The past week and a half have been rather tumultuous here in Armenia, following the Presidential Elections of last Tuesday. Officially, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan has been declared the winner. The international reports noted they were, “with OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections.” So that’s good, right? Well, the opposition parties have lived up to their name, and have been peacefully protesting in the streets of Yerevan since last Wednesday. What that will mean for the country, I can’t say. I would suggest you follow the news reports so graciously translated by the US Embassy for more information. For the Peace Corps volunteers, it means we’ve been temporary asked to not travel to Yerevan, and to “remain vigilant”. Don’t worry, Mom, it’s not Kenya, but it’s certainly the most exciting political event that’s happened since I’ve been here. I doubt things will get much worse, but it’s one step closer to my dream of a helicopter evac… Anyway, I guess that means no KFC for me this weekend :/
Fortunately, they are letting us travel in the regions, so this weekend I am going to Artashots (in the far North-West) to go cross-country skiing. I’ve never been, and I’m really excited. There is a couple there that were Olympic champions during the Soviet times, and they offer weekend X-country skiing trips for dirt cheap (~$40, including lodging, food, rentals, etc for the weekend). I’m excited about that, and the fact they have a hot shower. For those keeping count, it’s now been 58 days without water. *Sigh* is Spring anywhere in sight??
There has been a lot to do here in Noyemberyan lately, so I haven’t been too disrupted by the elections and water. The main thing is that construction has begun on our bathrooms! This is a big step for us, as we’re very good about taking things apart, but it’s always the putting it back together part that scares me. They are doing well so far, and while it will be at least a few weeks before I have anything tangible to show off, we are making progress! I’m also helping the Koghb Art School with their website, which is fun, because I haven’t really done a lot of website work lately, and I really do miss it. We hope to have it finished and posted within the next week or so.
Which brings me to an interesting point. As I mentioned last time, I’m over 3/4 done with my Peace Corps service, and it is time to be thinking about the future. Right now, my life compass is pointing in the direction of warmth; specifically, Dallas, Texas. While I’m only about 80% sure right now, it’s looking like that’s where I’ll land come August. I plan on getting back to the software side of life, but more into Software Engineering, and hopefully eventually into IT management. If anyone has any potential work/housing/happy hour connections for me, please send them my way!
Ay where to begin? First of all, thank you all for your support from my previous post. It’s good to see there are others out there like me who believe in what we’re doing and why we’re here. Now go tell your Congressmen! 😉
I’ve been out and about a lot in the past few weeks, both for work and pleasure. We’ll start with the former – I was a trainer at the Peace Corps’ Project Design and Management workshop last week. Basically, all of the volunteers from the new group got together, and us old folks taught them the steps of project design. Really, it was an excuse for most people to get out of their cold villages and have a hot shower, but I think the workshop was really beneficial. I don’t like teaching that much, but this is one of the few Peace Corps trainings I find worthwhile. Plus we got to teach with an Armenian counterpart, which is always fun, and mine did a great job (hope she’s reading this!).
When not rambling on about goals and budgets, I did have some fun in my travels, and got a taste of one of my favorite past-times, skiing! Well, I say taste because it was not quite the intense, all-day back-country adventure I’d like. The first trip was to a new “resort”, Jermuk, which is famous for it’s mineral water (they stopped selling it in America last year because of high mercury levels…). We arrived at the lifts to find we were the only people there (this is a weekend in late January, mind you – high season). Why, you may ask, was it empty?
Us: Is this place open? We can go skiing here, right?
Workers: Well…
Us: Well??
Workers: Well, you can take the lift to the top, no problem. You can ski down about a hundred yards. But when you get to right there (points finger to the rock-covered home stretch of the only run), you have to take off your skis and walk down the mountain.
Who in their right mind would travel 8 hours to a ski resort only to walk half the run?? Three times. Apparently me. Behold, in all it’s glory, me “conquering” Mt. Jermuk:
Yup. Three times of that was just about enough. Fortunately I was able to ski again at a different mountain the day after our conference, and that was a much better experience. Although I still had to pay every time I went up the lift – no day passes here, folks!
