BARI GALUST HAYASTAN! Welcome to Armenia!

 We made it to Armenia !           Following flights from New York to Vienna, Austria, then on to Yerevan, Armenia, our group of 41 exuberant though exhausted volunteers reached the first step in our 27 month commitment to service with the US Peace Corps.  Highlights of the journey included a 14 hour lay-over in Vienna where we visited the famous St. Stephens Cathedral and engaged in the pleasure of eating Austrian Sacher torte. In Yerevan, we were greeted by the Armenian Peace Corps Country Director and staff,  then whisked away from the airport at 4:45 am to view a glorious sunrise at the foot of Mt. Ararat.  Although we saw no rainbow at the alleged resting place for Noah’s Ark, we felt inspired while being surrounded by so much history and such  reverent beauty.     

                                                            
                                              
                                                          OUR HOST FAMILY

     Angleren, Hayeren----our host “Mother” studies the language of America while we study  the language of her country, Armenia. These dual efforts bring David and me closer to our new family as we settle in for our 2^nd intense 3 months of training with the Peace Corps. We come to this country in hopes of serving the entire 27 months without interruptions as we experienced in Niger.   Our host couple have a 2 year old son as well as 2 older sons, ages 19 and 21. The older son is now home from serving his 2 years in the Armenian military while the 19 year old is currently away with the military as required by his country. Beginning with our first introduction, we felt a warm, sincere welcome into this family. The 2 year old now calls us “Papik” and “Tatik”, Armenian for grandfather and grandmother. We miss our grandson , Jared, but do have little Armen to fill our ears with laughter and hearts with love. Just as other 2 year-old children, he is a master of the word “no” expressed as “che”  in the Armenian language.      

     Our home for the 3 months in pre-service training is located on a large farm where dairy cows are raised. The family does business with a local company, TAMARA, producers of matsoon (similar to yogurt), cheeses and other dairy products.   Our room in this family’s home is spacious and comfortable, an excellent place to live and study while in this country for Peace Corps training.  We share a family bathroom which has a FLUSH toilet---a great step up from our facilities in Niger. There is running water and electricity and hot water is available during parts of each day so that bucket baths are a routine we will avoid for now, although some of the volunteers in our village do have limited bathroom amenities.

                                                          Our Village and Country

      Our small village, as is all of Armenia, is filled with reminders of a somber history dating back for thousands of year .  Most visible is the destruction of buildings, remaining remnants, and the signs of gradual emergence of villages which were destroyed or damaged by the Turkish genocide of 1914-1917, World Wars I and II, the 70 year occupation by the Soviet Union, plus more devastation caused by the massive earthquake of 1988. Most recently the war with Gharabagh during the 90’s has added continuous woe to the lives of the Armenian people.   The genocide and violent restriction of religious practices for over 70 years has left this mostly Christian country still struggling to increase its population and return to the family-oriented, religious country that it once was.  There are numerous churches, monasteries and chapels found throughout the small villages and larger towns as well as in the capital of Yerevan. Many are in disrepair with local people striving to renovate these historical architectural gems.  There is a natural bleakness to the crumbling buildings which are in juxtaposition to absolutely stunning snow- capped mountains and lush green meadows covered with brilliant colored summer flowers.  The balance in mood is perpetuated by the resilient , hard-working Armenian people who value education and family and  desire to see their home land  thrive.  A Peace Corps assignment in Armenia offers us the opportunity to share ourselves and our country’s values with a totally different culture than we found in Niger thus broadening both our perspective and our appreciation for the US.   Although the people of Armenia possess a higher score on the United Nations Human Index scale, the country is pervaded by poverty and lack of jobs which affects families just as in the US.  Many men and women must travel to Russia to find work, thus separating families for lengthy periods of time. The same held true in Niger when the men of one tribal village traveled to another for field work as the seasons changed and crops came in.   Whereas Niger was horizontal and brown, Armenia is vertical and green. With the heat of summer becoming more intense, we are already seeing  that brown returning but to the mountains, not to the desert.    Those differences are obvious to the eye while the differences in each country’s people are not quite as self- evident.

                                                            Menk urakh enk Hayastanoom.   We are happy in Armenia!

 Written June 15, 2011       

ON to ARMENIA........................

Bari galust hayastan!  Welcome to Armenia!

