Our Peace Corps pre-service training ends the second week of October and we will be leaving Sapareva Banya and will living and working on our own. Where will we be going? At the moment we do not know and neither does the Peace Corps. It’s not decided yet.
This week Shirley and I will have placement interviews with program director who will then meet with senior staff to decide where to place all the trainees. Of course, our placement is complicated because we are a married couple and need to be placed in the same community. In two weeks we will be told our permanent assignment. We, like all the other trainees are eager to learn where it will be.
Our trainees group consists of 30 people, 16 men, 14 women. Twenty-six trainees are in their 20s, most under 25. One man is in his 30s and one in the 40s…and then there is us somewhere between 30 and 80 depending on the day. Fourteen of the trainees are in the Youth Development Program. The remaining 16 of us are in a program called Community and Organization Development (COD) which includes Shirley’s specialty of business development and my environmental programming. Considering only COD, here is the information that we received on a paper Thursday.
Of the 27 applications that Peace Corps received from Bulgarian agencies wanting a volunteer, the Peace Corps has tentatively approved 19 sites. Of course there are only 16 of us so three of those sites will not be filled this time. Here’s the information the Peace Corps has given us:
Types of organizations:
11 Municipalities (local government that serves a region of 3-5 small towns and villages)
2 Mayoralties (mayor's office in one of the towns of a municipality)
5 Non-governmental organizations
1 Nature Park Directorate
Types of Activities:
This week Shirley and I will have placement interviews with program director who will then meet with senior staff to decide where to place all the trainees. Of course, our placement is complicated because we are a married couple and need to be placed in the same community. In two weeks we will be told our permanent assignment. We, like all the other trainees are eager to learn where it will be.
Our trainees group consists of 30 people, 16 men, 14 women. Twenty-six trainees are in their 20s, most under 25. One man is in his 30s and one in the 40s…and then there is us somewhere between 30 and 80 depending on the day. Fourteen of the trainees are in the Youth Development Program. The remaining 16 of us are in a program called Community and Organization Development (COD) which includes Shirley’s specialty of business development and my environmental programming. Considering only COD, here is the information that we received on a paper Thursday.
Of the 27 applications that Peace Corps received from Bulgarian agencies wanting a volunteer, the Peace Corps has tentatively approved 19 sites. Of course there are only 16 of us so three of those sites will not be filled this time. Here’s the information the Peace Corps has given us:
Types of organizations:
11 Municipalities (local government that serves a region of 3-5 small towns and villages)
2 Mayoralties (mayor's office in one of the towns of a municipality)
5 Non-governmental organizations
1 Nature Park Directorate
Types of Activities:
..General (applicable to all sites)
….Project design and implementation
….Grant proposal writing and search for funding programs
….Proofreading and translation
….Establishment and development of international contacts and partnerships
….English language, computer literacy, project design and management, and teamwork building
….Work with local kindergarten, school, cultural center, tourist information center, youth or pensioner’s club, orphanage, etc.
..Specific (applicable to some sites):
….Tourism development: best practices exchange; assistance with promotional materials and website design; work with local businesses on customer service and advertising; trail marking
….Business development: market research; investment and marketing profile development; consulting to small and medium size businesses; establishment of business contacts with Bulgarian and international organizations; business plan development
Sites and infrastructure
..Population:
….4 sites with population up to 1,000 people
….12 sites with population between 1,000 and 6,000 people
….3 sites with population above 9,000 people
..Ethnic composition of the population:
…Sites with predominantly Bulgarian population
….Sites with predominantly Turkish populations (traditionally conservative communities)
….Sites with mixed population: Bulgarians, Roma, Turks
..Geography:
….17 sites in mountainous or hilly areas
….1 site on the Danube River
….1 site near the Black Sea
..Weather:
….Cold and snowy winter in mountain areas
..Transportation:
….Some sites has both train and bus
….Some sites have only bus, some only 1 bus daily
….In general the public transportation is well developed and a bigger town can be accessed within an hour
Housing
..Separate apartment – municipal or rented
..Separate house
..Separate floor of a house with own kitchen and bathroom
..House with a host family with own kitchen and shared bathroom
..When accommodated in a house in a mountain area, a wood burning stove might be used
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