But, life didn’t stop when I returned to Noyemberyan last weekend. The most exciting news is that we started construction on the handicap accessible bathrooms! Granted, this is only the first week of the next 4 months of work, but it was great to finally see the first old rusty pipes removed and served to our stray dogs:
Note: no dogs have been harmed in the building of our bathrooms.
Right now, the Noy is covered in snow and ice, and to keep the heat in, only the front door of the school is kept open. That means, to go to the bathroom, you must go down to the first floor, around the school, up an icey slope, and then use the bathroom in an exposed brick room. This project can’t be finished any too soon!
To contrast the most exciting news from Noyemberyan, I offer the most depressing news (for me, my hair, and those that must smell me): our building has officially not had running water for 50 days!! Yes, I do have water to drink, cook with, bathe in, etc – we just bring it from the forest, or wait for the army truck (which only comes because our neighbor on the 5th floor is a general, and he makes the soldiers come after hours) to fill up our bath tubs. The city government, to its credit, came up with an ingenious solution that did restore water to the other buildings. After assembling Noyemberyan’s finest engineering corps, they traced the main pipe to the valve where it was frozen, and set to thaw it out. With a tire fire. Yes, they dug the pipe up with a back hoe, and lit three truck tires on fire on top of the pipe until it thawed. Brilliant, I tell you! But I would have been far more tolerant of the plumes of black smoke had it worked for our building. Oh well. It’s just a real pain in the butt, and I now realize all those people asking me if I can get them a visa to America (or if I’ll marry their daughter for the same reason) might not be joking after all…
Perhaps this could all be solved with some accountability from the government – so it’s a good thing the Presidential elections are next Tuesday. One of the great things about being a Peace Corps volunteer is that we are instructed to remain on the sidelines for politics. So, instead of offering my own brilliant insights into the elections, I’ll turn you towards some blogs/websites with much more in-depth coverage.
- Meet the candidates
- US Embassy’s summary of the media’s election coverage (nicely translated in English!)
- A British journalist/photographer’s blog
- A local’s perspective
I’ll leave it to the OSCE (the election monitors from Europe) to give the official report on just how “fair” and “free” the elections are and will be on the 19th. If you care for my unofficial, on the ground, voice-of-the-people reaction, you’ll just have to wait until August 15th. Which brings me to my last talking point, and makes today a happy day for two reasons: my mother’s birthday (I love you!), and the 3/4 finished (or 1/4 remaining) milestone of my Peace Corps service! Reflections to follow, but home sweet home in a little under 6 months! Taco Bell, here I come!1
It was about time. Walking around my town here in Armenia, it’s hard not to feel like a rock star. Not withstanding my wearing bright colors (and not wearing pointy shoes – usually), I’m a 6’5″ gangly English speaker, so I get a few looks. The children like to practice their “hellos” with me, and my older friends like to make sure the horns on their Ladas still work as I walk down the street. In a town where not much is different from day to day, I like to think I can be a liason to what’s going on outside the (almost literal) walls of Armenia. But while here, where everyone from our Peace Corps Country Director to my host mother know where I am and what I’m doing, I doubt many people in America know, or even care.
Thankfully, I had a chance run-in with my friend Winston, a publications designer at Truman State, while I was home over Christmas. After telling him my story, he worked with the Kirksville newspaper and got my picture splashed all over the front page! So, without further ado, my 15 minutes of fame: http://kirksvilledailyexpress.com/articles/2008/01/29/news/news1.txt
Ok, as you may have noticed if you click the link, it’s not really about me at all, but about how, “Truman State University has made its first appearance in the Peace Corps’ annual rankings of schools producing volunteers for the organization. Truman has 20 alumni currently serving as Peace Corps volunteers, ranking the school at 25th on the organization’s list of medium-size schools producing volunteers.” Exciting, huh?
