2009.02.19: February 19, 2009: Headlines: COS - Moldova: Hometown Life: Patricia "Pan" Godchaux writes: It is one year since I left Michigan for Moldova and the Peace Corps, a time for reflection
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2009.02.19: February 19, 2009: Headlines: COS - Moldova: Hometown Life: Patricia "Pan" Godchaux writes: It is one year since I left Michigan for Moldova and the Peace Corps, a time for reflection
Patricia "Pan" Godchaux writes: It is one year since I left Michigan for Moldova and the Peace Corps, a time for reflection
I came to the Peace Corps with extensive experience in public problem solving. In training I imagined that I would be able to just shift from doing this problem solving in the United States to problem solving in Moldova. Boy, was I wrong! First, I took for granted the folks who invited me to their village would automatically grant me my American experience. Second, thinking that I could develop the sophistication in a new language it had taken me years of experience to acquire in my own language was another failure on my part. Finally, to think that my new community understands let alone wanted this level of problem solving was again naive on my part. When I was in the Peace Corps 40 years ago, I discovered the brilliance of the Peace Corps was asking smart young people to do a job that if they had the experience to do that job they would have laughed at the asker. But due to this lack of experience they forge ahead and many times accomplish something those of us with more experience marvel at.
Patricia "Pan" Godchaux writes: It is one year since I left Michigan for Moldova and the Peace Corps, a time for reflection
Looking back, what have I accomplished?
February 19, 2009
It is one year since I left Michigan for Moldova and the Peace Corps, a time for reflection. We are warned by Peace Corps this one year reflection may cause depression. I have been here one year and what have I accomplished?
I believe most people volunteer for the Peace Corps at least in part to make the world a better place. But is there something wrong using the word better? Doesn't it imply we know what is best? This is something as volunteers we work hard to put into perspective.
I came to the Peace Corps with extensive experience in public problem solving. In training I imagined that I would be able to just shift from doing this problem solving in the United States to problem solving in Moldova. Boy, was I wrong!
First, I took for granted the folks who invited me to their village would automatically grant me my American experience. Second, thinking that I could develop the sophistication in a new language it had taken me years of experience to acquire in my own language was another failure on my part. Finally, to think that my new community understands let alone wanted this level of problem solving was again naive on my part.
When I was in the Peace Corps 40 years ago, I discovered the brilliance of the Peace Corps was asking smart young people to do a job that if they had the experience to do that job they would have laughed at the asker. But due to this lack of experience they forge ahead and many times accomplish something those of us with more experience marvel at.
Now on a different part of this experience spectrum, I have spent this past year searching for ways to make my experience relevant to my new community. I see lots of things that I could just walk in and say "You know, this is the way the rest of the world does this."
The schools teach kids a lot of the same stuff kids are taught in the U.S. while providing opportunity. Is it important that this is done without running water, with a heating system that requires kids to wear their coats inside, outside toilets and bells that are irregularly rung by the same women that keep the school clean? How can I add to this opportunity?
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So far it has been my teaching English after school and just being an American experiencing Moldova. Kids and adults greet me as I walk through town and most have stopped staring.
My two older host sisters are letting me in on what it means to be an older woman. My guitar partner started her life in Russia, served in the Russian Navy and has not been to Russia in 20 years. I have a good friend in my language tutor, a retired school teacher, who along with her husband grows everything they eat.
I still hope to find that project I was lead to believe is here somewhere. But still I have another year as an American guest in my Moldovan village. That is worth celebrating.
Patricia "Pan" Godchaux is a former Birmingham school board member who returned to the Peace Corps 40 years after first serving there. She is serving in Moldova in Eastern Europe. Go to www.pangodchaux.blogspot.com
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: February, 2009; Peace Corps Moldova; Directory of Moldova RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Moldova RPCVs
When this story was posted in February 2009, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Director Ron Tschetter: The PCOL Interview Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter sat down for an in-depth interview to discuss the evacuation from Bolivia, political appointees at Peace Corps headquarters, the five year rule, the Peace Corps Foundation, the internet and the Peace Corps, how the transition is going, and what the prospects are for doubling the size of the Peace Corps by 2011. Read the interview and you are sure to learn something new about the Peace Corps. PCOL previously did an interview with Director Gaddi Vasquez. |
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Story Source: Hometown Life
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Moldova
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