MoldovAnn in Moldova

It was a fabulous trip. I enjoyed meeting with my colleagues at the advising center, and it was exciting to see some of the developments in Chisinau and southern Moldova. There is an American Corner in Ceadir-Lunga – holy cow! What a difference that could have made in my life when I was living in nearby Tvarditsa. We stopped at one gas station on the drive south that was down right modern. Igor and I both commented on how impressed we were with the bathroom – not only was it indoors (extremely rare in Moldova), it had running water, toilet paper and was clean. Wow.

After a couple days of business (and no further mishaps with the National Bank), we spent the weekend with my darling host family in Tvarditsa. It was just plain great. We ate until we got sick, drank the best wine in the world, and even got a tour of the wonderful little Tvarditsa museum.

When we got back to Kyiv and Igor showed me his photos, I shouldn’t have been surprised that nearly half of them are of the pigs, in all various stages of life and afterlife. The newborn piglets, the teenagers who were just born during our last visit in August, the enormous adults, the slabs of someone slaughtered in our honor, and the bits of fat frying up in the pan. A Ukrainian’s dream come true. Igor even made googly eyes and kissy face with the pigs.

We left Tvarditsa with a trunk full of “contraband”, as Igor said. Bags of homemade brinza (salty sheep’s cheese), canned veggies, a freshly slaughtered chicken, fresh eggs, some of that fried pig fat, and of course multiple bottles of the best wine on earth. When we stopped to fill up the gas tank, Igor and Sasha checked the stash and got worried that we’d have trouble at the border. Solution? Start eating and drinking now. Igor and I did the drinking, Sasha helped a bit with the eating.

I don’t know if it was the wine or what, but we had no problems crossing any of the borders. The boys cheered when they made it back into Ukraine, and I cheered when we made it to our apartment that evening. Photos are on Flickr.

We’re in Moldova

Igor joined me for my trip to Moldova. We hired a friend to drive us here, since there are no direct flights from Kyiv and the train takes 16+ hours to travel 500 km (~320 miles). Within 5 hours we were on the border, then a good hour and a half spent passing through endless control points. We went through Transdniestra, this crazy little strip of land that thinks it’s an independent country while everyone else in the world thinks it’s a crazy little strip of land that belongs to Moldova. They take their craziness seriously, though, and have even introduced immigration forms at the border (new since we passed through last August).

The Moldovans have also introduced some new scams, namely an “ecology fee” which must be paid in local currency at the border. i could hardly bite my tongue hard enough to stop myself from endless commentary on the utter lack of an ecological conscience in the country.

We finally got to Chisniau about 7:30, checked into the hotel, and headed out for an absolutely fantastic dinner. For some reason, nearly all restaurants in Chisinau are in basements. I commented on this as we descended into the one we picked, and Sasha (friend/driver) said it probably had something to do with a positive association with wine cellars, which are extreme points of pride in Moldova. I think he’s onto something.

After a fabulous dinner, a delicious bottle of wine, an unncessary amount of vodka and a nightcap of a local brew akin to paint thinner, we stumbled on our way. Igor and I walked Sasha to his hotel, only to find it dark and locked up. The three of us took turns banging on the door and trying to explain to the stubborn guard on the other side that he should let in their paying customer. He was really stubborn, though, and probably could hear as little of what we said as we could hear of what he said, which wasn’t pretty much nothing. Finally Igor noticed the intercom.

“What do you want?”, the voice asked.
“To check in, get a room for the night.”
“This is the National Bank of Moldova” said the voice.

Oops. The hotel’s on the next corner. Double oops.

Today we went on a tour of the Cricova winery. Needless to say, none of us took particular advantage of the wine tasting at the end of the tour. We learned about the famous champagne process they use there, which is pretty dang cool, and saw what seemed to me at least a million and a half bottles of wine. Also pretty dang cool. So much wine, so little time….

Chisinau looks really good (and not just because of the wine). The city seems a lot nicer, cleaner, than when I lived in Moldova (gosh, is it really 4 years ago now?).