The three bracelets pictured at the bottom of this article tell a story.  Just as my wrist was encircled with the bracelets of Niger, it will now wear the lovely silver bracelet bearing the Armenian cross. Soon, Dave and I will be surrounded by and immersed into the lives of our new Armenian hosts. Only a few months ago we left our caring host family in Niger who encompassed us with love and concern, always looking out for us.  Those bracelets are treasures, one from a former Peace Corps volunteer in Niger and one purchased in a Peace Corps shop carrying local women’s handiwork. The third is from Lisa, a dear friend in the US, who gave it to me to assure safety in our travels to Armenia.    These bracelets signify our journey which started in Niger, Africa and is making a huge circle towards  another part of the world, Armenia, Eastern Europe.   Hopefully, the circle will be completed with full service and accomplishments of goals fostered by the Peace Corps.

Dave and I approach transitioning into another country knowing that it will require enormous time, intense intellectual involvement and strong emotional commitment to be successful. We have learned an incredible amount via social networking and personal communications from our former Peace Corps peers who are now in new villages and countries.  They say in a nutshell, “ You cannot compare Niger or the Niger Peace Corps staff to any other.”  They also say for us not to compare the volunteers in our first group with our group headed to Armenia,  and not to expect to find Tondi, the superb Director of Training and father figure to all of us in Niger. We are advised not to jump to immediate conclusions about our country, our assignment or our training staff—or our work. These pieces of advice are passed on to us because these former volunteers with Peace Corps Niger say there is NO comparison between experiences  which will be so very different in so many ways. We know we cannot dismiss the impact of hardcore Peace Corps Niger, nor will we forget it, or even want to. But…..it’s time to move on.

Departure for Armenia is less than a week away. We’ve studied the language as best we can and researched the country. We feel better prepared than prior to leaving for Niger yet still harbor some anxieties about what is ahead, mixed with excitement and curiosity. Thanks to Peace Corps volunteers already in Armenia who’ve answered endless questions via the A-19 er’s Facebook page, the preparation and packing process has been eased somewhat. Staging in Philadelphia comes next, then a connecting flight from New York to Vienna (I can taste the famous Sacher Tortes now!!!), concluded by arrival in Yerevan, Armenia, the country’s capital city. We are contemplating everything, wondering with wide open eyes just as a child does before Christmas. What will our training group be like? Where will we live? Will we know enough language to actually talk with our host family? What about the students in my English class, will they be able to relate to an older American teacher with minimal teaching experience but years of life experience? Will Dave’s role in business development really challenge him as well as provide a route for his adding to the advancement of a developing country? And is everything preceded by a toast with local vodka?

All the while, we hear from our friends from Niger, now in countries all over the world. We receive e-mails and phone calls biding us farewell and wishing us good luck. We will even have breakfast on June 1 with Michele, a Returned Peace Corps volunteer from Niger, who lives close enough to Philadelphia to come and see us off.  We are excited as though standing on the precipice of a majestic mountain just waiting to step off into the unknown. Our hopes are high that this time we’ll be able to really contribute to what our new country needs.  David and I will reach out to the people of Armenia and share our knowledge through teaching and small business development. We may learn more than our Armenian counterparts but that will further complete the circle and the bonds between people of two very different countries.   This cultural exchange makes up 2  Peace Corps goals, and we share the belief that they are well worth the effort to achieve.

To Lisa who gave me the bracelet with the Armenian Cross, I say “Shnorhakalutyun” or thank you, and we will definitely travel safely.

Good-bye Niger.       Judy and Dave

MAYBE A BROKEN HEART...............

    The e-mail was brief and sad. It was succinct though softened with an apology by the sender who expressed dismay at being the bearer of bad news. It was the unsettling announcement of a beloved Niger staff member’s death which came that day.  After a couple of months back in the US and after beginning to put the Niger experience in perspective, it was certainly a shock to learn that Seini, the tall Nigerien Program Assistant in the Dosso region of Niger, had died. In compliance with his religion, Islam, his funeral was the next day. How sad it was to know that very few of those who knew him would be there to pay their respects.

     Seini, also a dedicated driver in the region, had worked for Peace Corps Niger for twenty years and now we were being informed of his death. No reason for this sudden passing was known. All we knew was that Seini did anything he could to help us volunteers. He did a magnificent job and showed compassion and heart without fail.

