7 years ago

Let’s Play Together

by Rawan / Her

Let’s Play Together is a project I co-lead with a couple of other volunteers and McLain Association for Children (MAC) that provides an opportunity for children of all abilities to learn, play, and engage with each other. Someone very special to me taught me at a young age why this is important and I dedicate this blog post to Natasha.

Every Friday, my mother’s side of the family gets together, and we share a feast together. I have moved away, but they still do this in my original hometown. When I was a child, I was fortunate that my great-grandmother was still alive and I was able to get to know her. Up until her death, the entire family would gather around my great grandmother’s table. Now, we gather around my grandparents’ table. Each Friday, we spend hours chatting and eating. When I was about 5 years old, my sister, Shereen, and I thought my mom’s first cousin, Natasha, was the coolest. At the time, Natasha lived with my great grandmother. We were very interested in Barbies and Natasha, my mom’s cousin, was also interested in them! In fact, I think Natasha was sometimes more invested in the storylines that our Barbies’ lived than we were.

Family Lunches — Some members of my family for what I am assuming is a wedding reception. However, for lunches, we would have at least 2 dozen members of the family get together. Natasha is the young adult female with black hair on the left. My great-grandparents are at the head of the table.

Natasha was only a few years younger than my mother. Therefore, we absolutely loved the fact that a grown adult wanted to play Barbies with us for hours on end. As we got older, Shereen and I began noticing that Natasha was the only adult who was interested. We were confused why did Natasha not have her own family or do things like the other adults did. As young children, we did not complain because she was an awesome playmate. My mother explained that Natasha was special and has a warm heart, but her brain developed a little differently. Not fully understanding that concept, we continued playing barbies with Natasha every Friday in her room for a few years.

As Shereen and I grew older, we also grew out of our Barbies phase. Natasha did not. It got really awkward telling her that, “No, Natasha, we don’t want to play Barbies with you today.” I was 11 years old and I looking back, I want to punch my 11-year-old self in the face. Natasha had a mental disability and although she had an adult body, she never developed an adult state of mind. Natasha was patient and offered to play other games with us. I can’t remember what other games she offered, but I knew that Shereen and I probably broke her heart because we weren’t interested in the other games she offered.

My mother (right), my aunt (top center), and Natasha as a baby (bottom center).

At the time, my original hometown did not have resources or centers for persons with disabilities. In fact, there was still a stigma and misunderstandings regarding disabilities, mental or physical. My grandfather did a lot of innovative things for his niece, Natasha. However, she still spent most of her time living with her grandmother and most of the time isolated. My family loved her and included her in our family activities, but I know that she felt different.

In the year 2000, my parents, sisters, and I moved thousands of miles away. Therefore, we only saw Natasha during the summers when we visited. A few years after that, when I was 18, my great-grandmother passed away. Natasha moved next door to live with her first cousins in her own small apartment that as above the cousins’ house. When I was still in college, Natasha passed away, alone, when she was about 35 years old. I do not remember the last conversation I had with her. Yet, the only thing that kept on looping over and over in my mind was the memory of me telling Natasha, “No, I do not feel like playing Barbies with you today.” Shereen felt the same way. We felt immense guilt for some reason. My mother told us, “Do not worry, Natasha, knows that you two loved her.”

Regardless, I always felt that I needed to do something that honors Natasha’s life. I just never knew how, until now. A little over a year ago, my sitemate Karen, a G15, co-lead a Peace Corps project called “Let’s Play Together” (LPT). This project is a partnership with the McLain Foundation for Children in Georgia and Peace Corps Volunteers. We create one-day events in various towns and villages in Georgia, mostly in underserved villages. In these events, children and young adults of all abilities play, dance, create art, play tug-of-war, and other fun activities throughout the day. In the last couple of years, we had hundreds of children participate in Khashuri, Batumi, Sachkere, Terjola, Kutaisi, Rustavi, Gori, Poti, Ozurgeti, and even Tbilisi.

