So, What Is It That You Actually Do?

Instead of babbling inanely about Kazakh culture, for once I'll write about what, exactly, I am doing in Zhezkazgan.

Peace Corps in Kazakhstan currently maintains two programs: Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) and Organization and Community Assistance Program (OCAP). TEFL claims about twice as many volunteers as the OCAP program. In some ways it is a very simple program – they teach English! That does not mean it is not a big challenge and in truth it is not nearly that simple. The problems with the education system in Kazakhstan are, to be charitable, byzantine. In a school, a TEFL volunteer's task is not only to teach classes, but to train teachers. The ethical problems in schools are simply shocking, but the system is deeply engrained; each element of the system is so interconnected that it is extremely difficult to isolate and improve one area without disrupting the entire machine. It is also very difficult to be a maverick and try to implement something new when your ability to work effectively depends on personal relationships. I think I would have found life as a TEFL volunteer very frustrating and I probably would have firebombed a few too many bridges along the way. TEFL work is a long, slow process and admire those who can really get through to a group of teachers.

The OCAP program is very different. TEFL volunteers have a relatively steady flow of work. On this side of the fence, it can be feast-or-famine because each OCAP volunteer is in a very different situation. Some organizations are great and some organizations are not. Some are big and some are small. Some are busy and some are essentially vacant. That's the great thing and the terrifying thing about OCAP. There is a huge range of outcomes from our work -- so much is possible, yet it is also possible to accomplish nothing. We are community volunteers so although we are assigned to an organization, we are not chained to them and we can leave if there is no work. At least, I could because I live in a city and there are many NGOs. Village volunteers have fewer options.

In Zhezkazgan, I have been assigned to two NGOs: a health organization and another organization that is nominally ecological, but currently suffers from an identity crisis. Both are quite small and both are very different. The health NGO has an established track record and full-time employees. At the moment, we are trying to find funding for an oncology seminar for about 30 local family physicians – in Kazakhstan, doctors are not prestigious and the standard of practice is not the best. In Damu-Ulytau, the organization is the project; they are ambitious and passionate but inexperienced and unrealistic. I am planning to facilitate a project-planning and NGO management seminar to improve our organizational capacity. If the long process of building an NGO is a marathon then, essentially, my director is a pure sprinter.

Sometimes work is easy and sometimes it is a big challenge. There's nothing better than a good Russian-language strategic/philosophic argument on organizational strategy. Needless to say, it is easy for things to get lost in translation – or at least lost in the wild jungle of Russian case endings and verb aspect. In the grand scheme of things in PC-Kazakhstan, I have a good situation. I am working with two organizations who are active and who care. An apathetic organization is the kiss of death, but if there is motivation, progress can be made, no matter how grim the situation may appear. It is a process and that is why we are here for two years.

Kazakhstan in Love

Last Sunday was a momentous occasion for my host family: the younger of their two daughters got engaged. The Kazakh engagement is definitely not the typical American on-bended-knee type of proposal. In fact, the engagement itself is a long, planned-out party. The whole process felt more like Sonia was getting engaged to her boyfriend's family rather than her boyfriend himself, a feeling that was fueled by the fact that the groom-to-be wasn't even present! It's tradition, I'm told.

(Sheep's head is one of the most notorious delicacies in Kazakhstan. Thankfully I wasn't deemed important enough to partake.)

The festivities began around 3pm in the afternoon in the same fashion of every social function in Kazakh culture. The guests came and everyone took their seat around the table and began tucking in to the disconcertingly huge piles of food heaped everywhere. My host mother then brought out several huge platters of beshbarmak, the Kazakh national dish. Kazakh women seem to gain a great deal of personal satisfaction by exhorting me to eat as much as I possibly can. The only way to cope with such a gastronomic onslaught is to leave something, anything, on your plate. This method works nicely for me because that "something" is usually the huge mess of horse fat, tendons, and arteries that inevitably sneaks onto my plate. While that may be appealing to some people at the table, I call that killing two birds with one stone.

(One of many heart-felt toasts, I'm sure, but I wouldn't really know because everything was in Kazakh)

The whole event lasted about six hours, which for me is pretty intimidating. Kazakhs are perfectly content to sit around a table for hours on end, but I became unbearably restless by the end of the third hour, especially because all conversation was in Kazakh, except for my toast in Russian. Fortunately I had home-field advantage and I was able to wander around the few other rooms in the apartment to stretch my legs. This also served a dual purpose because I was able to keep my soon-to-be-engaged sister company while she wasn't allowed in the dining room! While the two extended families were meeting each other for the first time, Sonia was biding her time in the next room. Eventually, her older sister brought her into the room to officially meet all of her in-laws.



Instead of a ring, the engagement was made official by two earrings, a gift from the groom's family. After this little ceremony, everybody stayed for another few hours. A few hours and countless bottles of vodka and cognac later, the visiting family finally departed.

(A proud father makes a final toast)

The wedding is in early April and that should be really interesting. Sheep's head for everybody! Hopefully the groom will show up for that one.

There's Trouble In Paradise

The economic crisis officially hits Kazakhstan.

I'm not well-versed in macroeconomics, but this comes at a very unfortunate time for Zhezkazgan. The Kazakhmys corporation was laying off miners and limiting the hours of others before this even happened. The devaluation of the tenge has already led to some price increases in stores here, which is unfortunate considering the declining incomes and unwise spending habits of many families here. From what I can tell, saving money isn't very popular and most people seem to live paycheck-to-paycheck even when times are good.

At least takes a whole lot of pressure off the Peace Corps Kazakhstan budget...