     I recall during our 2 week language immersion experience when David and I were living in a village in the Dosso region, Seini stopped by to see us if he was traveling to another village nearby. He particularly liked David, and I think he admired him as an older volunteer. Outside our millet stalk shade hangar, we could see Seini’s white Peace Corps vehicle stop and the tall, slender, muscular Nigerien man step out. His smile was infectious and his handshake firm. He brought us French bread some days which was a treat, since there were no markets close to our village. Many of those mornings in the village of Bangou Banda, all we ate was that French bread and tea or coffee. One day he brought us a dozen eggs, one of the few items of protein we had during that 2 weeks. We learned from Seini and Djibo, our language trainer, that we could keep eggs unrefrigerated for several days before they’d spoil.  We had eggs for supper and eggs for breakfast, David, Djibo and I, until all twelve were gone. Seini was the person who brought those eggs to us, and we did not even have to ask him to do so.

     I’m certain the full time volunteers in the Dosso region have many more stories of praise for Seini than could ever be recounted in a blog. We are just fortunate to  have known him briefly.  We also know that Seini had arranged to find some type of toilet seat for another older couple who were working on their traditional pit toilet, trying to make it more user friendly.  Seini always went the extra mile to help a Peace Corps volunteer.

      We did not know his personal story or if there were underlying health issues, but maybe Seini  died of the proverbial “broken heart” as suggested by one staff member who worked closely with him. Documented over and again in medical and other scientific literature, persons have been known to die after sudden emotional shock or loss of a dearly loved one. Maybe Seini’s death was due if not totally, partially, to a “broken heart” resulting from the loss of his life in the Peace Corps, or maybe due to the suddenness and abruptness of the evacuation from Niger of the entire Peace Corps family, and the loss of his  identity which soon followed. Whatever the cause of Seini’s passing, it was tragic, and it said volumes about the impact of Peace Corps on one life which then overflowed to affect all the volunteers with whom he had worked.

      Seini’s life ended as abruptly as did the Peace Corps in Niger.  Seini symbolizes the briefness of life and the absolute importance of using every minute wisely.  Seini was certainly a perfect example of that as he worked to make Peace Corps Niger an effective organization to benefit the Nigerien people who had asked for help. He worked even harder trying to help Peace Corps volunteers adjust to life in his country. To that end he was more than a success.                   May Seini rest in peace.

Irkoy ma suuji a ma a yaafa (Zarma). May God bless he who has died.

Judy and David

FOR SOME REASON..........

    There has been a lapse in my posts to this blog, for some reason.

    So many times in the past couple of months I've compsed blogs in my head, but somehow never posted them. The day David and I spoke via SKYPE with Susan , a Peace Corps volunteer currently serving in Armenia, filled my head to overflowing with impressions of what Dave and I would soon experience and jogged our memories of what we left behind in Niger. ( A blog in the making, I thought.) Susan described life in Armenia, her living arrangements, her work teaching English as a foreign language, the weather, what to pack and not to pack, and all about her new friends in the Peace Corps and about her host family.  We had also been e-mailing a former Peace Corps volunteer who shared letters she wrote for her friends and family during the 2 years she served in Armenia. All of this was so inspiring, but I did not write the blog...............for some reason.

       Then I researched to which country  each of our Niger 2010 group had been invited and found that most of us were already in a new country or departing soon for destinations all over the world.  As I looked at photos on Facebook or received e-mails from other people, I thought of what we had all shared together in Niger. We were considered to be "the hardcore Peace Corps" due to the nature of our country of service, Niger.  True, most of the group were young enough to be our grandchildren, yet we felt connected due to our mutual experiences, both harsh and joyful. In sickness and in health, those familiar words taken from another type of bonding, could also describe our relationship as a group. As I recalled each person, it dawned on me that we'd probably not see these people again although comments regarding a reunion had already begun. An entire blog filled my head again, but I did not write it down..... for some reason.

