An Interview with Rebecca and Chris
The week surrounding March 1st, the anniversary of Peace Corps Founding, was Peace Corps week. During this week we invited other volunteers and Peace Corps staff to come and speak to our community on the theme of hospitality and about being volunteers. Svetlana Cernov, a journalist from our local paper the Est-Curier, attended several session and then sat down with us after the week to interview us about our lives as volunteers in Moldova.
Here is the article:
Peace Corps Weeks was held in Criuleni February 26th to March 3rd, 2017. The theme, from the organizers - Rebecca Lehman and Chris Flowers, in partnership with their colleagues who are involved in activities in other communities in Moldova, was ”Hospitality - Each Culture Has Its Own Definition.” Throughout this week, people from Criuleni, mostly children, a few adults, participated in informational sessions led by Peace Corps Volunteers. Most interesting, participants found out that hospitality is demonstrated in different ways by different people, that volunteers have the strength to change things and processes for the better, that it’s good to recycle trash - as demonstrated by an international group of volunteers, who help the city of Sângerei to go through their garbage and collect plastic - and other interesting topics.
Details - we find them from the key players:
What was, in fact, the goal of this event?
Rebecca Lehman: The goal of Peace Corps Week was to mark the founding of Peace Corps in the US - March 3rd [sic], 1961 - and to thank our communities for hosting us. The event is also an opportunity to communicate with locals about our country, about diversity in the US, and about other Peace Corps countries. This year, the theme was “hospitality,” last year the theme was “happiness”, and the year before was “host country heroes.” Around 120 people participated in the activities of this week. And, we participated in similar events, organized by our colleagues in other places. For instance, I went to the library in Caușeni, where volunteers combined Peace Corps Week with Women’s Day, and the event there was really, really beautiful. By the way, Women’s Day isn’t celebrated in the US, We celebrate Mother’s Day in May and Father’s Day in June.
What was the nicest activity and experience of hospitality you had with people from Criuleni?
Rebecca Lehman: There are so many activities we like. Our first experience of hospitality was with our host family, the Stamatis. They opened their house to two strangers and welcomed us with trust, did many activities with us, although we think that we interrupted their lives. Mrs. Irina taught us a lot about Moldovan culture, celebrations, traditions, food, and treats us like her own children, like a mother. Last year, my sisters and brother-in-law visited us and Mrs. Irina hosted us with great warmth.
Chris Flowers: We’ve been in Criuleni since August 2015. I am involved in projects all over the country, like the Diamond Challenge competition for youth entrepreneurship and the summer school Wave Week for those who want to become volunteers. But the nicest project is my work at the Day Center “Hope.” With the team there, we did a project to develop physiotherapy services. Recently, we wrote a project for a relaxation room for the beneficiaries of the center - just today we found out that we won a grant for this project. I have to say, that with this second project, the Center staff wrote 90% of everything, I’m proud that I could contribute to the development of self-confidence of the people who work here. I didn’t do much except encourage them to apply their abilities. I am lucky to work with this high quality team! We’ve already begun to discuss future projects that they can apply to after we leave Criuleni.
Rebecca Lehman: My involvement at school is very nice. I co-teach Health Education lessons with Mrs. Olga Rotari, Mrs. Valentina Dima, and Mrs. Nina Mânzat at Boris Dînga Middle & High School. We developed this partnership due to my masters in public health, which I had, but in the US I worked at a university, with adults and at the community level, though here I have my first experience working with children. I have students and partners who are very patient, clever, who have patience with me when I have trouble explaining things in Romanian.
You’ll remain in Criuleni several more months. What projects do you have to finish?
Rebecca Lehman: Mrs. Olga Rotari and I are working on a project to get microscopes for the school, which haven’t arrived yet. Maybe we will halp students become scientists, doctors, and they need practical skills for this.
Chris Flowers: I want to finish the project with “Hope” for the relaxation room, through which beneficiaries will learn to better control their emotions. I have IT experience in American and will teach the team there about programs like Excel, Word, and Google. We’ll continue to have “English Club” with the library, which we have every Tuesday at 4:00 for children and 5:00 for adults. I really like this activity and think we will continue in the summer. I have other project ideas - we can talk about them in August if they succeed.
Rebecca Lehman: We plan to end the school year well, and in the summer I have two projects that are closest to my heart. Lat year, together 9 American and Moldovan volunteers went on foot from library to library for seven days and we want to again this year travel 7-8 days on foot. We want to repeat our experience and maybe this year we’ll be lucky and it will be a good time. Last year it was rainy and there was a lot of mud. It remained a memory that’s both “dirty” and beautiful. We saw nature, much beauty, animals. We visited very small villages, that we could get to only by foot, with 100 locals. It was a beautiful experience. Also, in August I will work with a group of English and Moldovan volunteers to install indoor restrooms in a Moldovan school.
Chris Flowers: Before we came to Moldova, we had the goal to travel to every district in the country. We still have to visit many districts! Rebecca was in 17, but I was in 12. We hope that we’ll succeed this summer. This is a personal goal, not one from Peace Corps.
When I have the chance to talk with Peace Corps Volunteers, I always ask them what they think of Moldovan food.
Rebecca Lehman: Plăcintele (pies) are my favorite. I’m grateful to our host moms, who taught me how to make plăcintă. Of course, theirs are the most delicious, but I think that if I practice, I will succeed. In general, Moldova has given me a very positive impression.
Is there anything that’s hard to understand?
Chris Flowers: I have difficulty with doors (laughter). I struggle to figure out whether they open in or out, particularly when there are many doors, because they’re not marked!
Rebecca Lehman: I grew up in urban environments, I’ve always lived in large cities and didn’t know anything about animals, and now I see many in Moldova, but I have trouble understanding, for instance why is a cow roaring. Here in Moldova I’ve learned much about animals, I visited the zoo. When I have been in villages, I saw rabbits, nutria. Maybe because we’re vegetarians, we weren’t very interested in animals.
Edited for clarity by Svetlana Cernov In the photo: Rebecca & Chris with two English Club participants, Ecaterina and [Dina].
