Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Did I Find a Girlfriend?

August 9, 2009

Three Types of Volunteers

My friend, the assistant to our Country Director recently told me volunteers, after a sufficient time at site, fall into one of three social categories. They either hang out mostly with fellow volunteers, surround themselves with locals or a combination of the two. I fall into the second category. I correspond with one volunteer.  She lives in a village in Naryn and one of the many things we have in common is she doesn't keep company with the vols in her oblast, either. The reasons that we don't differ, but we've both found contentment in having all Kyrgyz and Russian friends.

She was victimized by a false rumor (the #1 activity of PCVs is gossiping). I simply decided not to spend my two years of service chumming around with people I can find in Brooklyn. Additionally, I have little in common with know-it-all 22 year-old white males. I was one at one time. You may say I have even less in common with my Kyrgyz friends, but I would disagree. We share a sincere desire to learn about each other's culture. The biggest obstacle I face is their age. Most of them are early 20's and their life experience is limited. In spite of this, they've enlightened me in many ways.

The volunteer in Naryn (hereafter referred to as “N”) and I messaged constantly and spoke on the phone often. I found her a refreshing voice in the sea of GenXer’s. She lived in a village so didn’t have volunteers around her like I did and enjoyed her Kyrgyz family and friends. I felt she was ok with that, very similar to me.

I never intended to look for or find a girlfriend in the PC, either a volunteer or Kyrgyz national. I wanted to fulfill my service and move on, but as the universe often overrules our wants and desires, I developed an attraction to N, and when we had group meetings, I truly cherished the opportunities to talk face to face. I sensed that she might have felt the same for me, but I wasn’t sure. In time we spoke of meeting in Bishkek to hang out for a weekend.

In the book: Did we meet or did I chicken out?

Sunday, August 7, 2016

School Project Funded

August 3, 2009
School Project Funded

Thanks to everyone who donated to the school project.  I know tough times exist for many people and families, so your sacrifice is doubly appreciated.  The money should be in my bank account within two weeks.  Then, my counterpart and I will travel to Bishkek to purchase the goods.  When school starts, the students will be able to use their new TV, DVD player, computer and printer.  The director has promised to give us Internet access, too.

One mystery remains regarding the funding of the project.  When I wrote last week that the deadline for donations was 31 July, we still needed a little over $700.  On the 29th I went to check the web site and I couldn't find my project.  This meant it had been fully funded!  But, by whom?  One individual?  Or did several donations come in over a span of two or three days?  It's not important, but my curiosity is killing me.  I'm supposed to get a printout listing all the donors, so that may solve it because I think I know who gave up to last week. 

I'll be taking a photo of the new English Resource Center and including it in a future Mail from Kyrgyzstan.  I'm going to see if I can record a group thank you by the students and include that, too.

When I first arrived at my new school in March 2009 I asked Anara where we’d find the English Department offices. She laughed and led me to a room on the second floor, rectangular, maybe 8x20, and said, “Here we are.” It also doubled as her classroom. The ancient blackboard was three-foot square. I found no teaching/learning tools. Four teachers shared one totally tattered Russian/English text book, circa 1984. I knew something needed to be done, equipment and reference books purchased, but it wasn’t going to happen in that room. With a long table and chairs on each side there was barely room enough to walk from one end of the room to the other.

I told Anara that the Peace Corps had a program whereby we could raise money for a computer, printer, TV, DVD player and books, but we’d need a different room. She would ask the director. Not sure when he gave us a new room on the first floor, not much bigger than the one we had previously, but sufficiently large enough for the new equipment and room for students. I was able to set up the project on what would now be GoFundMe or Kickstarter. Alas, at that time I hadn’t created a Facebook page, so I had to rely on my personal Gmail contact list, about 60 people. As I recall, we needed about $1400 and I was certain that I’d have to cover any shortfall; I had a figure of $600-800 in mind.

Projects had a certain number of days to be funded and I can’t remember how many. I do know that our deadline was July 31st. I visited the website on the 29th and couldn’t find the project. This meant that it had been fully funded, but how could that be? I had checked a couple of days prior and we still needed about $700. I rebooted the computer thinking maybe I’d run into a technical malfunction. Still no project. I had no idea what was going on.

Turns out someone had donated the large amount we needed, a gentleman from West Hartford, CT. I had no idea who he was or why he chose my project, but angels do exist. That started me thinking that maybe there was a group people, maybe Returned Peace Corps Volunteers or folks who loved what the PC did and stood for that funded projects that needed cash and had a deadline looming. I learned the man’s name and my sister was able to get an email address for him. I sent him a thank you email, but didn’t dig for further information because why he donated wasn’t important to me. He didn’t want any thanks. He just did what he likes to do. And my school, the teachers and students and I were the grateful beneficiaries of his largesse.

The room was renamed the English Language Resource Center (that’s close if not exact). The printer was meant to be an income stream that would allow for the purchase of paper and ink for future copies, and books and DVD’s if we ever earned that much. Business was brisk as students always needed copies of documents and homework. At 2 soms per copy the money was adding up quickly. Sadly, while I taught there, we never purchased another DVD beyond what came with the initial project money, because the income stream flowed directly into Anara’s pocket. She was now a small business owner of sorts. While her action disappointed me, it did not surprise me. People must take advantage of every opportunity to make money in a country of low wages. I call it Survival Corruption.


I wonder if any of the original equipment still works, or if it’s even there anymore? I sent Anara an email asking for an update. The TV doesn’t work, but the computer and printer still do. As for any photos of the equipment, the vanished when my computer crashed in early 2010.