Development dilemmas

Igor and I were contacted a few months ago by a small US non-profit organization that was trying to make a humanitarian aid donation to a hospital in one of the Chornobyl-affected towns not too far from Kyiv. The US organization has worked with Chornobyl-affected communities for many years, but I’m not sure if they’ve done a big humanitarian aid shipment before. They were having a hard time getting responses from their contacts in the town, and ended up writing us asking if we could call there. To make a long story short, we understood pretty quickly that this town and this hospital were not interested at all in going through all the rigamarol that is required to receive humanitarian aid in Ukraine.

The US organization had already started the process on their end, though, having collected several thousand dollars in contributions and started working with a bigger US not-for-profit to put together a shipment. See any problems here? Might want to talk to your beneficiaries before you start preparing a donation.

So we made contact with another hospital in the Chornobyl-affecteded territory, and after confirming their interest in receiving a humanitarian aid shipment, we suggested the US NGO donate to them instead. They quickly agreed. And then the real fun began.

Igor and I would love to see this hospital get some help. Their budget has been slashed this year, and the place was already not so hot to start with. We toured the surgical and intensive care wards earlier this year and wow, was it ever eye-opening. I know the doctors and nurses are doing the best the can with what they have, and I don’t mean any criticism of them at all. They just don’t have much to work with. Most of the buildings within the hospital complex are over a hundred years old, and much of the furniture and equipment I would put in the same era. The one ultrasound machine they have is from the mid-1970’s. We were told there are no computers in the facility.

This hospital is also a bit leary of humanitarian aid, having had some not-so-great experiences in the past with so-called donations. They showed us the incubator that doesn’t maintain a constant temperature, donated by a European country a few years ago. I have heard such stories before, of companies and organizations (even governments) unloading old, broken, and/or expired goods onto needy institutions as so-called humanitarian aid. It’s very sad, I think, and while they may get good press at home, they seriously hurt their own reputations in the recipient countries.

Anyway, Igor and I have had to do a lot of negotiating (much more than we ever expected to need to do) with both sides of this arrangement to get them to understand each other’s needs. The US organization has been focused entirely on just filling a container with medical equipment (no medicines, thank goodness, ’cause that’s a whole huge nightmare to import), without really taking into account the local needs. We had to be very insistent in conveying the hospital’s requirements that no used furniture or equipment can be accepted for the maternity or pediatric wards. The point person for the US organization got really frustrated with me for pushing this point over and over, and finally snapped “It’s not like we’re sending junk! It will be gently used and refurbished.” I wonder if she’s ever thought about the consumer protection and other laws that limit the kind of goods that can be used in US hospitals? Why, just because it’s a poorer country, should the people in Ukraine be expected to settle for crappier stuff? “Who are you doing this for?” I finally asked her. “For yourselves or for the patients and staff of the hospital?”

We also had negotiating to do with the hospital, explaining that no, it was not reasonable to ask for several million dollars to build a new wing of the hospital. We did pass along their comment about no computers, though, and much to my surprise the US organization scrounged up some used laptops that they will send with some people in May. We have had to work cautiously with the hospital, though. No one is very interested in taking the time to fill out the lengthy application forms, which of course are all in English, but we have insisted that while we will help (mainly by translating), they have to do the bulk of the work themselves. Other than our first meeting, all business since has been conducted by official letters. This is cumbersome and slow, but Igor insists that it is the best way so as to avoid any confusion and negative accusations later on. I trust him on this, and agree it’s better to be safe than sorry, and a written record is our safety net.

The latest dilemma occured last week, when I received an “urgent” email from the US organization asking to talk as soon as possible. It seems that in the description of services provided that were listed in the hospital’s application form was “Family Planning”. This caused the application to be bounced back from the big NGO to the one we’re working direclty with. I guess in the US, “family planning” is code for abortion. During our phone conversation, the US NGO folks said “I know abortion is legal in Ukraine.” “As it is in the US,” I interjected. “Yes, yes,” she conceded, “but this is a Catholic organization and they are concerned about it.”

Amongst all the important and valuable services the hospital is providing to tens of thousands of patients a year, in an economically depressed region that is also suffering from a range of Chornobyl-related issues, the entire application was boiled down to someone’s interpretation of the term “family planning.” A term which, I might (and did) add, includes actual planning of families, like pre-natal care, counseling, parental classes, and yes, contraceptions and probably abortion.

We seem to have averted the “crisis” by talking to the hospital and getting their confirmation on all the services they provide that constitute “family planning”, which pretty much match the services I described. We passed along the information, and are awaiting the next steps of the process.

I am still struggling with my own personal dilemma of being really frustrated with the American organizations for their assumptions and their willingness to dump this needy hospital because it provides a legal service – or at least it seemed like they were willing to dump the hospital; I wonder what they really would have done if we’d reported back only “yep, they do legal abortions.” I wouldn’t want to jeopardize the hospital’s chances to receive this much needed equipment, though, which meant I had to squelch my own personal reaction and resist telling the Americans to shove their humanitarian aid where the sun don’t shine.

I imagine they are struggling with their own compromises. Even though we’ve all quietly agreed to shade the subject in gray, I imagine it still is hard for them to support what they perceive to be a medical procedure that is wrong. How would I feel about providing medical equipment to a hospital that conducted legal female circumcision (aka female genital mutilation)? I would have serious issues with it. But perhaps I could do my best to not provide equipment or supplies that could be used for this procedure? This shipment will presumably not include equipment used to conduct abortions, although hospital beds, medical gowns, surgical gloves, sterile syringes… I don’t know. I’m still angry at them for their assumptions, but I’m also still struggling with the dilemma.

Update April 2010: Giving the wrong way

Happy Women’s Day!

In case you missed, March 8 was International Women’s Day. Congratulations to all the wonderful women in the world!

We had a great weekend. After a good workout at the gym on Saturday, followed by the usual sauna bake, Igor had ordered massages for us. Oooo, it was so exactly what I needed. We finally found the masseuse that we both like a lot, and he worked out nearly all the kinks in my back and shoulders that have been plaguing me for some time now. Saturday night was a lovely evening at the Canadian Embassy – a French wine and cheese tasting with the owner of a local French wine boutique. We were introduced to some very nice wines, and the chocolate mousse (an unexpected treat) was to die for. We had some serious sugar buzzes going.

A bit about International Women’s Day, excerpted from www.internationalwomensday.com.

The very first International Women’s Day was launched on 19 March (not 8 March) 1911. Plans for the first International Women’s Day demonstration were spread by word of mouth and in the press. Success of the first International Women’s Day in 1911 exceeded all expectation.

Meetings were organized everywhere in small towns and even the villages halls were packed so full that male workers were asked to give up their places for women. Men stayed at home with their children for a change, and their wives, the captive housewives, went to meetings.

In 1913 International Women’s Day was transferred to 8 March and this day has remained the global date for International Women’s Day ever since. IWD is now an official holiday in China, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The tradition sees men honoring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc. with flowers and small gifts.

The new millennium has witnessed a significant change in both women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that “all the battles have been won for women” while many feminists from the 1970’s know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women’s visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women’s education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.

However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into
university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. And so the tone and nature of IWD has, for the past few years, moved from being a reminder about the negatives to a celebration of the positives.

Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. A global web of rich and diverse local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women’s craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more.

Armenia

I had a very busy but fabulous time in Armenia. The food, the people, the weather – it was all fabulous. I was really busy, they packed my schedule quite tightly with meetings and events, but they were all productive and some even fun. I love talking to students, and I got to do it three times!

Yerevan is an interesting mix of new “under construction” sites and decaying, collapsing sites – some old abandoned buildings, some construction sites that were never completed and were abandoned (mostly at the end of the Soviet Union and early 90’s). So it has that in common with Kyiv, although it’s a lot smaller. Lots and lots of parks, lots and lots of monuments. I really want to go back during a nicer time of year to enjoy the great outdoor spaces.

