A PCV In Albania: Summer Internships…Albanian Style

From June 20 until 8 July, the Bashkia hosted 9 high school students as part of a summer internship program. This might qualify as my favorite project thus far (though the One-Stop-Shop Information Office is still REALLY awesome).

Here is the project’s plan… and then how it went…

Plan	Actual Implementation
1. Convince the Bashkia this is a good idea	1. Convinced them…only after I said we’d apply for a small grant to get $3,000 for the Bashkia (this has since improved, and more people think it was a good idea!)
2. Collect applications and choose 10 high school students	2. Chose 10…which fell to 9, back up to 10, and back down to 9. I think, though, we still chose the best!
3. 8 office visits	3. We had 9! The kids asked really great questions and the Bashkia staff who hosted them did a GREAT job. I was very impressed by all parties.
4. 3 trainings: work styles, ethics, and career development	4. Sukses! (Success!) The kids were interested and the trainers hard workers.
5. Give seminars on project writing	5. It happened…just took longer than expected. The girls could understand my Albanian most of the time…the boys not as much, and they weren’t afraid to tell me. Luckily, my co-workers can understand me and translated.
6. Write the project!	6. The kids picked a topic: a youth summer cinema that would be in 4 different parks in Fier during the September 2011 and then May-Sept of subsequent summers. Writing this, too, took longer than expected. As we progressed, I would write things and the kids would correct them. But still, the kids came up with their ideas all on their own and worked super-hard.
7. Students’ final presentation to Bashkia administration of what they learned and the project they wrote	7. BETTER than expected! I was super-proud of the kids. They spoke for 30 minutes, congratulated everyone who helped out, and got people interested in their project. Two of them translated for the Peace Corps staff member who attended. Administration attendance was high. Kristen came, too. The kids got Armida and me flowers. I shook for an hour after, but it was worth it.
8. Promote our project within the Bashkia	8. We did this AND promoted our project in the media. We gave multiple interviews. We also were on TV Apolon for ONE HOUR! People on the street stopped me and said they saw us. (They even said they understood my Albania!) Again, the kids did great.

All in all, it was above and beyond what I could have expected! The kids did great, and we built a good rapport. I worked my butt off for those 3 weeks following up with stuff the kids just couldn’t do (budgets, etc.). However, I received a ton of support from staff. People have already started talking about doing this again…in the fall and again next summer. They would even do it without me, which is always the goal.

If you can’t tell by now, this project made me happy. Being in Peace Corps has been a challenge and hasn’t always been fun. Luckily, projects like these make me feel accomplished. It also makes me realize the support and friendships I have here and how I shouldn’t let my frustrations overtake my appreciation of them.

I could leave now and feel good about my service. I won’t though…have 39% of my service left, and there’s a lot to do!

Some photos of the project: