I just got back home yesterday after a whirlwind schedule of ABLE Camp and some errands I had to run in Baku. First of all, ABLE Camp was great. I’ll post pictures once I get a decent internet connection. Hanging out with some great kids and getting to know some of my fellow PCVs better was a great way to close out service.
Now that I’m back, though, my main mission is to leave again. I spent the day meeting with my boys that I brought to ABLE Camp, figuring out a plan on how they can continue their project after I leave. In the afternoon, I walked around to a few of the places I’ve spent some time over the past two years, letting people know that I’m leaving and I might now see them again.
Leaving America is one thing; I always new I’d return. But when people here ask if I’m coming back, I’d like to say that I might, but the reality is that I’ll never see these people again. A lot of people say “You’re leaving. It’s very bad.” To which I always say “But it’s good for me and at least I got to spend two years here, which is better than none.” They get it, but saying goodbye is never fun. Still, I don’t want to leave this place with any regrets, so I’m making sure to leave the right way.
The time is here. ABLE Camp is pretty much the culmination of my Peace Corps service, and I’m leaving in ten minutes to get it started. This project has been in the works for almost a year now, so it’s pretty wild that it’s time for it to actually begin. It’s also strange to think about the volunteers who were here last year and how they were so close to the end of their service while they were at camp. Almost outta here!
A friend of mine emailed me a link that ranks Peace Corps countries by the responses volunteers gave in a survey that asks “How personally rewarding is your Peace Corps service?” Out of 67 countries, Azerbaijan is pulling a steady 42. Check the link to see responses by country, and the rankings of a couple other questions.
One month from today, I’ll leave Azerbaijan for good. It’s such a dramatic milestone, “One Month Left,” but the feeling of having a month left isn’t as wild as I might have pictured it. In fact, it’s pretty similar to how I felt when I had a month before I left for the Peace Corps.
I was finishing college, with a few last minute things to do before I walked away for good. There were some great people that I wanted to spend some time with before I left, and as important as they were to me, I was eager to move on to the next step. I also remember having the seriousness of the situation hit me in waves that entered in and out of my consciousness. It would range from realizing that there were plenty of people that I wouldn’t see again to the frightening prospect of knowing that I’m going to be completely out of my comfort zone for the next few months, if not years. The situation is strikingly similar now.
I’ve got three or four things to do left in the Peace Corps depending on how you count them. I really want to say goodbye to the people of Ujar who have been good to me, but how far do I go? If I don’t see my butcher again, do I go out of my way to see him? It’s strange to think about.
Just like my time before I left for Azerbaijan, I can’t stop thinking about what I’m getting myself into here. I was writing an email to a friend last night and had a smile on my face as I wrote about being almost finished and about the trip that I’m going to be taking come September 2nd.
I wish I had more profound things to say about only having one month left in Peace Corps, but it doesn’t seem that special to me right now. It just seems right. I remember being in Baku and seeing the last group of volunteers go back home. I expected something dramatic, but it just felt like the order of the day. Time to take the next step.
I’ve mentioned it a couple times on my blog, but in case you haven’t heard, I’ve been heavily involved in a project that has been among the best experiences of my Peace Corps service. ABLE Camp is a summer camp for boys that aims to instill a sense of leadership and civic duty in young men from the under-served regions of Azerbaijan. ABLE stands for Azerbaijani Boys Leadership Experience. This year will be the fourth annual camp, which was started by Peace Corps Volunteers in 2006. This year, we’ve tried to expand camp to reach more students, as well as incorporate more involvement from our local Azerbaijani counterparts in the management of the camp. We’re planning on bringing 48 students from 15 regions of Azerbaijan. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a video of the camp last year:
ABLE Camp 2009 is funded by four sources:
The Royal Norwegian Embassy – $16,500
FLEX Alumni Grants Program – $2,060
Contributions from the local community – $2,462
Peace Corps Partnership Program – $2,487
That last bullet, the Peace Corps Partnership Program (written by Jon Elkin a PCV from Boston), is where ABLE Camp needs your help. Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP) is a grant system for Peace Corps Volunteers to develop projects during their service which are funded from individual donors from back home in America. 100% of contributions go to the project itself, which is being managed by Peace Corps Volunteers and other volunteers from the communities in which we serve. By contributing as much as you can to the project, you’ll not only be helping out the PCVs in their efforts, but you’ll also be assisting the youth of Azerbaijan.
These kids that come to camp have demonstrated to be among the best and brightest in their communities. ABLE Camp is not only a reward for the hard work that they’ve demonstrated, but also a great chance to sit down with these kids and give them the confidence, knowledge, and skills they will need to be the future generation’s leaders. One of the anectodes from camp that is always passed on to new PCVS is that one day during the 2nd ABLE Camp one of the campers was so excited to be a part of camp that he stood up and yelled “This is the best day of my life!” I didn’t see that happen myself, but I know from my experience at ABLE that the experience will absolutely stay with these campers for the rest of their lives.