For those of you who are already bored, head over to this link if you want to read something far more amusing. Otherwise, scroll down to the “comments” section and read the, um, thoughts of some Daily Express readers regarding the Peace Corps. With such intelligent insight as, “…translates into, ‘Do you want fries with that?'” and, “I suppose that ‘working’ for $2000 a year showing Africans how to dig a ditch beats trying to hide their dope while living in their parents’ basement,” it really made me wonder what people think of the Peace Corps these days.
First of all, I think it’s ridiculous to imply every person (or even most) who joined PC is an unemployable bum. Looking at my group alone, we have teachers with 40 years of experience, Ivy League graduates, computer programmers, a professional opera singer, and the best banjo player I’ve ever heard (yes, in Missouri, I’ve heard my share). And there’s been plenty of RPCVs who have made a good life for themselves. But more than that, we’re all hard workers who have dedicated two years of our lives to serve our country, transfer meaningful skills, and show people that America isn’t just about blowing up other countries, and that we are a diverse, democratic people who care about our country and our freedoms.
It just makes me upset that people would degrade the work we do because they don’t understand it. In the same way I would never criticize a soldier for the war in Iraq, I’d never blame a volunteer for trying to improve the world. After a year and a half in Peace Corps, I’ve realized nation-building and development are destined to be a failed effort the way we’re doing it now. By simply comparing the numbers, our government spends much more on our military efforts overseas than they do the Peace Corps. While I don’t discount the importance of the military or security abroad, I think we spend far too much money destroying countries (and ultimately their infrastructure, schools, hospitals, etc) than improving them (making sure people in the regions, such as where I live, have jobs, good education and running water, which we don’t). I’ve found that when people are desperate to have their most basic needs fulfilled, they will turn to the easiest answer, which unfortunately in much of the world has become fundamentalist Islam or corrupt governments.
As a Peace Corps volunteer, I haven’t made a big difference here. In fact, I’ve learned to accept that I can’t, and furthermore shouldn’t be making that difference – the people here need to. But our role, as a country with a vast amount of trained people and resources, should assist these countries and make that happen. The Peace Corps does that through little victories – which is what I’ve come to accept as my role as a Peace Corps volunteer. I’ve helped students learn English and civics to be better leaders; I’ve promoted computer literacy and access; I’ve given children with disabilities access to education; finally, I’ve taught people that all Americans aren’t like those leaving these ignorant comments on a web-page.
I would love to here your opinions on what the Peace Corps is and its role in the modern world. Personally, I think now, more than ever, the Peace Corps is needed to promote the values and diversity that really are America, not just what they see on TV. And the Peace Corps is needed to make these little victories happen so the large ones come easier. But let the world know what you think – after all, that freedom is what we’re here promoting, anyway, right?
After being home for a couple of weeks this winter, I realized (not surprisingly) that Armenia isn’t usually the highlight of the news, especially during the election season. I wanted to share some interesting articles I’ve been reading about Armenia and the political situation that might shed some light on what Armenia is like on the international political and economic level (which isn’t something I have direct contact with, so I don’t usually write about).
The first is from BBC, and is about the recent sell-off of a large number of utilities, the rail network, etc. to Russian companies. The obvious effects are that Armenia now owns few of the resources it can be used to become an independent power, and it is falling back towards many of its Soviet ways, despite the progress we’re seeing on a local level.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia and his Armenian counterpart, Robert Kocharian, talked of “the truly allied character of the Russian-Armenian relationship” at a meeting in August 2007.
But critics in Armenia accuse President Kocharian and his ministers of accumulating vast personal wealth while selling off the country’s most precious assets to Moscow.
“The Russians own what is the economic backbone of Armenia,” says an opposition newspaper.
“Moscow is in control of virtually all our strategic resources.”.
The second article is on the Nogorno-Karabakh conflict, which has been in a 13 year stalemate with Azerbaijan (it’s the reason why our Azeri and Turkish borders are closed). An excerpt:
IT MAY be the most combustible place in Europe. Were it to reignite, the effects could be dire. Yet the world takes little interest in Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave disputed by Armenians and Azerbaijanis, preferring to see it as just another “frozen conflict”. The fear is that it may be thawing.
It’s a really interesting article, which you can read at Economist.com. Enjoy!