       And then as we traveled awating departure for Armenia June 1, we visited many relatives and friends. Most were curious about our experiences and most were amazed that we'd willingly return to Niger if that opportunity was available. My sister even expressed admiration for our courage, which made us a bit embarrassed.   People were even more surprised that we'd start over, learn a new language and begin another 27 month commitment in a totally different country. We met many people who are fascinated with the idea of joining the Peace Corps but would not or could not do it themselves. Many know others who have children or acquaintances  in the Peace Corps, and a few wish they had joined when they themselves were younger. We also encountered people who think the Peace Corps is a waste of US dollars and that volunteers should do their work at home. Our world grows smaller every day and a Peace Corps experience speeds the diminishing distance between cultures quite nicely.  This subject also holds blog potential. It has not been developed even when time might allow....... for some reason.

        As David and I visit with our daughter, we have also been attending numerous and varied concerts because we missed music so much while in Niger. One evening after a local concert perfomed in one of Wilmington, NC's beautiful historic mansions, the singer , Susan Savia, greeted us. She had heard us mention being in the Peace Corps and wanted to give us a children's CD she was recording so that her voice could be heard by the Armenian children. Another blog , about how music influences lives and the cultural aspect of sharing it with children ,was not written......for some reason.

         That same evening , I recognized a local radio personality and approached her during intermission to  say how much I enjoyed her show and what a  delightful voice she had. She has a beautiful speaking voice and uses it perfectly in introducing music and conducting on-air interviews.  She warmly thanked me for speaking to her and before I could respond, she had turned her back to me, calling to another concert goer asking,  "don't I know you from somewhere?" Though I'm certain there was no intention to do so, I was crushed at instantly being brushed off. I'm not even sure what I thought we'd talk about further, but that short 2 minute encounter spoke not so eloquently of how unimportant I was. An emerging  blog swirled in my head and awaited creation.The title might have been "Don't take yourself so seriously or think you are so important".  It has not been composed ........for some reason.

            Then just last night , I was reading in materials provided by the Peace Corps about some of the challenges of returning home after service  in a foreign country.  I began to understand a bit more about this phenomenon of "return home" and the issues that may arise even after a brief period of time such as David and I had due to our evacuation from Niger. The article said that the sudden return to anonymity sometimes  causes the returned Peace Corps volunteer to acutely miss being the center of attention. The volunteer misses the excitement,  intense scrutiny by villagers, and the "fishbowl" life once surrouding them  in a village .  That's probably why I felt miffed during the experience previously described at the concert. I was still feeling special, still being Sherifa as I had been in Niger, still expecting people to recognize me. In Niger,  I stood out as an American woman  who was a Peace Corps volunteer and everyone in the village knew that.   Back home, I am not Sherifa, am not special , and most people do not even know me.  Much more could be said about this subject of  how one transitions and returns to their native country after living in another culture, but it's not written yet .....for some reason.
     
       Finally, an unexpected e-mail appeared in my in-box this week. It prompted a quick response -----and a blog. That blog will be written and will be posted soon.     Stay tuned, and thanks for keeping up with this journey to Niger then Armenia with the Peace Corps.    Judy
                         

FINDING HOME

       “Home is any place I hang my hat”. These thought-provoking lyrics were heard by Dave and me at a recent cabaret performance in Wilmington, NC, while we are staying with our daughter, before departure to Armenia with the Peace Corps. The song sounded like a true Peace Corps description of home, especially for volunteers who move from one country to another and establish homes in new towns and villages all over the world.
       
         Dave and I had recently talked about where home was for us and where home might be after the Peace Corp, both the physical place and the emotional feel of home. We agreed that the meaning of home differs dramatically based upon a person’s particular life experiences and emotional make-up. Dave says that the more places you feel at home, the more connected you are with the world, or the more comfortable you are with yourself. As I write this blog, we are driving from one of our former homes to 2 others (from Wilmington, NC/Kure Beach to Memphis and Clarksville, TN). On varying levels, we each identify these places as homes where one or both of us lived previously. But could we go back? It’s been said that “home is where the heart is.” Would our hearts immediately be back in these homes, or would our heads come into play and become stronger influences than our emotions? Is it possible to have 2 or more homes at once or must home be a singular entity? What do you think?

