A Year of Daily Bus Trips…and Horse Milk

Monday, November 17 2008
Aktobe

This morning when I was running my normal morning route: walk the four minutes from my home to bus #1, gently scramble to find a seat on the bus, sit for 20 minutes listening to my music and often awkwardly take a call in English as everyone again looks at me (which is only a stronger gaze when I switch between English and Russian), lightly pushing my way to the front (today with the three boxes of Monopoly, Risk, and Othello for “Golden Heart”), pay, get off, and walk the five minutes to work, get the keys from the security guards, and then start the day, I had a moment of remembrance of why I enjoy my time here.

The last couple of months have been really busy – a lot of running around (Aktobe and Almaty) and focusing on programmatic details for projects at my organization and a number of secondary projects.  It was starting to get to that border of tiring.  Fortunately, I have good friends, family, and projects which have kept me focused and relaxed.  Thinking about what I’ve been doing, however, made me realize how tired I was.

Then, this morning, I had one of those moments that brings relaxation.  Life isn’t meant to be a series of fights and stress over the details that will work out well whether they happen my way or another way.  The challenge, the fun, and the success is in all of the accomplishments and the inspiration.  My organization could accomplish their projects without me.  I bring, however, that other perspective and maybe that little bit of additional support.  If that little bump can help us not just accomplish the projects but make them even better than they thought they could be – that’s success.  I’m learning a lot from my colleagues and friends here.  Expanding the big picture and helping to bring all the small details into greater focus, both parts are important and thinking about things that way is simply really relaxing.

Sunday, November 16 2008
Aktobe

New Volunteers and the one year mark.  I feel as if I’ve been traveling a lot over the last few months and trying to balance that with a lot of work in Aktobe.  Work has been very busy.  My organization has really embraced the Volunteer Club concept and our volunteers are one of the key parts for our upcoming program, “Golden Heart”.  We heard back from the Japanese Embassy regarding a grant we applied for to fund the renovations of our wheelchair factory site.  We won the grant and in December, our organization’s director and I will be going to Astana to officially sign the forms.  Barack Obama won the U.S. Presidency.  Horse therapy finished on a strong note, with more people expressing interest just as the cold weather arrived.  I went to Almaty, twice.  English Club has consistently had 50 to 60 people on Thursdays and 30 to 50 on Saturdays for Movie Club.

As the 365 days since arriving in Aktobe passed, it seems that things are going relatively smooth.  As I’ve been watching my colleagues at my organization plan “Golden Heart” since returning from Aktobe, it  struck me how little they need a volunteer in some ways.  A good amount of how they’re planning and running the event is different from how I envisioned it, but that doesn’t make it bad.  Rather, I’m glad that they have this strong ownership over the program.  The program will be two days and two nights at the newest and nicest hotel in the city (http://dastanhotel.kz/en/aktobe).  The primary focus is on the mothers (and a few fathers and grandmothers) of disabled children.  The secondary focus is on the disabled children.  Over 27 volunteers will be working with the children while their parents are attending the conference.

Children is not the most accurate term as the “children” range in age from 6 to 35, with most around 15 years old.  They all have different types of disabilities.  Some have Cerebral Palsy, some are physically disabled, a few are partially deaf, as well as a variety of other disabilities.  One of the most important parts is that our participants are not just from the city but also from surrounding villages.  Even more important is that our volunteers have been visiting these children and their families for between a year and a few months, to spend time with them, to get to know the people they would be working with at the conference, and to establish friendships with the children.  We have lots more individuals (who include school students, university students, and young professionals) who want to volunteer; after “Golden Heart” finishes, we’ll be back on to running more trainings for working with disabled children and pairing our volunteers with our clients.  Then, we’ll again look to expand the Volunteer Club to work with other local non-profits and bring more volunteer leadership into the program.

I thought it would be strange with new PCVs arriving and taking the “place” of my friends who I spent such an intense amount of time with.  All of us Kaz-19s definitely talk about our site-mates who have left a lot (we miss you guys), but the new Volunteers transitioning-in feels pretty normal.  They’re at their jobs, we’ve talked pretty daily this week, went out for drinks, are still getting to know each other and well, basically, they’re great.  I’m excited they’re here and I think they will do a great job.  Having been here for the year, it’s normal to want to offer advice and keep saying “we did it this way, but we don’t have to keep doing it that way”; although I think I make the second part of that statement a little too often.  When I realize I started to buffer my comments too much, I also realized how little time a year is and despite all the experience I’ve gained in that year, it’s still only a year.

I’m enjoying myself and am looking forward to the next year.