IMG_20170610_121702 — My G15 sitemate, Karen (left) and I (right) during the Let’s Play Together event in Khashuri on Saturday, June 10th, 2016

Karen pulled me into the project and after she finished her Peace Corps service, I took over her role as the logistics person for Let’s Play Together. I currently co-lead this project with my friend Courtney. We have led four amazing events in this school year and we are currently in the process of handing the project over to the two amazing G17s for them to run the project next year. I truly feel like this project helps me honor Natasha’s life and provides a way for me to make an impact in Georgia, specifically for young Georgians with various and different abilities.

Like Natasha, Georgians with different abilities, specifically outside of Tbilisi, have very little resources and opportunities. Many face stigmas and the community still believes in this crazy myths surrounding disabilities. One time, I heard a story, that If I remember correctly, a little boy in an underserved village became bedridden because the family was told that the child was not supposed to go outside or do anything due to his condition. The boy would not have been bedridden if the family was properly educated. Basically, the child became MORE disadvantaged due to the stigma and lack of education regarding disabilities. I was dumbfounded.

In June 2017, we hosted a Let’s Play Together event in the town of Khashuri. That Saturday morning, it started to rain. Karen and Courtney O., the G15s who ran the committee before Courtney A. and me, expressed concern regarding the event. I remember telling Karen, “why does it matter if it rains?! It rains all the time in Georgia and life moves on.” Then Karen told me the shocking news that an old Georgian wife’s tale if a person with a disability is in the rain, that his/her disability will worsen. Sure enough, only two children with disabilities showed up. The other parents were concerned about their children because it was raining. Luckily enough, by 10:30 a.m., the sun started peaking through the clouds. We called many parents to remind them of the event. We had more children with disabilities come, but still, the number of participating children could have been higher if it weren’t for the rain.

Let’s Play Together event in Zugdidi, Georgia in December 2017. Courtney (immediately left of the poster in the green shirt) and I (immediate right of the poster in the red shirt) are the G16 committee leaders. The remaining people in the photo are the Peace Corps Volunteers that participated in the event that day.

Another story, not related to Let’s Play Together, but still worth mentioning is the healing myths of Ureki’s magnetic beach sand. Ureki is a town in the western part of Georgia along the coast of the Black Sea. The beach is absolutely gorgeous; the sand is black and fine. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, it is said that “it heals people with its disabilities.” Justin and I have been to this beach a couple of times. We will see many children with wheelchairs lying on the beach. I do not have words for this, except to say, that I doubt that this myth is scientifically supported. Many Georgians that I have met swear by this and the beach’s healing powers. I find it upsetting because a lot of children with disabilities are tucked away in their family homes. They are not active in society. Yet, I will find children of various abilities on the beach with their parents praying close by. Here is another blog post in which describes briefly where the healing powers come from.

This is one of the reasons why Let’s Play Together is such a great project. MAC provides all sorts of resources for the event. Physical therapists attend the event and help us. We have games that involve everybody- regardless of level. Our games are intriguing, involving mind and body and creating a bond between the participants and youth volunteers.

Therefore, Let’s Play Together has such a simple concept, yet it is very impactful. Having an event in which children of various abilities play together demystifies our differences. Through games and dance, we all realize we are more alike than different. Every person on this earth has value and can create impact. It is important that we create a safe space in which people of all backgrounds feel valued and appreciated in life. The event may be only a few hours long, but I know that it means a lot for our participants and volunteers. It means a lot to me to be a part of such a strong and impactful project during my service.

7 years ago

Going with the Flow

by Rawan / Her

Peace Corps has acted a bit of a doctor and I have been a bit of a patient. The medical prescription is a “chill pill.” I actually hate that phrase because it is normally said in an angry tone, “take a chill pill, dude!” But here, it is more like, “I’m just going with the flow, mannnnn.” As someone who is clearly a Type A personality, I have had to adjust my expectations. Demanding a detailed-orientation and punctual events is not a realistic expectation. With that being said, I have reinvented my leadership style since I’ve had to lead a lot of events in Peace Corps thus far.