The camp itself is divided into three main components:
Participatory Information Sessions
Team Building Activities
Project Planning
Information Sessions explain concepts of leadership, teamwork, and community responsibility to the campers. Team Building Activities reinforce these concepts. Finally, campers discuss issues that they see in their own communities and use the concepts discussed at camp to create community projects that aim to make their communities better. Past examples of these projects include a clothes-drive for a local orphanage and informing their fellow students about a study abroad opportunity. The projects are admittedly small in scale, but they provide a valuabe experience for the campers that they will build on for the rest of their lives.
To donate to ABLE Camp, please click this link that will take you to the Peace Corps Partnership website. Please contribute as much as you can. At this time, we’ve recived $150 from a kind soul out there, leaving us with $2,137 to go. Even a small donation gets us closer to holding camp for these kids. Please feel free to send the link above, or a link to this blog to spread the word about this project.
Thanks for your time. If you’ve got a question about ABLE Camp, please email me or leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you promptly.
I’ve been writing the “X Months Left” post as a way to countdown my exodus from Azerbaijan, but last week marked a milestone that marks not how much time I have left in Azerbaijan, but how long I’ve been here. Two years ago, on July 27th, I touched down to Baku, Azerbaijan.
Looking at that, and considering I’ll be leaving on September 2nd, I realized that my blog title is a bit misleading. Maybe it should be “26 Months and A week in Azerbaijan.” That’s a bit wordy, though.
Baku has always been overpriced in my opinion. What really gets me about this list of expensive cities is the value that they give for your overpriced buck. Sure, Tokyo is consistently one of the most expensive places in the world, but you get the benefit of all the crazy stuff they have going on over there. In Baku, when I went in a couple of months ago for some official siteseeing, I was shocked at how quickly it all went by.
The expensiveness of Baku has to be a huge turn off for people considering traveling through the region. This is especially true when you see that number 21, 22, and 23 on the list are Berlin, Vienna, and Moscow respectively.
The other bone I would have to pick here is that living in the regions of Azerbaijan is pretty cheap. People commonly ask me how much money I make, and when I tell them it’s a couple hundred bucks a month, they are usually shocked and tell me that it’s nothing. I usually counter with “Well, look where we live. There isn’t really any place to spend my money.” It’s an exaggeration, but it’s not like I’m tempted to blow my monthly living allowance on movie theater tickets.
I guess I just don’t understand how such expensive cities exist in such poor countries. The lack of parity is actually pretty common on this list of cities though, with Abuja, Nigeria and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo coming in right before Baku at 18 and 19. And surprisingly, Luanda, Angola (which I have never heard of) is number one on the list. Talk about not getting value.
When there is a funeral here, large, temporary tents are constructed in the street in front of the residence of the deceased. Yesterday, I noticed that my neighbor was putting one up outside of his house, which I thought was strange because I hadn’t noticed any grandmas or grandpas living there. I was a bit annoyed by the whole thing though, because the way our street is set up, blocking off that side of the road was going to turn by ten minute walk to the store into a 40 minute one. I was worried for nothing though, because on my way out today, I noticed a small passage way to the side, and was able to skirt around it.
As I came home, I ran into my neighbor in my yard. He often passes through to go to the house behind mine, which is strange, but simply the way things are done here. I asked him who died and he laughed.
“No one. We’re circumcising my son.”
Circumcision parties are called “little weddings,” and the boy, who is around 4, gets dressed up and gets paired up with a little girl and they have a fake little wedding.
I got over feeling dumb for confusing a funeral with a circumcision pretty quickly because I feel bad for the kid. He’s about to enter a world of pain. Then again, I heard they get a ton of loot for this, so it’s not all bad.
I’m not sure how much press this is getting in the U.S. but the Iranian presidential election is today (Friday the 12th). Considering my proximity to Iran I’m excited about the election there. Not because there’s a big Iranian influence here, but because Iran doesn’t seem that abstract to me anymore.
I’d also say that there are a lot of parallels between this election and the one the U.S. had last November. Are we ready to show the world that we are really a reasonable people who want to be part of the world, or will we continue to make the same decisions? The similarities are pretty amazing considering how much our governments want to tell us that it’s different.
After a loooong weekend in Baku, I’ve returned to the heat of Ujar. Should be around 95 today and it’s going to be like that all summer.
I’ve got three months left in Azerbaijan, and actually, a bit less than that. Our Country Director has given volunteers who are finishing their service, the option of going home anywhere from the 2nd to the 11th of the September. Considering that ABLE Camp is my big project this summer and that’ll be over in early August, I’ll be aiming to get out of here sooner rather than later.
I’m excited about my last three months here. I’d like to check out some of the farthest corners of this place and leave feeling like I really know it.
I’ll update my post-PC plans as any news comes up.
