It is time to update the blog again. There are a lot of changes going on with Peace Corps Kosovo and even the American presence in Kosovo. Sunday, we were in Prishtina for our mid-service training. It is not really mid-service for KOS 9, but we combined with KOS 8. They arrived in October of 2023 and swore-in in December. It is mid-service for them, but KOS 9 was happy to be with them for the training.
Thom and I went to Prishtina a day early and stayed in a little apartment near Mother Teresa Cathedral in the city center. It was also close to the holiday market and we enjoyed the market with other volunteers who had arrived early. It was a nice holiday market, but as always, a few things don't make sense to me. At the holiday market, there were many small wooden booths, with tables, and heat lamps throughout. However; almost every booth sold the same thing and none were super busy. You can get coffee, sodas, hot wine, and beer. I am not sure why they have so many booths serving the same thing. There were a few food carts that served hot dogs, fish n' chips, and sandwiches, however; the beverages booths far outnumbered the food booths. Although we did enjoy some hot wine near a heat lamp, it could have used a little cinnamon, ginger, and orange peel. It was basically dry red wine warmed up. I want to thank my fellow volunteers for indulging my need for vegetarian food, as we had a nice dinner at the Green Protein. They have buddha bowls and salads, as well as chicken for those who want some meat protein.
We walked a little after dinner and stopped at the Balkan Tavern for a beer. It was decorated for the holiday and the playlist was American holiday music. It was a wonderful way to get in the spirit of the season. After the tavern, we headed back to the apartment after making plans for breakfast at Mery's in the morning. We met with a few volunteers and had breakfast before walking with Matt from the city center to the Hotel Prishtina International. It was a 45-minute walk, but it took us through the medical campus and its associated hospital. It was a very nice campus and a pleasant walk before our two-and-a-half days of sitting in a hotel conference room.
Our training started on Sunday for several reasons. First of all, our country director is leaving and it gave us a chance to meet our new country director who will be taking over in February. Our current country director, Dr. Carolyne Siganda, is headed to Vietnam as country director there. Currently about 50% of volunteers do not make it to 2 years of service there. We met our new country director, Joanne Fairly, who will be leaving her post in Armenia to join us. We also got to talk with two new members of staff, Viktor Diaz de Leon (director of management and operations) and Aliyya Mattos (director of program and training -- a position that has not been filled since we got here). I actually met Viktor at Thanksgiving, so I have talked with him before. I enjoyed talking with Aliyya who just recently arrived in Kosovo with her husband and children.
Other changes will be occurring as well and we were made aware of the downsizing of local Peace Corps staff that will take place soon. We learned that two staff members will be losing their jobs and there will be some shifting of responsibilities. We do not yet know who they are or how we will be impacted. The reason for the downsizing is that there are fewer Peace Corps volunteers post-Covid; substantially fewer. According to Carolyne, the organization was designed and budgeted for 10,000 volunteers and currently, there are only around 3,000. This means that Peace Corps countries throughout the world will need to cut staff and this is always hard. It is sad to hear of this impact and you could feel sadness in the staff throughout the training. If you ever thought that you would like to be a Peace Corps volunteer, check out the openings. Now is the time!!! (Also, check out this article American Volunteerism Continues to Decline in Philanthropy News Digest.
Another sad moment was finding out that Andrew (one of our new response volunteers) was headed back to the U.S. for medical reasons. We are hoping that he will be back with us soon, but we will see.
That being said there were some definite highlights to the the training. On Sunday, we had lunch with U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier. Ambassador Hovenier is retiring from 34 years of Federal Service to return to his home in Pungent Sound, Washington. He wanted to meet with us and say goodbye before his return to the US. The ambassador was part of both KOS 8 and 9 swearing-in ceremonies and is respected among those that he has worked with in the three years he has served here. During lunch, the ambassador answered the questions that volunteers had with a lot of frankness and candor. We all appreciated our lunch with Ambassador Hovenier.
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Sunday evening was fun and relaxing, as I led a rock and card painting activity. Hannah supplied us with a holiday playlist. Another group played cards and games. It is good just to hang out sometimes.
Monday was a 12-hour day, starting at 9 am and ending at 9 pm. We did have an hour's lunch and 30-minute dinner, but it was still a very long day. The sessions included TEFL and COD discussions with our project managers. The afternoon sessions were boring for me as they spent most of the afternoon talking about potential government jobs for Peace Corps volunteers after finishing their service. I found it a little frustrating that they did not have an alternate activity for those of us who are retired Peace Corps Volunteers. I feel all of us in that group could have used a longer language session and it would have been a better use of our time.
After dinner, Carolyne gathered us all back together and talked to us about our future as they prepare for the arrival of our next group of volunteers in late February. They are hoping for a group of around 30 volunteers and this would be a bigger group than we currently have here in Kosovo. The discussion was about how we maintain the positive aspects of our current group while incorporating a new group that potentially doubles our size. It was a good discussion with no clear answers.
On Tuesday morning we had our final two sessions. The first session was a practice in brainstorming and coming up with potential projects. The second was the most useful. We were divided into three groups focused on the area of what the future should look like for TEFL, Digital Learning, and Environment. These are three main areas of movement for the future of Peace Corps in Kosovo. I was in the TEFL group and the discussion was about how to continue to train teachers to facilitate learning. This is a long-term goal and a much-needed movement. I hope that I can continue to be involved in the process. We finished up after lunch and I headed back to Kaçanik.
I am finding the weather is really gloomy. We really have not had a sunny day in quite some time, although the sun does on occasion peak through. There are some sunny days in the forecast and I am looking forward to that. Yesterday, my students were singing some American holiday songs in class and one student must have told me "Happy Christmas" 15 times. When I'm in a funk or frustrated about stuff, all I need is a dose of students. I was glad to be back in class on Wednesday.
Article in the Balkan Times: U.S. Ambassador Says, "Partnership with Kosovo 'Not What We Would Hope'.
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