In our Close of Service Conference last week, the US Ambassador to Georgia came and presented to my cohort. During his presentation, he said, (I’m paraphrasing here), “Returned Peace Corps Volunteers are marketable because you are extremely flexible and adaptable in ever-changing and unfamiliar environments.” I looked around the room when he said that. There were a bunch of nods and agreeable facial expressions. To risk sounding obnoxious, we are more flexible than a regular, standard professional in the United States. We did not all start off that way. Many of us have changed some of our working and leadership styles to become adaptable to our Georgian environment.

On average, in the United States, we micromanage the heck out of a project. Every little obstacle must be foreseen by a magic eight ball during the planning process. Every step must be executed to the minute it was predicted. I say this confidently because I used to be a program/project manager.

For example, one of the programs I used to manage was the division’s quarterly bonus program. There were over 6,000 employees in that system and when combined, their bonuses would naturally be in the millions. Like nearly every system in the world, it also had its glitches. I would literally try to look over every single employee’s entry to inspect if were would be any problems in advance. However, everything was always in flux. Thus, there would be maybe one or two entries in a given quarter that would cause a glitch in the system. When/if there was a glitch, that is less than 1% of the entries in the system.

Instead of simply saying, “let’s go and fix it,” the first question was always, “Rawan, how did you miss this?” Natural question. I would have asked the same thing if I were my boss back in the United States. The perfect employee would have predicted these glitches in advance. Let me tell you, I predicted a LOT. But because in the real world, no one can always have 100% success rate, especially considering the magnitude of that program. Any glitches were typically fixed before the employees would have even noticed.

IMG_20180126_203900 — We call this the White Bridge, part of an old neighborhood of my town

Georgia is such a different story. When some natural little hiccup happens here, it is almost pointless asking how/why it happened. During the beginning of my service, that question would roll off my tongue before I would even notice it. My counterparts would just look at me and shrug. They also had a look of, “why are you even asking? It is what it is.” Their sense of curiosity was non-existent compared to mine. I was intrigued by what caused the mishap and they just rolled with the punches. Two years later, I am now officially as flexible as my counterparts.

Let paint you an example that happened today. My counterpart and I reserved a hotel and its conference room in November or December. When we went to the hotel, the manager simply said, “sure, that is fine.” She did not check the calendar. She did not even write the dates down. So of course, I had my counterpart call and constantly check up on the hotel every few weeks to ensure that they would not book over our “reservation.”

IMG_20180312_131508 — I took this photo taking a car cable in my town. The hotel is somewhere on the hill that is the upper left-hand corner.

Two days ago, we went to the hotel in person- again. We wanted to reconfirm the cost, the conference room, the menu, and the room. Everything was confirmed, except the menu. I asked what they plan on serving and she said, “just the regular food.” That was literally as specific as she could get.

Now, get this….the day before the conference, she calls us and said that the conference room is no longer available. They decided to do renovations today. Her plan was that we do the conference in the hallways. In the morning 24 hours before the conference, she sends a text message to my youth counterpart with pictures of the hallway. She did not even apologize but stated the alternative plan as a fact.

So, my counterparts and I are figuring out a plan on how to deliver a 3-day conference in an undisclosed hallway of a hotel. I wish I am making this up, but I am not. The frustrating part is that the hotel manager still wants us to pay for the conference room. My counterpart and I think that is unfair and we will continue to negotiate on that portion. As for the hallway, it seems big enough. I think it will be fine. I do have to laugh at their timing though.

So ask yourself, do you see someone in America do last minute (and not urgent) renovations on a reserved conference room the day before? Oh, and suggest a hallway as an alternative? I’m going to say probably not. This, my friends, is the definition of flexibility.

