pcv projects
ETURN NGAGEMENTS
In September 2006, I arrived in Macedonia with 48 other MAK 11’ s, and immediately fell in love with the country. Our first stop was a few days at Hotel Romantique, just outside of Veles; the next 3 months were spent with my supportive, kind, and loving host family in Chaska, and then on to Bitola, which I still call“ home” and where I lived until July 25, 2009.
I worked at the Opstina of Bitola. The friends I made there and in the city, and the projects we began, have drawn me back to Macedonia every year since I left. My most recent return to Macedonia was this past fall as a Response Corps Volunteer at the Center for Development for the Pelagonija Region in Bitola.( This was my second
Response Corps( RC) position; after visiting Macedonia in the fall of 2011, I served in the Republic of Georgia from October until the end of January 2012 as a PR Advisor at the Ministry of Environment in Tbilisi).
My position with the Center was Promotional Specialist for the Bitola Zoo. The Center had submitted and received a major EU crossborder IPA grant for renovations, trainings, and a new social media package for the Bitola Zoo and similar upgrades for a small park zoo in Florina, Greece( just across the border from Bitola). Great virtual and physical changes are underway in Bitola, with new habitats for the animals scheduled for 2014; I hope you get a chance to check
out all the changes online and in person.
When people hear I have served three times in PC, one of their first questions is always,“ Would you serve again?” The answer is a resounding“ Yes.” If the timing and position were right, I would apply again. RC offers Volunteers, and in some cases folks who have not previously served as Volunteers, interesting international volunteer positions, along with a bit more flexibility than traditional PC service. RC positions are three, six, nine or twelve months long. Both of my RC positions were three months, and I was able to extend each for an additional two weeks to allow time to complete or expand the projects I was working on.
24 – Pauza Magazine Photos: Left to right: New Train to Chaska, Appreciative Inquiry Seminar Bitola