My Greatest Failure in Peace Corps… Until Now

Within AIESEC, I have worked in a few different capacities and with different projects, which overall keeps me busy through the course of the year.   However, my main responsibility as a part of the Executive Board is to manage the Outgoing Exchange functional area of our entity.  This part of AIESEC is responsible for sending students from Macedonia to other countries on voluntary or professional internships.  The main duties of our team is to help those who are interested in embarking on an internship find a suitable opportunity, to edit their CVs, and to act as a liaison with entities in other countries to smooth the matching process.

Last July, AIESEC Macedonia set big ambitions for our entity.  Motivated by the release of our new, international internship database, many predicted that the number of outgoing interns would increase many-fold.  However, EXPA, as we call it, delayed its release from the middle of August to the beginning of November, and those software-launch bugs pretty much made the system useless until around the beginning of 2015.

Throughout most of this year, AIESEC Prilep was unable to realize any match for the interns who were hoping to work or volunteer abroad.  Much of this can be blamed on the problems with the database.  Also to blame are the processes and lack of institutional knowledge on how to properly execute the Outgoing Exchange functional area within our committee.

Since I had a bit of experience with the career center at UChicago before I left for Peace Corps, and since I applied for many jobs and internships before and after graduating, I assumed that my knowledge of editing CVs and preparing our participants for interviews would suffice in this position.  However, I did not understand that there would be a major cultural component of Outgoing Exchange that would serve as an obstacle to us realizing as many exchanges as we had hoped.

Basically, many of the students who apply through our program treat it as an opportunity to work in a more advanced economy to make and save money.  Similar to “Work and Travel” programs that send Macedonian students to Germany or the United States to work at a restaurant, hotel, or resort for the summer, many students signed up through our program to do the same, albeit with a more desirable job description.   This mindset regarding our outgoing program resulted in many futile applications for internships that many of our participants would not be qualified for.

Of course, I empathize with the students and understand why they would apply for the more competitive internships in our system.  Many students who study business, law, or languages in Macedonia do not land a suitable job after graduating.  With a youth unemployment rate at above 40%, there is a lack of demand for such high skills.  Thus, their education itself is pretty much voided, and it is only those who are active and participate in leadership or professional experiences outside their studies (or who have connections) who are competitive for employment.

In many ways, that is what our AIESEC internships do.  They give students an opportunity to gain practical or leadership experiences in an international setting.  Working on a project or in a company abroad also helps them open their mind and discover their skills and challenge themselves.  However, with a limited number of internships available in places like Canada, Germany, or the Netherlands, and with competitive applicants also applying from Western European countries and other growing economies, like Brazil, China and India, Macedonians are at a disadvantage in realizing this type internships through AIESEC.

But it is not impossible for them to find an opportunity with AIESEC.   There are plenty of internships in countries close to Macedonia that could use the skills these students developed in their education.  Countries like Turkey, Romania, and Hungary have high rates of growth, and although the salaries they offer are not much higher than those in Macedonia, the experience is very valuable and students do not need to pay much to travel to these places (since they are so close).  But staying in the Balkans or Eastern Europe may not be appealing enough to take the risk to work a year abroad.  One can compare this to offering an American a qualitative, albeit modestly paid internship in Wichita, KS or Toledo, OH.  Of course most young Americans would rather spend a year of their youth in San Francisco or Miami or NYC, but experience is experience.

Then comes the other issue: since Macedonia is not part of the European Union, many internships only take current students from Macedonia due to taxation or immigration rules.  Unfortunately, most Macedonians are raised thinking that they must finish their university studies first, then gain practical experience on things like foreign internships.  Therefore, some students who are qualified for certain internships decide not to go if they are accepted because they do not want to interrupt their studies.  Of course, some only apply after they graduate because they envision staying in that country after their internship ends.

