as an additional adult advisor. These two women are crucial in that they provide real-life evidence of
women who are capable, independent and confident. They can provide examples of the kind of
women these girls can grow up to become in a way that I never can.
I have two motives for writing this Pauza article. First, I want to express my gratitude to all of the
volunteers who make the GLOW program a success. I have had the pleasure of sending three groups
of girls to Camp GLOW—21 girls total—and of working with another twenty in our local Club
GLOW. I have seen how changed many of these girls are after they return from camp. They come
back confident and enthusiastic about their own potential. As a PCV, I consider one of my primary
roles to be providing opportunities for the students I work with. I think GLOW is one of the most
important of these opportunities, and I am very grateful that I have had the opportunity to help make
this available to them.
My second motive for this article is to encourage other male PCVs to support the GLOW program. I
don’t mean to assume that there are not others who do, but simply, if there are any male PCVs out
there who thought that GLOW was a project only for female PCVs, I would like to offer my own
experience as an example of how male volunteers can still be involved. While it is very important
for the young women of Macedonia to have positive female role-models to look up to, it is equally
important for them to have positive male role-models. We can be the evidence that it is not
unreasonable for them to expect their brothers, classmates, boyfriends and future husbands to treat
them with fairness, appreciation and respect.
What I Wish I'd Known Before I Came to Macedonia...
(Advice & Wishful Thinking)
·A heater will become your new washing machine (Elena Boroski) · Blue jeans are considered
business casual (Robert Sikes, CJ Bruce) · How good ajvar is, and some of the criminal elements
so I could have started bootlegging it back in America (Max Arcand) · You'll
start liking pizza (and maybe spaghetti) with ketchup (Elena Boroski) · How
to take the advice of volunteers with a grain of salt (Phil Guthrie) · To
enjoy every part of service in the moment and not waste time and energy
anticipating “what's next” (Laura Pontecore) · Find out if there's a local
hiking group or expert, and when they invite you along somewhere – go!
(Katie Kalinowski) · You will have a love/hate relationship with promaja
(you will laugh because people actually believe in this; you will be upset because people actually
believe in this) (Elena Boroski) · Make Macedonia your home and embrace the experience; don't
act like a two-year visitor (Kerry Plath) · You will receive Facebook notifications that a
Macedonian has “liked” one of your photos from 2007 (Elena Boroski) · How much downtime
there is, and not being able to go out of your home – not because you don't want to, but because
you can't communicate (Adam Bradbury) · Not to let someone else's past determine your future
successes here (Phebe Philips) · You'll do half the work you did in the States but you'll be twice as
exhausted (Elena Boroski) · Make a friend in your community. Have one person you can go hang
out with who isn't a Peace Corps Volunteer, who can really show you the ropes and explain things.
They may turn out to be your biggest asset (Jenn Knowles) · You will spend more time on the
internet here than you ever would have in the States (Elena Boroski)
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