Life in the Peace Corps is not as luxurious as some might think it could be. Here is a quick shot of my daily hardship:
From left to right: Epiphone 6-string (steel) guitar; Mr. Coffee French press with fresh-ground columbian coffee, iPad 32GB+wifi (being used as second monitor for…), 11” Macbook Air hooked up to the internet via the USB 3G Modem, dual-sim card cell phone, Apple Mighty Mouse bluetooth mouse, iPhone 3GS pumping out the jams, Dell 15” laptop with Windows 7, Apple Time Capsule wireless base station hosting my iTunes, computer backup and charging the iPhone, 100watt 2.1 sound system hooked up to iPhone and disturbing the neighbors.
I know. It’s rough, but hey, someone has to do it!
As the New Year gets it’s start in this winter wonderland of Central Asia, I find myself drowning in opportunity for service in 2012.
Starting off on the right foot in a partnership with United States Air Force soldiers from the Manas Transit Center in Bishkek (the gateway for American soldiers entering and leaving Afghanistan), I worked to distribute 1500 coats and blankets to needy children in western Kyrgyzstan. “Operation Warm & Dry” was a military humanitarian mission that partnered with Peace Corps Volunteers and PCV-counterparts to bring warmth to those who most need it. It was an honor to work with US servicemen but most importantly the project made a great impact.
With only 18 more months of Peace Corps service left, I am starting to feel the time crunch in front of me. Searching for ways to make an impact before I leave, I have started to turn my goals from more than the development of one community radio station, but instead the development of all independent and community media throughout the Kyrgyz Republic.
I participate in national conferences of community media outlets on a regular basis in the capital city and a reoccurring issue is the need for a virtual information exchange where discussions can continue beyond the conference, media can be uploaded/downloaded, journalists can connect with each other and stories can be shared with the world.
The major problem is that many of these journalists have poor access to internet and lack the facility to create websites. They do however have great technical ability, are good writers and have at least some level of internet access.
So I came up with a solution. I am building a network of websites that will serve to unify Kyrgyz Independent and community media under one internet brand. This site will be part social network, part web hosting solution and 100% Kyrgyz media. With the ability to share information with each other, file-sharing, host their own websites and have the world access their work, I believe that this can be a highly impactful resource for bringing more of Kyrgyzstan to the world.
I wish you and yours a prosperous 2012 and encourage you to work for the betterment of the community in which you live! As always, you may follow my adventure at http://JudsonLMoore.com.
Kyrgyz national television ОТРК-1 recently came to my house to interview some Peace Corps Volunteers about how we celebrate the New Year in American and how we will celebrate the holiday in the Kyrgyz Republic.
Being as far away from America as I am did not put even the slightest dent in my celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday last week. Thanks to the US Embassy in Bishkek and the Peace Corps staff we had 3 x 20lbs Butterball turkeys and all the dishes you would expect to see at any American celebration of thanks.
The PC Medical Officer (who plays excellent blues guitar) and I provided the entertainment. He played blues/jazz guitar while I accompanied on drums and occasionally I also played guitar. This was my first public guitar performance and I feel pretty good about it. I even led a few sing-alongs of American Pie and Stand By Me.
While in Bishkek for the week I visited a rehearsal studio for a few hours and got some time in on drums after a year of no practice. I believe this may be the only existing video of me playing drums and unfortunately the memory card ran out of space after just 3 minutes. But for your enjoyment:
With the new year just around the corner Kyrgyzstan has made Central Asian history by peacefully and fairly electing a new president. The elections at the end of October resulted in a landslide victory for former prime minster Almazbek Atambaev. President Atambaev took office on December 1st and so far everything is smooth-sailing. All of the local people I know seem to think he is the right person for the job.
Next week I will be going to Bishkek again to ski for a few days and to attend a training on grant writing. The project I will be developing is aimed at using iPads for the creation and broadcast of radio and written news stories from the rural villages of western Kyrgyzstan. My office, Radiomost, has an extensive network of community journalists throughout the region but sometimes their involvement can be restricted by logistical obstructions like road conditions, travel time, power outages and social/family obligations. With iPads, journalists can create, edit and email programs with great efficiency and low cost.
