites are solicited and selected by Peace Corps Moldova.  Then we all went outside to the playground in front.  Someone had chalked in a map of Moldova on the blacktop and the towns we are to serve in were marked.  Now our country director, Jeffrey Goveia, called our names one by one and gave us our Peace Corps assingments.  Each of us took our places on the giant Moldovan map.  Current volunteers were there to help us find our towns and give us some personal information about the location and what it was like.  I am assigned the town of Piatra in the raion of ORHEI.  As you may recall from last Sunday, I was visiting in Orhei and saw the beautful area it is located in.  I was very happy to find out my work will be in such a beautiful place.  I will be working with an NGO (non governmental organization) called "Universal"  This NGO tries to be a support for persons who live in soically vulnerable families and provide activities for them that keep them integrated in the community.  It provides social services that address psycho-social needs.  Sounds like something I like doing.  We all left excited by our assingments and went to a local bar to look at our Moldovan maps and dream of what it will be like to visit our new sites this coming Sunday.

Sunday's trip to Orhei

This Sunday we took a trip to Orhei. 

Orhei is around 45 km away north of →Chişinău and stretches along the river Răut, which is eventually flowing into the river Nistru (Dniestr) near Dubăsari. The valley of the river is rather wide in and around Orhei, so that it almost forms a plain. About 29,600 people live in Orhei.  The trip there took about an hour over fairly good roads but places along the way were under repair.  We were awed by the bright sunflower fields.  Cooking oil made from sun flower seeds is quite common and popular here in Moldova.  We attended catholic Mass in Orhei in a beautiful church that was over 100 years old.  Early in 2005 rennovation of the structure took place.  The priest from Stauceni comes to say the Mass and was our driver this morning.  He is pictured above in the blue shirt.  This is Parinte Hisgani of the Divine Word Congregation.  He is a native of Fiji Islands and speaks Romanian and English very well.  Also along today were fellow PCT's  Georgiana and Yvette (not pictured) and Georgiana's host mom, Olga of Stauceni.  Moldovan catholics call their priests "Parinte" or Parent instead of Father as we do in English.  Today's message:  Go in Peace, the Mass is ended.

Field Trip to Calarasi

Friday afternoon and its time for a field trip to Calarasi.  Calarasi is about a 45 minute drive NW from Chisinau.  It is a city of 16,000 people and is only 580 years old!  The symbol of Calarasi is the travelor....specifically a travelor on horseback.  The name Calarasi has that meaning in Romanian.  There are some major industries here.  There is a cognac producer, a large canner of fruits and jellies, a clothing manufacturer, a large dairy processing 5 tons of milk a day, and a manufacturer of PVC pipes.  There are some foreign investors here.  There is a partnership with an Italian firm to make shoes, and a contract with Syria for the export of walnuts.  We arrived at the Primaria or the Mayor's Office and were greeted by the Mayor and Vice Mayor.  We had the chance to meet Bob, an M25 volunteer who is extending his stay for 10 more months after two years in Moldova.  We spoke about his work supporting his Moldovan work partner,Liliana, who is a funding specialist on the staff of the Mayor.  Together they have received grants to make improvements to the community.  Then we visited a Magazin Universal...which just translates to a "general store".  But weren't just shopping, we were visiting one of PCV Bob's secondary projects, a youth center.  It's up on the second level above the store.  You can see what a cool mural the youth have made along with the participation of a few PCV's.  As we boarded our bus for home, we were all inspired by what can happen when the Peace Corps Volunteer and the community can work together.  In the background we could see the Moldovan Codru or Forested Preserve on the hillsides.