We went for a day to Armenia’s second largest city, Gyumri. The 2-hour drive was gorgeous – fantastic view of Mt. Ararat as we departed from Yerevan, it’s just breathtaking! As we ascended higher and higher into the mountains, I really started to regret not buying a new camera when I had the chance. I was camera-less on the whole trip! Argh! Gyumri was hit hard in the 1988 earthquake, and I was told there are still destroyed buildings and homes in the city, although I didn’t see them myself. There was a lot of talk about a recent government decree to provide free houses to hundreds of families still displaced from the 1988 earthquake – for 21 years these families have been living in makeshift and (so-called) temporary emergency housing. Incredible.

I also heard a lot about the “dark ages”, three years in the mid-90’s when the entire country was without electricity and heat. Three years. Not a speck of electricity, not a bit of heat. One long-lasting result is the near total deforestation of much of the country, as so many trees were cut down for fuel during those years. I was fascinated, and impressed, with the positive attitude of so many Armenians that I met. I can’t begin to imagine the horrors of living in a city apartment with no electricity or heat for 3 days, much less three years, and yet one man reminisced almost with regret that those days were gone. He talked about how his children were small then, and they played games together every night, or told each other stories, or played piano and sang songs, or just sat and talked for hours on end. “Everyone’s so busy now,” he mused. I suppose he was mostly pining for the bygone days of his grown children’s childhoods, but wow, that he could remember those years of hardship with any warmth at all was amazing to me.

On another note, the Yerevan airport has joined the War on Liquids in full force, extending their profiling well beyond the clearly-threatening bottles of water. My purse was thoroughly searched and all items that could even potentially become a liquid (such as lipstick) were neatly packed into a small, clear plastic bag. Items that were formerly liquidish, such as an empty tube of cortizone cream kept in my purse to remind me to buy a new tube, were also scooped up and added to the surprisingly large pile of potentially dangerous liquidy items that are somehow rendered safe in a small, clear plastic bag. There must be some pretty cool super powers in those baggies.

The sky was perfectly clear as we departed from Yerevan, with a breathtaking view of the mountains all the way to the Black Sea. It was absolutely gorgeous. Beyond description gorgeous. I am so kicking myself for not getting a new camera yet.

Attitude improving

Today was a good day. I saw only a tiny piece of Yerevan but I like the atmosphere here. I can tell it’s a great outdoor city in the warm months.

Re-reading my post from whatever ungodly hour I wrote it this morning, I note a bit of cynicism in my voice. Just a tad. A few hours of sleep, a fabulous Armenian lunch, good colleagues and good meetings have definitely improved my attitude. Looking forward to tomorrow.

in Armenia

I arrived in Armenia at 2:30 am local time. Yuck – the time I mean, not the place. Haven’t seen enough to form an opinion. First impresions: I hope the people on the plane are not indicative of the Armenians in general, as they were some of the most obnoxious travelers I’ve had the misfortune to be enclosed in a small space with. The airport, at least the small part I was in, was rather impressive. Bright and shiny. I bought my visa in the terminal while the obnoxious passengers jostled in line at passport control; by the time I got in line there I was the last one left so nobody left to shove me around. They have a rather clever design, in that the only way to your luggage is through a large store. Not a bad idea, as far as promoting capitalism goes, but at 3:00 am I have to wonder how many passengers were really interested in the designer purses and booze. I, for one, was not.

Hotel is good, free internet in my room, along with a well-stocked and reasonably priced mini-bar, both of which always score big points with me.

I could hardly keep my eyes open on plane, but of course now at 4:20 am I am wide awake. Good thing I didn’t schedule any morning meetings. Might have to see what kind of sleep-aid is available from the mini-bar.

Oh, and I’m looking forward to seeing which of weather.com’s forecasts are correct. Their prognosis for the coming week: -9 Celsius, 42 Farenheit. Now I’m no math (or weather) wizard, but I do know that negative temperatures in Celsius are below freezing, i.e. less that 32 degrees Farenheit. I’m guessing they have neither math nor weather wizards at weather.com. And let me say this: it is hard to pack for the possibility of either -9 (which, by the way, is 15 degrees Farenheit) or 42 Farenheit (which, by the way, is 5.5 Celsius).