I feel strongly about the merit of this project and believe that when successful, it will serve as a blueprint for using mobile devices for information creation throughout the developing world.
Snow here is starting to get pretty thick. Though I have been warned that I haven’t really seen anything yet. This Louisiana boy doesn’t do cold or snow, so it will be an interesting next few months to see how I adapt. I have a beautiful view of snow-capped mountains out my bedroom window which is nice to look at, just not to go out in!
My Russian language is progressing at an accelerating rate. I am excited for the day when I can actually hold basic conversations. Right now I am understanding a lot of what people are saying, I just don’t know how to respond to it. The grammar of Russian is very intense. Every word of a sentence is conjugated based on gender, number and who the statement is directed toward.
The New Year is quickly approaching and though I won’t be attending any Manhattan roof-top parties this year, my family tells me they have an annual celebration of epic proportions.
I you a safe and happy holiday season. Keep in touch!
Sunday Nov 13 - Monday Nov 14 ============================= These were travel days to the HIV Training in Cholpon Ata. The first day was travel by taxi from Talas to Bishkek. The second day was travel by PC-supplied charter bus from PC Office - Cholpon Ata. One thing to note was that for Talas volunteers it was impossible to travel to Bishkek on the same day as traveling to Cholpon Ata due to the winter road conditions being too unstable to guarantee our arrival on time.
On the PC Charter Bus I took advantage of my Russian tutor being present. We sat together and did a 3-hour lesson consisting of vocabulary drills and verb conjugations.
Tuesday Nov 15 - Thursday Nov 18 ============================= These are the HIV Training dates. The information about HIV/AIDS and prevention were mostly things that I had already been familiar with. What was brilliant about this training as a TOT is that we were not just told information and by nature of receiving that information expected to know what to do with it. Rather, the trainers consisted of personal stories from the trainers (all PCVs) about how they would train different type/ages of people in different environments. Also demonstrated how there are different activities that are appropriate for different topics and different audiences.
It should be noted that I recognize this as the highest-quality training I have received in PC and the curious part of this observation is that there was no local or PC-staff involvement in the daily trainings. I have said since the beginning how important I thought it was to hear directly from PCVs telling us their story, experiences and lessons learned that locals and staff can not possibly convey to us. This aspect was strong in this training and the result, I feel, was superb.
I also continued to take advantage of the presence of my Russian tutor during this week and had lessons with her every night after the trainings. I also feel quite proud that for this whole training I did not interact with a single volunteer outside of the sessions. I ate with local people and in the evenings I only spent time with local people. It was a breath of fresh air.
Friday Nov 19 - Tuesday Nov 23 ============================= On Friday I went to Karakol in the far east of Kyrgyzstan to visit fellow PCVs. Within 2 hours of being in town I observed a training of teachers led by Catie Scott.
After this I was asked to speak at the Leadership Organization. Leadership is a group of 20 (or so) 14-20 year old students that are interested in being community leaders and volunteering their time. I was asked to speak about the Peace Corps and my story of volunteerism. I drew a timeline of my volunteering life, starting in community theater when I was 14 and coming all the way up to my Peace Corps service. I described how each experience led to the next opportunity, job opportunities, education, travel and how I expect all of this will impact my future opportunities.
These were the smartest and most engaged group of students I have either met or even heard of in Kyrgyzstan. From my understanding (but limited interactions with) students in Talas it seems like students in Kyrgyzstan are “lost causes.” Karakol proved this was not the case.
On Saturday and Sunday I spent my time exploring the city and meeting PCVs in Karakol. I also did 2 hours of language tutoring with the Russian tutor of Bob Scott.
On Monday I met with Mark Iozzi to learn about micro finance and business finance in Kyrgyzstan. This was very informative and what I learned is that 9 out of 10 times micro-credit is a horrible idea (with the exceptions usually being within agricultural projects). He also gave some presentations and information regarding the topic and spent 1.5 hours going through it all in a quick training.
