First: I realize the last few posts haven't been very exciting, but I promise I have some good stories coming. Also, I've been working more on more travelogues, so they're coming, too. In between, it's just been easier to type about my day-to-day. Oh, I have another date with Diana tonight. Wish me luck. Will there be a kiss? Who knows!
Onward: I was interviewed by a local paper yesterday. It was a bit of a brain whupping because I both had to give the interview in Ukrainian and I had to think about everything coming out of my mouth so that Peace Corps wouldn’t get upset. The reporter asked me about positive things about Ukraine and I told them about the food and how friendly people have been, etc, and then she asked for negative things and I said I couldn’t think of any. She pushed me on it, so I told her about being mugged, which isn’t a negative opinion, just a negative fact and hopefully that’ll be okay. That part of the interview was for a local paper.
Then she went on to interview me for a woman’s magazine, asking me if all women in America were feminists and if feminists were bad mothers, and did I think Ukrainian women should be independent and how did I feel about the way Ukrainian men treat Ukrainian women. A mine field, for sure. I told her that you can’t stereotype (same word in Ukrainian and English) and that, yes, most American women try to be independent, but not all of them. I hadn’t been in the country long enough to know about Ukrainian women, and that the only couple I had seen was my host family and they were a good couple. She asked if I liked independent women and I told her yes, but that was just a personal preference. I suppose I could have done a pro-feminism tirade, but Peace Corps would probably have put me on a plane back home. I told her I really couldn’t answer all those questions and that she should talk to an American woman about American feminism. I told her I’d put her in touch with a female volunteer, which, I admit, was passing the buck.
I’d also like to defend Peace Corps briefly, and possibly myself. Peace Corps is really good at what it does. What it does is support thousands of volunteers all across the globe in thousands of locales in dozens of countries. Peace Corps brought me here, trained me, pays my expenses, protects me, and clears out obstacles to me working. I have a lot of praise for it. In light of the firestorm of bad press they had last, I don’t blame them being careful with the media. Also, public opinion is very important in Peace Corps’ work. If people are hostile towards it, then they’re hostile towards volunteers and no progress can be accomplished. A volunteer spouting off opinions in a newspaper is not only unlikely to change things, but puts at risk every other project of every other volunteer in the country. You can choose to make a lot of noise, or you can change things from within. Now, there’s a real difference between changing things from within and just being quiet about them, and it’s the difference between bravery and cowardice. If I want to change gender roles in Ukraine, then the right way is through English clubs or Youth Camps, talking to kids who will one day be adults who run things. Actually gender roles is actually a really common topic at clubs and camps, along with racism, democracy, HIV/Aids and dozens of others. That’s how you make a difference, in my opinion.
I also talked to a local climbing enthusiast yesterday that wants to open a climbing gym. I was under the impression that his group was more organized than it is. Basically, he said, they needed money. Okay, but what’s the plan, what are the costs, how is the business going to be run? They didn’t have that yet, it was still a dream. And it’s a dream I’d like to help them achieve, and I can get them a sizeable grant to start it, but not if they’re not serious about the nitty gritty of it. They’ve been organizing adventure races for years, so I think they can do it, it’s just a matter of them getting organized on it. In any case, they’re excited about having me climb with them when the weather warms up, and I’m excited, too. And here I thought I’d go to years without it.