8 years ago

Project Design Workshops

by Rawan / Her

Two days ago was a small win for me. Celebrate the small wins, they say. But what they don’t say, is sometimes how long you have to wait to get those glimmering moments. My Youth2Georgia counterpart got hired in September, about 2 months after I got to site. I took him to my Peace Corps’ Project Design and Management Workshop with me for a week shortly after that. It is now February and we are now finally working on our first major project together. Sure, we have had meetings, discussions, and mini-trainings, but we are now actually working towards something bigger. Ironically enough, our first project is….a Project Design Workshop.

Our Peace Corps training was in September and it was one business week long. Each IOD volunteer brought along one counterpart to the training in Sairme. I was lucky and I was able to bring both my World Vision counterpart and my Youth2Georgia counterpart. Typically Peace Corps hires translators for these events because a lot of counterparts speak limited English. My World Vision counterpart speaks English fluently, so she acted as a translator for my Youth2Georgia counterpart. She was also needed because my Y2G counterpart was so new to the organization and wouldn’t be able to provide much insight into the past or future projects.

At the training, we learned aspects of successful community projects, how to set proper goals and objectives, and how to write grants. Peace Corps equipped us with a lot of tools and resources to make us successful. They shared all the training materials with us via soft and hard copies as well. I couldn’t be any more grateful that they did that. I’m currently leveraging some of those materials for our own workshop. We are also leveraging other resources that Peace Corps provides. It is great to not create everything from scratch.

Instead of training that takes days, our training will only be a few hours long. Most Peace Corps Volunteers work with youth, and I’m not an exception. The training will be for high school students and it will most likely be their first introduction to project design. We are currently researching what to put in our 5-hour curriculum while making it fun and impactful. I want the students to walk away understanding the most basic concepts, such as what are project cycle; goals and objectives; and budget and evaluation. We are hoping that some of them will actually implement their project ideas.

So two days ago, I sat down with my counterpart for no joke 3.5 hours discussing the curriculum. What I like about being a Peace Corps Volunteer is that there are endless teaching opportunities (for me and them). As he was making various suggestions, it gave me an opportunity to exercise my coaching, mentoring, and/or consulting skills. It awarded him an opportunity to take advantage of my professional experience as well.

For example, he suggested that we input the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis in the curriculum. I asked him why he would want to teach a bunch of 14-15-year-olds that analysis. He highlighted that with every project, there are risks and the SWOT analysis explores risk. As correct as it may be, I suggested that we do not include SWOT analysis. I told him that when I learned it in college, it can be a complex theory and it is typically used for organizations and not for community-based projects. I also did not want to overwhelm the teenagers with too many theories. However, I did say we should explore how to include risks in the project design training framework.

Discussions with counterparts often include a lot of back-and-forth discussions. First, coming from two different cultures and educational backgrounds offer a diversity of thought. Second, since we neither speak the other’s language fluently, it creates a lot of room for miscommunication. Essentially, my counterpart explained his thoughts to me multiple times in broken English and I did the same with broken Georgian. Google Translate was also used heavily (thank god for the internet). Work does get done. Relationships are built. But, it can be slow and now I understand why patience is a virtue.

My small win this week is one of the reasons why Peace Corps’ service is not less than 2 years. I’ve been in-country for nearly a year and I’m finally working with my youth NGO counterpart on something big. It takes a while to gain trust and respect. It also takes a while to find your place in the organization. Most importantly, it takes a while to understand the community in which you serve. Therefore, imagine the mistakes I would have made if I tried to rush things. I would have no idea that the teenagers wouldn’t understand SWOT. I would have taken that suggestion and implemented it. Most likely, we would be met with blank and confused faces. However, because I’ve done a few trainings by now, I know that I should start with the over-arching concepts and focus on that instead.

I love it when I can avoid mini disasters! Phew!

Either way, the trainings take place next month. Wish us luck that everything will go smoothly. In the meantime, I am going to celebrate the fact that my counterpart and I have our first long and productive conversation. I’m going to hope that our hard work will pay off next month in our first major collaborative project.

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