Tuesday Nov 23 - Nov 28 ============================= On Tuesday I departed early from Karakol and went to Bishkek. When I came to Bishkek I attended the meeting for the Rotary Club of Bishkek. The guest speaker was the President of Andash Gold and Copper Mine in Talas Oblast. I also met 3 Rotary Youth Exchange Students from the USA that are now studying in Bishkek.
On Wednesday I met briefly with Seth regarding the ongoing (and unrealized) idea of a radio drama. At this meeting he mentioned having recently seen the movie, “Bishkek I Love You,” and that he had personally met the director of the film.
After the meeting with Seth I had a lunch meeting with the international advisor for Radiomost, Bettina Ruigies. At this meeting she described for me what the seminar later in the week would be about (called Development of Community Media in Kyrgyzstan). She informed me this was a technical training about how to conduct interviews and how to create programs from raw audio.
Bettina had the idea that on Friday night we would go see a movie as a group and then take interviews from other moviegoers about their impressions of the film. She suggested seeing Twilight or something in 3D. I countered by stating I had just heard there is a really great local film and if we saw this film I might be able to get the director to meet us and take part in the interviews.
Long story short, we did see Bishkek I Love You and the director, producer and one actress joined us for dinner after the film and did interviews for about one hour. It was a great success.
The rest of the seminar was very interesting and educational. All participants received brand new Dell Laptops, software, studio headphones and professional recording devices. We also visited the National History Museum and National Art Gallery to interact with the public and to take interviews for radio programs.
At the end of the seminar, among other outcomes, it was decided that I would redesign the RadioMost website. This is a project I have been pushing for since this summer, but just now got the green light for.
Thursday evening I also visited with the Rotaract Club of Bishkek (hosted at AUCA). The meeting was canceled due to Thanksgiving but I still met the club officers for dinner.
Sunday Nov 28, 2011 ============================= I returned to Talas.
Things here were very eventful on Thursday but not a a holiday. However,this week has been quite amazing. On Tuesday I returned to Bishkek fromKarakol (ski town in the far east of Kyrgyzstan) and went to Rotary for the1st time where I met (among others) some exchange students from the USA,who I then joined for Mexican food (1st time!) the next day for lunch.After the meeting I went to a cafe and sat in with a band for a while. Iknocked their socks off! Apparently, though Kyrgyzstan has no shortage oftalented musicians, there are not many drummers, and even as out ofpractice as I am, I was among the best they had ever heard. As a result, Iwas invited to a studio on Thursday and then to play a 2-hour gig onFriday. Unfortunately I could not make the Friday gig due to thisconference I am at now. But I will be back here for a week in December andI will almost certainly be able to play a gig then.
This current conference is part of the UNESCO series I have been attendingevery 6 weeks for the lasst few months, but this one is the mostinteresting. It is a technical training.. all the local participants gotnew Dell laptops, recording devices, headphone.. the works. The trainingsfocus on how to conduct interviews. For fun we decided to see a movie lastnight and then interview other movie-goers. Seth (PC Country Director)told me of a local film, “Bishkek I love You” which he thought was quitegood and he knew the director. So I suggested we go to that movie. I wasable to contact the director and he, the producer and 1 actress joined usfor dinner after the film and took interviews. I think I have some newfriends there! (The director is Kyrgyz but is also a graduate of WestPoint… who knew you could do that?!)
On Saturday we went to the national art gallery but it was closed so wewent to the national history museum instead. I will get photos up of thaton Facebook soon. After the museum I departed from the conference for therest of the day to celebrate Thanksgiving with the PC staff and Bishkekvolunteers. We had 3 20lbs Butterball turkeys curtsey the Embassy. At thelunch I gave my first public guitar performance and also accompanied the PCdoctor on guitar and drums. We did sing-alongs to American Pie and StandBy Me. It was a great success.
The conference ends today and I should be going back to site after beingaway for 2 weeks. I am very ready to be home but the bad weather in themountains will probably force us to go through Kazakhstan which is a nicedrive but takes twice as long. Since we wont leave until after 3pm todayis likely to be quite exhausting!