          “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” is a familiar seasonal song conjuring up both sentimental thoughts and early travel plans. In a column written in the Church Health Reader by Dr.G. Scott Morris, MD, founder and medical director of the Church Health Center in Memphis, TN, he mentions going home for holidays, sometimes to a dysfunctional family, and due to family tradition or a sense of responsibility. Although there is merit to maintaining ties to family, the feel of those home comings is not always warm and fuzzy even when greeted by hugs and kisses. The trip home is not always comfortable for a variety of reasons.
When we visit my elderly father, he always says, “this is your home so do whatever you want to.” (I’ve actually said the same thing when our adult children visit us!) I understand my father’s feelings because he has lived in the same house for over fifty five years and in the same town even longer. He has traveled very little aside from going to the Pacific theater during WW II. The house Dave and I visit is truly my father’s home; it is no longer mine, yet I do have memories of it being home as I grew up.

        Dr. Morris suggests that one’s church home can be a place where a person feels they’ve made a place for themselves that is right. I think it is a home where unconditional love and a sense of peace is felt, no matter who you are. Can a person move to a new physical home in the world and feel at home in a church there? Maybe it is possible, if the concept of church home is based on the idea of a religious community and not tied to a particular building or place. Dave and I had a church home in Memphis since the late 60’s and we just recently visited it. We felt an overwhelming connection to the people we had known and not seen for several years. We knew we had made a place for ourselves in previous years of membership and we truly felt welcomed and loved when we returned. We have not found a church home like this one since. Dr. Morris’s wife, Mary, says that by connecting to those we love and who we want to spend time with, we can create our own sense of home. Maybe Dave and I need to work harder on making those connections in a new church in the future.

        As Peace Corps volunteers, we already felt at home in Niger after being there only 3 months prior to our evacuation. Acceptance and respect were there. Our Nigerien villagers were protective and caring towards us, and yes, we felt a sense of peace at the end of a hot day as we lay down under the brilliant star-covered sky. In Africa we slept outside without fear; we were half the way around the world, and we felt at home. During dinner with long term friends recently, one of them asked us about our current nomadic life and how it felt to not have what he considered to be a “home”. Dave said it did not bother him; I said I missed that feeling.

         Over the years, we have felt at home wherever we have lived and now eagerly await June 1 when we begin the search for a home anew, in Armenia. Since we sold our physical properties before moving to North Carolina, then rented there, we joke of being homeless or living the life of nomads. Our Peace Corps home of record (HOR) is in Las Vegas with our son. Our mailing address is a PO Box in Kure Beach, NC, and we are staying with various family members and friends in THEIR homes in the meantime. Our friends and family wonder about us and say they have difficulty keeping up with our whereabouts. Thank goodness for internet and cell phones, Skype, text messaging and Facebook! We hope to soon “hang our hat” in our new home in Armenia for at least twenty seven months. The US will always be our global home, but “where our hearts lie” will vary from our childhood homes to the many we’ve shared over the years as adults. Home is truly where you make it, where you feel comfortable and where peace and contentment prevail. It can change, but will always be inside of you. You’ll know when you are home. It will be a home and not just a place to stay. For us it will be where we both “hang our hats”.

              As you read this blog, are you at home?
Judy and Dave

Reference: http://www.churchhealthreader.org to read more of Dr. G. Scott Morris’ columns

Happy Anniversary! Peace Corps ..... 50 years and still counting!

I had not meant to add another post to this blog today, however, lunch with special friends prompted me to do so.  While basically “hanging out” awaiting our next Peace Corps assignment, I have been re-connecting with old friends wherever we go. Today, as my musician friends and I settled into a booth at a favorite seafood restaurant, Ted said,” it’s significant that we met today because I read in the newspaper that on this day, March 1, fifty years ago, President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order establishing the Peace Corps”.   I was pleasantly surprised. I certainly knew the Peace Corps was celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year but did not know today was the date. What a perfect day to talk with friends about my Peace Corps experiences!  There was also an added comment about the recent death of the first Peace Corps Director, Sargeant Shriver, so it would be an informal tribute to 2 related events within the same year.