Thus, the Outgoing Exchange program in our committee is at a HUGE disadvantage.  There are many Macedonians who are convinced of the value of such opportunities, but the percentage is much lower in Prilep than it is in Bitola or Skopje (which is why we try to focus many of our promotions in Bitola).  The values of working or volunteering through AIESEC will gain better traction if we have returned participants who share how they benefited from the program, but unfortunately we have not been able to send anyone on an internship… until recently.

At the end of April, two interns were successfully matched for professional internships in Europe.  One is currently working with customer support in Budapest, the other (a Cameroonian student who is studying IT in Ohrid) will start his internship in Germany at the beginning of July.  Finally, we will be able to market their success to highlight the value of these programs.  Even though we are far short of our goals for outgoing exchange participants, we have met the minimum requirement in order for our entity to exist after July.

All AIESEC committees around the world are currently marketing for Summer Peak, or the largest matching period for internships, especially for volunteers.  Our marketing team is working hard to promote the opportunities to our students in Prilep and Bitola.  While I will be away for 10 days on a personal trip through Central Europe, I have incorporated into my itinerary plans to meet with the committees in Vienna and Budapest to learn more about how we can market their summer projects.  We also hope to convince a few of our members to go on an AIESEC voluntary internship this summer, because it would be a great development project for them, and they would be living examples of the benefits of these programs (we currently only have one member who participated in an AIESEC internship).

Overall, working with Outgoing Exchange has been one of the most challenging experiences of my Peace Corps service.  Even though I enjoyed improving my people skills by working with the applicants for internships, it frustrates me that there is little I can do after they apply to the internships.  As I describe above, a lot of my work involved changing the mindset of Macedonian students, something that the Peace Corps warns NOT to do.  I just hope that any work I contribute to this functional area begins to change the attitudes Macedonian students have towards professional development.

Зрзе

This year, Orthodox Easter occurred one week later than Catholic Easter.  This was very convenient for us since we enjoyed a 4-day weekend for the holidays, which coincided with very spring-like weather of about 24 centigrades.

We had some friends visiting from Skopje, and we decided to visit Zrze, a nearby monastery, on Велики Петок, or Good Friday.  The monastery is closer to Makedonski Brod than it is to Prilep, so we hired a taxi to drive us to the town, and then climbed the asphalt road to the monastery.

More formally known as the Holy Transfiguration Monastery, it is rather modern with most of the buildings recently constructed for housing the monks.  The church is very old and dates back to the 14th century.  This church is one of only two churches which places Jesus’ image on the left and the Virgin Mary’s on the right.  It is said that the monks tried to correct this anomoly many times, but after each night the paintings would be switched.  It was assumed that Mary did not want to “keep her back to her son”, so the monks left the paintings in their divinely placed state (see images below).

Even though the church dates back to the 1300s, monks had inhabited the area since the 9th century, living in the caves currently situated below.  Unfortunately, we were unable to explore these caves ourselves due to ongoing excavation, but it was interesting to imagine a monastery in the form of caves along a cliff existing for 400 years.

The views of Pelagonija from Zrze were breathtaking, and the monastery was a beautiful backdrop for an afternoon lunch.  There were also a lot of adorable cats begging us for food and lying in the sun.  Besides this, Zrze lacked anything “suspenseful”, but it was a nice warm, spring day retreat.

Road to Zrze

Monastery

My favorite cat of the bunch, Срце

Peace Corps Macedonia’s Greatest Asset

It seems that long gone are the days of the crapshoot of applying for Peace Corps.  Back in my day (said in a wispy old man voice) you just applied for Peace Corps, and the agency would select a sector and country for you based on your skills and the needs of the community.  Now people can apply for up to three different posts, or they can choose “Anywhere” to throw their lot in randomly just like us old-timers.

This new process may cause a lack of demand for a few countries.  For example, I can only imagine how many people apply for such countries as Thailand or South Africa over others like Burkina Faso or Kyrgyzstan.  Of course, each post has its own set of assets that are offered to PCVs.

