Summer in the Village

Well, Camp TARE (the women’s empowerment camp I’ve been talking about) was a success. In Romanian ‘Tare’ means ‘strong.’ And as an acronym, it stands for ‘Tinere (young), Active, Responsabile, Egale (equal). The camp took place July 1-6 in Soroca, the city nearest my village (convenient for me!), and there were 71 young women ages 18-22 from all over Moldova. The theme of this year’s camp was ‘My Dream Can Be Reality,’ and throughout the course of the week the participants went to 15 seminars, with topics ranging from career development to breast cancer. The seminars were taught by teams typically consisting of one Moldovan and one Peace Corps volunteer. (We had 10 PCVs and 8 Moldovan counselors.) In addition to the seminars, we had activities that most girls had never even heard of before, such as pinatas, tie-dye, a bonfire with s’mores, and various art projects. We also had a candlelight vigil for domestic violence, and a guest presentation on human trafficking. As a director, it was so rewarding to see all of our work over the past 5 months to come to fruition. It was incredible to watch these girls grow over the course of the week, and to leave with new friendships, new ideas, new knowledge, and new attitudes. I spent the week acting as a liaison with the campsite director, trouble-shooting any problems, keeping track of expenses, and in general making sure things ran smoothly. The four of us directors were typically the first ones up and the last ones to bed. In addition to the above mentioned duties, I also taught 4 sessions of the community development seminar, and 2 sessions of self-defense, and I led a running group bright and early every morning.

My favorite evening of the whole camp was probably the 4th of July. We had a bonfire and the 14 of us Americans sang patriotic songs and waved around tiny little American flags. We went down to the river and shot off fireworks, which were actually impressive (or maybe I’ve just been here too long). Then the part that brought tears to my eyes – after we sang our national anthem, the 79 Moldovans sang their national anthem. I had never heard it sung before, and you could see how much pride these young women had for their country, and it just made me want to burst. This country needs more young people who love their country and want to improve it.

The final night of the camp the girls organized a talent show, which was awesome. They ended it by crushing the 4 of us directors in a 94 person group hug, which again made me want to cry. At that moment I felt like I had really done something to make a difference. I had that ‘aha!’ moment, that this was why I had joined Peace Corps. And the TARE love doesn’t stop there. Each girl received a 150-page manual (which I diligently worked on through-out the spring – it was great to see our work in published form!) with information for all the seminars as well as sample lesson plans. The hope is that when the girls go back to their villages, they will each do a seminar there, thus further spreading the information that we gave them. Also, this year we are starting up a newsletter to keep giving the young women information and support, and to celebrate their successes. The first issue went out today! Woo hoo!

So, back in my village things have also started to heat up. I spent two weeks working long days to put together a proposal for a grant sponsored by UNDP. The idea is for NGOs to start up small businesses, from which the profits will be used as a source of funding for the ongoing activities of the NGO. So we had to put together a detailed business plan in addition to other information about the NGO. Well, just so happens this is right up my alley, and exactly why I came here! My Moldovan counterpart is the director of the children’s summer camp for our region, so she literally lives at the camp, which is across the street from our village. So everyday I hiked over there, and we worked on the computer she had hauled up to the top of the A-frame cabin were she lives. We talked about things like the target market, the pricing, the financial projections, the management and operations, and in general how to clearly and concisely write up a business plan. It was nice that everything had to be done in Romanian, because then she and her son, who will be the main employee, really did have to write it, and I played the advisor/Excel-goddess role. The week before the proposal was due, however, oh boy, did the rains come! 6 days in a row it rained without stopping, and the power kept going on and off. So it was quite frustrating to be working and having the computer keep turning off. Not to mention I felt like I was permanently wet. But we finished. And I had another this-is-why-I-joined-Peace-Corps moment. One night, my counterpart turned to me and said, ‘Kate, even if we don’t win this grant, I’m so glad we did this. I can’t even tell you how much I’ve learned from you in the last two weeks.’ Then she went on to say that she plans on quitting one of her 4 jobs so that she can spend more time at the NGO and work together more with me. Woo hoo!

Let’s see what else. I’ve also been working on the grant proposal for the beekeeping class that she will be teaching starting this fall. The bee lady lives in the neighboring village, about a 30 minute walk. One day during the week of the rains, I went over to her house to work with her. I waited until it was just a light rain, and then set out down the hill. But of course the skies opened up, and by the time I got to her house I was drenched. I spent the entire afternoon sitting in her house in my underwear. But we accomplished a lot, so I guess it was worth it. Plus I of course got home made sheep cheese, some honey-vodka, fresh tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden, and some honeycomb. Woo hoo!

As for the rains, wow! I’ve never seen anything like this before. The beach where we hung out after the camp – completely gone. The river near Soroca swelled to 3x its normal width, and the water level reached almost to the top of the retaining walls built exactly in case this happens. It was creepy to look at the now huge rushing river. The bus station in Soroca flooded and the road into town from my village closed. In other places people lost their homes. Also, here’s a geography lesson for you. The borders of Moldova are the River Prut on the west, with Romania on the other side, and the River Nistru on the east, with Ukraine on the other side. Funny, several different news sources reported disastrous flooding in Ukraine and Romania due to the overflowing of the Nistru and Prut rivers. But in Moldova, so it seems, nothing happend. What, the rivers only overflowed on one side? Or it’s not disastrous if Moldova floods, just Romania and Ukraine? Boo!

I have now discovered the allure of living in a village. Beyond the fact that you can walk everyone, and everyone knows everyone, and there is beautiful countryside all around, there is the over-crowded and diversly-sowed garden that is requisite for any up-standing Moldovan household. Being that my host parents are abroad, the upkeep of said garden has fallen under the responsibility of two delightful and ‘TARE’ women in their mid 20s, that is, me and my host sister. In one plot of land a bit larger than your typical basketball court, we have onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes, cabbage, green peppers, six different kinds of grapes, strawberries, cherries, apples, and numerous beautiful flowers. So every night I go out and pick some tomatoes, or pull an onion out of the ground, and make some dinner. We sometimes go out to weed, or water, or tie up the tomatoes or grapevines that are being weighed down, or whatever needs to be done. There is enough of everything except the potatoes to be canned and last through the winter. Some of it will be pickled (not a fan), some of it will be marinated (so-so), and some of it combined into a delished pickled/marinated salad (am a fan). And there will be enough grapes to make 500 liters of wine, which will hopefully last until next year’s harvest. (Good thing harvest is coming soon, because we’re almost out of the stuff from last year!) And on top of that, we have also gone over to the relatives, who have a much bigger plot of land, and collected berries. With the goods we made many jars of both raspberry and currant jam. Mmmm. The raspberries – oh my! One day I just sat in the raspberry patch and ate until I couldn’t eat any more. Then I grabbed a few apricots off the tree on the way out to eat later. Oh, and then I made a really AWEsome raspberry pie with homemade crust and everything. Woo hoo!

Oh, and my dog had four adorable little puppies! I get to keep one! Woo hoo!