Message from the
Editor
As I look around at our Peace Corps family of volunteers and staff, there’ s no doubt that our service in Macedonia has transformed us. From physical changes in weight and style to internal changes in the way we see and be in the world, transformations manifest differently in each of us and for better or worse. Macedonia in particular has transformed me far more than I can claim to have transformed Macedonia. The seeds Macedonia planted in me have blossomed into hair extensions, high heels and skinny jeans, transforming this former мажкадонка( tomboy) slowly yet surely into a Macedonian девојче( girl). I have also undergone internal transformations as I learn ever more how to be present in the moment and patient with the different way of doing things around me. I welcome the changes.
As for the seeds that I am planting in Macedonia, I have long since let go of the need to equate success with visible results. When I tried to control the outcomes, I only frustrated myself and those around me. My task is not as a master builder here, but as the sower of new ideas, methods, and an“ anything is possible” attitude. I have no doubt that the seeds we are planting here will indeed one day sprout, grow and bloom in ways we never expected and in moments when we are long gone. In the meantime, success for me is allowing myself to be transformed by these incredible opportunities and people around me. And by incredible I do not mean easy. I mean the hard, gritty personal work of cultural immersion, of painful self-reflection when our comfort zone is challenged. My buttons are constantly pushed when differences challenge the fundamental concepts that I’ ve spent my entire life learning are“ right.” Only to find out there are people in this world who simply do things“ right” differently. When I find myself frustrated, the root of it is not in the circumstances around me, it’ s in the circumstances within me. While I came equipped with tools and resources to share how to“ do” and work in this world, Macedonia has taught me a great lesson in how to“ be” in the world.
‘ Tis the season for transformation. In this Spring 2013 issue of Pauza, see how Peace Corps service in Macedonia has transformed our fellow volunteers and staff, as well as how they are transforming Macedonia – from travels and projects to festivals and women’ s day celebrations. Help a volunteer in naming Nadica’ s newborn and hear from a recent Response Volunteer on what keeps her both returning to service and to Macedonia. As you kick back and enjoy this issue, hopefully in the warmth of this long-awaited spring, may you be mindful of the changes in and around you. In closing, it doesn’ t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you have the humility at any age to be transformed by the people and the experiences around you. To realize that your steadfast way of seeing and being in the world is not the only way. It doesn’ t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will dare to allow these experiences to transform you. And in the words of Oriah, from her book The Invitation,“ It doesn’ t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
Pozdrav,
6 – Pauza Magazine