While living in Morocco can be harsh to those not accustomed to arid living or seeking a less religiously conservative society, PCVs there may have the best program for learning the Arabic language.  Since many PCVs learned Spanish during high school or college, serving in a Spanish-speaking country offers them the opportunity to improve their language skills while allowing them to visit Machu Pichu in Peru, explore the well-preserved rainforests of Costa Rica, or dance salsa music with gorgeous Colombian women.  And of course there are countries that offer months of endless beach opportunities, in countries like Belize, the Philippines, and the Pacific and Caribbean islands (Fiji, Vanuatu, Grenada).  Finally, who wouldn’t look forward to enjoying the delicious cuisines of Mexico, Senegal, Ethiopia, or Thailand?

On the surface, Macedonia seems to lack some of those major perks that typical PCVs seek.  It has a pretty hefty winter, so many PCVs here often dream of Asia or Africa in the winter.  It is also landlocked, so we are most likely climbing into the mountains rather than soaking our feet in the ocean after a tough day of work.  Also, as I mentioned in a previous post, Macedonia is a comparatively developed country (compared to other PCV countries), so individual contribution to one’s community is more difficult to measure.  For example, PCVs will never supply water to a village by building a well, help prevent the spread of AIDS among youth, or introduce a more drought-resistant seed or grain, because Macedonia does not have these basic issues.  Finally, Macedonian is not necessarily a useful language outside of the country.  Sure, it serves as a bridge to other Slavic languages.  But as one of my counterparts mentioned, I can be a true hipster when I return to Chicago because I know how to speak not-so-widely-known Macedonian.

However, Macedonia does have a lot of positive attributes that make serving here enjoyable in a way that other countries cannot compare.  First, the country lacks debilitating diseases, so PCVs do not need to worry about contracting Malaria or other tropical ailments.  Development also means grocery stores, widespread access to wi-fi, and coffee shops that are typical to what we are used to in the USA or in Western Europe.  Also, Macedonia is close to many other countries within Europe, which allows us to cheaply cross off cities and countries from our bucket lists.  As many visitors will verify, the people here are some of the friendliest in the world, and the food is rather delicious.  Thus, Macedonia has plenty of positives as a tourist destination as well as a place to volunteer for 2+ years.

In my opinion, the greatest asset of Peace Corps Macedonia is the country’s small size and reliable bus service.  Peace Corps can overall be a difficult and isolating experience, especially in the beginning.  What makes PC Macedonia more tolerable is the ability to share one’s struggles and commiserate with other volunteers who either live in the same town, or are located only a 2-4 hour bus ride away.  With around 80 volunteers currently serving in Macedonia, and with an expected 110 next year, finding a friend who likes to do what you like to do (from the young to the old, from the introverted to the extroverted) is very likely.  I can say that I am lucky to have met some amazing Americans (Macedonians as well, but that is not the point of this post) that I would never have had the chance to meet in the USA.

Looking back, when HCNs asked me if I terribly missed home, I would often respond that it wasn't that bad.  I obviously could keep in touch with close family and friends by Skype and email.  But what made leaving my close friends back home so tolerable was that I was also making some new close friends here.  In a way, it almost feels like we are a family, because we go through the same ordeals and lean on each other to overcome.

During the last weekend in March, I helped to organize a three-birthday celebration in Skopje.  All of these people were very close to me, including Ted who went through PST with me in Lozovo, Jake who works with me for YMLP, and Susan who is my next-door neighbor and sitemate.  The significance of these PCVs to others was evident as many (I would approximate maybe 60% of the volunteers) visited Skopje at one point during the weekend to celebrate their birthdays.  Throughout the weekend, I deliberately reflected on how great it is to have all of these people in my life.  It was a great time to be thankful for all of the MAK18s and MAK19s who were there.

Few join Peace Corps with the primary intention to make new friends (especially friends with other Americans).  However, part of the Peace Corps experience is creating these lifelong bonds with people who have had a very similar experience as you.  As the months count down, I worry that I may never see some of these people again, and that many of us will be thrown to the wind, spread across the USA (or the world) as life plans scatter us like pins on a map.  Until then, good moments are still to be had, and groups will continue to serve in Macedonia after us, molding friendships of similar strength.