 Sargeant  Shriver ‘s death occurred in January while our Peace Corps stage was meeting in Morocco, after our evacuation from Niger. That time seems so long ago now, yet it was only 6 weeks ago. Where has the time gone?  How surreal it seems to be back in the US yet still feel connected to the experiences in Niger. Our evacuation was a significant event during our brief time in the Peace Corps but so vivid are the details of how it was handled.  I recall that as we left the Rabat, Morocco, hotel in the dark of night and headed to the airport in Casablanca , brilliant blue flashing lights of the Moroccan police escort  were visible from the bus’s window. Now, it is a bit more frightening to think of that night in the dark when none of us really knew all that was happening or exactly where we were headed in our Peace Corps future.  A book written by Mark Jenkins entitled TIMBUKTU about 4 adventurous young men kayaking down the Niger River in an attempt to reach Timbuktu, contains the following statement about darkness.  ‘’ The darkness can shake you. Darkness makes everything monstrous and foreboding. What you can not see you imagine and what you imagine is more terrible than what exists. There is reason to teach your children not to be afraid of the dark. To overcome the fear of the dark is to overcome the fear of the unknown which is to overcome fear itself.”  As our bus rolled on through the darkness that was night in Morocco, we eventually reached the lights at the airport and began the process so familiar at airports-- check-in, ID check, security screening, and all the rest.  The immediate unknown became apparent; we were not afraid anymore and did what had to be done as we boarded planes back to our US destinations.

As my friends and I ate lunch today, they plied me with questions about life in Niger. I told them of the good and the unpleasant, always adding that I’d never trade the experience and would return there if the opportunity presented itself.  They, as most people who’ve heard about Niger, cannot believe most of what they hear. We laughed at my description of bucket baths, donkey cart rides, and fractured efforts at speaking the local language with villagers. There were more serious responses when I described the health risks, nutritional deficits, and harsh climate we encountered and which the locals dealt with for a lifetime. There were mixed reactions when I tried to explain why the Peace Corps would even send volunteers to a country which, even with Peace Corps service since 1962, still has made so little progress on the United Nations Human Index Scale.   My friends today voiced many of the same questions and concerns of our family and other friends with whom we’ve spoken and visited.  They have legitimate issues and I do not feel fully prepared to respond to all of them in an effective way. However, Goal #2 of the Peace Corps involves sharing information about the culture of Niger with others in the US. All Peace Corps volunteers are expected to share their experiences in any way possible. I am willing to talk about Niger and its people with anyone willing to listen. Writing about the subject is also a prime option.  Today, the luncheon with my friends brings this goal #2 to life. What better day to recognize that fact than on March 1 , the anniversary of the founding of the Peace Corps.   Judy and Dave

CHANGE IS IN THE AIR.........................................

Good-bye from Nassirou and Sherifa.   These Nigerien names were given to Dave and me by our host family in Niger and are now sadly dropped since we are no longer Peace Corps volunteers in that country.  Evacuation from a place included evacuation from a persona.  I miss being Sherifa. The name sounded crisp and friendly when children called to me across a dusty village pathway or as Dave and I walked through the desert to Tondobon, the Peace Corps Niger training site.  Dave had a neutral feeling about being called Nassirou, but he readily responded to the calls of “Fo fo” (hello) which were frequently heard when we were out in the village.

These names ,  Nassirou and Sherifa, were additional efforts made towards total immersion into a different culture.  Just as wearing locally made clothing,  learning the local language, eating Nigerien food, and practicing culturally acceptable manners and behaviors helped to bridge the inevitable cultural gap, identifying oneself as Nassirou and Sherifa  signified that we wanted to be a part of our village. Peace Corps (and we) believe this is the best way to gain acceptance and respect , as well as participation in meaningful  work and projects, in a new community so different from our own.

Now that Dave and I are evacuees from Niger, we no longer say “Ay ma Nassirou” or “Ay ma Sherifa” when someone asks us our name.  We are now David and Judy, immersed back into life in America. We must now fit back into the culture here. We must pay attention to our attire (no Zaras ),  speak  English(not Zarma), eat American foods (not millet and rice at every meal) and we must refrain from culturally acceptable practices which are unthinkable here. (Example: burping loudly after a meal to express satiation and appreciation.)

We will not forget Nassirou and Sherifa . We will always be Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV) from Niger. The memories of our experience in Niger, though brief , will always be with us.  Instead, we’ll bid Nassirou and Sherifa a fond and poignant farewell.  As our Peace Corps training manager, Tondi, once told us, “Everyone who leaves Niger wants to return because they left a part of their heart in our country.”    We agree, and we would return to Niger in a New York second if given the opportunity. 

Good-bye Nassirou and Sherifa………for now.            HELLO ARMENIA!