I am so proud of my dear friend Chris Craig for his lead role in the new Lindi Ortega video of Black Fly! Check out his own music here: http://www.purevolume.com/chriscraig
Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the Kyrgyz Republic’s independence from the USSR. To mark the occasion there was a parade downtown in front of the White House (The State of Talas’s government building) in the morning followed by widely-held house parties, demonstrations of the national horse games and fireworks in the evening.
The horse games were by far the most interesting thing I have seen in country. Essentially it is a game of Polo but instead of sticks, players used their hands, and instead of a ball, the object of attention is a headless sheep carcass. The manner in which the game is performed resembles more closely demolition derby than any other sport Westerners might be familiar with.
I caught about the last hour of the game which would be longer than my attention span could handle most sporting events, but this was different. This was really a sight to see! In just this hour only 4 points were made (a snails-pace faster than soccer) but in hockey-style, 2 players got taken off the field by an ambulance after getting trampled by horses. Like in most sports, this seemed to be the favorite part of the game by the spectators.
Here are some photos:
The start of the parade in front of the Talas Oblast White House
Youth carrying a giant flag of Kyrgyzstan
Me at the horse games
A rider got knocked off his horse trying to reach for the sheep (at his feet) which fell short of the goal (the mound encircled by tires)
A successful grab of the sheep in full gallup
The grand stands of the horse stadium
More of me at the games (can you ever get enough?!)
Today, September 1st, is the annual “First Bell” (first day of school) and so now life is going to change considerably for me, even though I have nothing to do with schools. For the summer all of the teacher PCVs have been on vacation. Sure they have participated in some camps and maybe a few clubs, but many have mostly been available to hang out with at any moment that they weren’t off traveling the country. I also live with 4 school-aged kids that won’t be hanging around the house all day, and when they are I imagine they will have homework. Also I walk by a university on my way to work. It has been an empty building most days but now it will be full of life with smart young people.
All in all I am excited for school to be in session. I don’t yet know all of what that means to me, but I will soon enough.
We are not having extreme weather here by any measure but it is extreme enough for me. I try not to whine too much about it. After all, I was raised in ice storms and cold weather really should be something I can adapt too. Lord knows I have the right cold weather gear. Unfortunately, it is September 1st and I am wearing some of that cold weather gear already.
It’s not the weather of the day that frightens me, it’s the idea that it is this early and I am already freezing. I am wearing my thick wool socks, thick sweatpants, my Under Armor cold weather layer top and a jacket right now. And I am sitting in my house away from the elements. It’s going to be rough. But there is (obviously) no way that I am coming home early on account of the weather. If it is so unbearable then maybe there is a warmer part of the country or a consideration to move into the center of town near my work so I am not walking so far in the cold every day. Either way, I will get through it.
Work has slowed down, but that is ok. I have been really hitting the books on the Russian and though I am a long way from being where I want to be, I am making major strides in the right direction. Of course I am still going to practice on my Kyrgyz, but I have 2 years to do it all in and the Russian is just the priority. It is the universal language here, it is the language of the media, politics and business, and above all I see in the volunteers that have been here longer than me that tried Kyrgyz and just gave up on it because the knowledge of Kyrgyz was not helping them here (or in future endeavors). They have either given up on the advancement of any local language or are trying to study Russian. Certainly I don’t intend to allow myself to get into that situation.
I feel blessed every day to be here and to be in the Peace Corps. I am excited to be serving humanity and my country in this capacity. I am 6-months in and still trying to figure it all out and the future looks as bright as ever!
Last week was RadioMost’s 4th Anniversary as the pioneer community radio station in Kyrgyzstan. To mark the occasion we had a music festival at which a few of my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers performed a song.
This song, a translated cover of The Kink’s, “Have A Cup of Tea,” was such an anticipated success that these volunteers were requested to perform it on-air during an interview. Here is the recording of that interview and the new hit single, “Peela Chai Each.”
After a brief career in the music and live events industry where I traveled the United States with the bigest names in music entertainment, I have decided to get back to my roots and dedicate myself to serving humanity.
As a Peace Corps volunteer in the Kyrgyz Republic, I look forward to not only improving the lives of those abroad, but to gain knowledge and perspective which can be shared with those in the United States so that together we can all live in a better world.