Leadership Inspirational Seminar

AIESEC Prilep hosted its Career Fair on April 2 and its Leadership Inspirational Seminar (LIS) on April 3 & 4.  As I mentioned in a previous post, this project was funded by the Small Project Assistance grant through the Peace Corps, and it would not have been possible without it.  The idea for this project was created by our executive board, and the lofty goal of the project was to help reduce the unemployment rate in Macedonia by bringing together students and representatives of companies to create a dialogue on what skills were in demand.  Of course, one career fair and seminar is not going to fix this national problem, but the point of this project was to get students acclimated to the idea of networking with representatives from companies and preparing for their careers before graduating from university.

Like all of our local projects, LIS was organized with an Organizational Committee (OC), through which members are responsible for implementing all of the external relations, marketing, and logistical coordination of the event.  We had a great team of members who contacted companies to attend the career fair, found facilitators to present on soft skills and themes of leadership at the seminar, and recruited students to attend both the fair and the seminar.  Of course, applying for a grant through Peace Corps made me invested in this project’s success, but having two of my team members from Outgoing Exchange as members of the OC further built on that investment.

Throughout the whole project, our biggest fear was whether or not we would have enough companies present at the career fair.  Career fairs are a somewhat foreign concept in Macedonia, especially since the unemployment rate is so high, or since employment is often found through political or relationship connections.  Many of the companies that were most active in the Prilep area (including the banks) were not hiring students, and it was up to our OC team to convince the companies that their presence at the fair would be an educational service to the students who were attending it.

Overall, the career fair was a surprising success, which can be further built on over the next years.  Over 10 companies attended (including the largest company in Prilep and two banks), and participation was high among the youth in Prilep.  However, on the day of the career fair, an educational seminar was simultaneously being hosted, drawing many of the professors who thus cancelled classes.  Therefore, many students were not at the university that day, and a few of the companies complained that there were not enough students at the fair.  However, many high schools brought their students to see the event, and our overall attendance at the event may have exceeded 300 students over its three-hour duration.

I was also nervous for the fair because two staff members from the Peace Corps office, including the country director, visited the career fair.  Overall they seemed to really enjoy it, and the director succeeded in inspiring the AIESEC members in their involvement in AIESEC and their personal development.  The other staff member even mentioned that, after having a very tough week, attending our fair had really made her happy and changed the course of her week.

Our OC team and PC

A seminar similar to Career Directions, but more directed to university students, was held on the following two days.  Our facilitators were largely drawn from AIESEC Prilep alumni, including one currently working in Prilep at a regional development organization, and another working at Go Green in Skopje.  We also had a manger of a hotel from Struga and the Macedonian version of Jay Leno, who was probably a big draw for a lot of students for this seminar.  According to the evaluations, the sessions enjoyed good reception from the student participants, and LIS was just as successful as Career Directions, albeit with an audience that is much more difficult to attract.

If helping to manage the career fair wasn't causing me enough stress, I had agreed to host a session in Macedonian to promote gaining experience and joining the outgoing exchange programs through AIESEC.  At first I was determined to deliver the session by memorizing many of the points in Macedonian, but I realized that it even took me about a week to remember and master an hour-long information session when I worked for admissions.  So, one of the members on the executive board translated the speech for me, and I practiced it many times in order to deliver it smoothly for its twenty-minute duration.

Getting ready for my speech

What I treasure most about LIS is that many of our members, especially those who were most involved, were inspired to increase their involvement in AIESEC.  Many have since decided to attend our national conference, MILDS, which will occur in the middle of April.  This project was important because it challenged AIESEC Prilep to upscale its projects, increased out visibility among the students, and further invested our members into the operations of the LC.  It also set a new watermark on the progress that our LC has achieved in less than a year, and I hope its success will only continue to rise during the duration of my time here and beyond.