#EstCurier

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Day 71 - Project Highlight - “Microscopes: Key to Girls’ Success in Science” Project

I had the honor to work with my partner on a Let Girls Learn grant funded initiative. I’ll let this article from the most recent edition (28 July 2017) of the newspaper Est-Curier tell the story (translated):

17 monocular microscopes, 4 sets of prepared slides (general biology, botany, zoology, anatomy), 10 dissection kits, a human skeleton (5′11″), human torso and head model (1′6″), a storage cabinet, a magnetic whiteboard, and school supplies - with these the foundations of Boris Dînga Middle & High School of Criuleni was enriched through the implementation of the project ”Microscopes: The Key to Girls’ Success in Science.”

With help from a Peace Corps grant and contributions from the parents’ association, the school updated a Biology classroom. Next to a smartboard, installed three years ago, now students have other quality equipment available. The project is called “Microscopes: The Key to Girls’ Success in Science.” As explained by Biology teacher Mrs. Olga Rotari, the project’s goal is providing students with microscopes and lab equipment for the educational process in Biology classes to be more efficient and attractive. Asked why they say these items are the key to girls’ success in science, the teacher said that, together with Rebecca Lehman (Peace Corps Volunteer and Health Education co-teacher at the school), she looked at schoolbooks and observed that most of the time the scientists and researchers shown are only men. Also, when there are only a few microscopes in a classroom, boys use them first and more, girls are left behind because they are more timid. From this, she got the idea for the project, so that girls can have equal access to educational materials.

Along with purchasing the equipment, the teacher wrote educational materials about successful women in the world of science, about their discoveries, in the form of a brochure and poster series “Women in Science and Technology,” which was published as part of the project and will be distributed in many Moldovan schools with the help of Peace Corps.

Friday, July 14th, an open class was held at the school, at which a group of students tested the new microscopes and other equipment. Eugenia Iurco, Peace Corps Youth and Gender Coordinator, participated and said, “I’m happy for these students, boys and girls, who will have the opportunity to choose career, including a career in science, which is predominantly chosen by boys. Personally, I chose to study foreign languages, but maybe if I had had these microscopes, I would have had greater self-confidence that I could pursue a career in, for example, medicine.” And Tracey Hebert-Seck, Country Director for Peace Corps Moldova, said that possibly that Friday, from the students in Criuleni, she met the next Aurelia Crivoi, referencing the contemporary scientist from Moldova who dedicated her career to studying human and animal physiology. Students can learn more about Crivoi in the Women in Science & Technology posters.

Rebecca Lehman, Olga Rotari’s partner, say that she is very proud of what they did. “It’s something unusual, very creative, and practical that will enrich students’ experience in science class. Throughout this project, Mrs. Rotari wrote quality material, for which there is great interest on the part of other teachers who will use them in the future. I feel grateful because I had the opportunity to be involved in this project,” said the American volunteer.

Asked their impressions, students who participated in the open class said, “I liked today’s lesson, it was a new experience and it even motivated me to learn more about practical work with microscopes,” Ana-Maria Dimitriu, student in class 11-A.

"I think Biology class will be more interesting, we’ll work with and learn new things, and now I’m feeling extremely impatient for Biology class!” said Alina Axinte, student in class 10-A. And Gloria Berzan, also a student in class 10-A, mentioned, “I saw for the first time the structure of things through a microscope, which I’d never seen with my own eyes before. This really impressed me!”

The project had a budget of 49,520 MDL, of which 7,200 MDL were contributed by the Luceafarul Parents’ and Teachers’ Association.

Text by Svetlana and Ecaterina Cernov

Photo from the open class using microscopes

———————— During our 100 Days 100 Things We Love post, we will occasionally highlight some of the amazing work our partners have done and how much we loved working alongside our partners.

To see all of the 100 Things We Love About Moldova that have been posted so far, click here.

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So proud of the great activists in #Boscana that organized a powerful event for the #16days / #16zile campaign against gender-based violence! On November 25th, they helped #OrangeTheWorld with an "Orange March" followed by a rally where local leaders and officials spoke about the importance of ending violence against women and girls. Survivors of domestic violence spoke about how they succeeded to leave these abusive relationships and how they now work to support other victims to safely escape. This was a kick-off event for the campaign and they announced that around 80 other events were already scheduled at that point. I'm sure the final count will be much higher, now that the campaign has officially drawn to a close this year. I'm grateful our local newspaper the #EstCurier covered this large and important event! (at Boşcana, Chişinău, Moldova)

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Day 77: The Est-Curier

Upon arriving in Criuleni, we found that everyone we knew read the local paper, the Est-Curier, which has served our district and the neighboring Dubăsari district for two decades. It also a positive influence in the country, it was a founding member of the Independent Press Association, it regularly debunks false-but-viral news stories, and has hosted fora about media literacy & the importance of a free press.

A new edition is printed each week, delivered on Fridays. It took a while for us to figure out how to become subscribers, but it was worth the effort! Every week, we are treated with useful information, interesting stories, and pieces to discuss. We’ve even been in the paper, in articles about two of our projects (Physical Therapy Room, Microscopes Project) and about Peace Corps Week. We were very proud to be considered news-worthy.

The Deputy Editor-in-Chief is a neighbor of ours who has helped us understand local media and patiently listens to and understands our poor Romanian. We are always happy to see her out at events and around the neighborhood because she is a friendly, thoughtful person we’ve appreciated getting to know the past two years.

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To see all of the 100 Things We Love About Moldova that have been posted so far, click here.

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An Interview with Rebecca and Chris

The week surrounding March 1st, the anniversary of Peace Corps Founding, was Peace Corps week.  During this week we invited other volunteers and Peace Corps staff to come and speak to our community on the theme of hospitality and about being volunteers.  Svetlana Cernov, a journalist from our local paper the Est-Curier, attended several session and then sat down with us after the week to interview us about our lives as volunteers in Moldova.

Here is the article:

Peace Corps Weeks was held in Criuleni February 26th to March 3rd, 2017. The theme, from the organizers - Rebecca Lehman and Chris Flowers, in partnership with their colleagues who are involved in activities in other communities in Moldova, was ”Hospitality - Each Culture Has Its Own Definition.” Throughout this week, people from Criuleni, mostly children, a few adults, participated in informational sessions led by Peace Corps Volunteers. Most interesting, participants found out that hospitality is demonstrated in different ways by different people, that volunteers have the strength to change things and processes for the better, that it’s good to recycle trash - as demonstrated by an international group of volunteers, who help the city of Sângerei to go through their garbage and collect plastic - and other interesting topics.

Details - we find them from the key players:

What was, in fact, the goal of this event?

Rebecca Lehman: The goal of Peace Corps Week was to mark the founding of Peace Corps in the US - March 3rd [sic], 1961 - and to thank our communities for hosting us. The event is also an opportunity to communicate with locals about our country, about diversity in the US, and about other Peace Corps countries. This year, the theme was “hospitality,” last year the theme was “happiness”, and the year before was “host country heroes.” Around 120 people participated in the activities of this week. And, we participated in similar events, organized by our colleagues in other places. For instance, I went to the library in Caușeni, where volunteers combined Peace Corps Week with Women’s Day, and the event there was really, really beautiful. By the way, Women’s Day isn’t celebrated in the US, We celebrate Mother’s Day in May and Father’s Day in June.

What was the nicest activity and experience of hospitality you had with people from Criuleni?

Rebecca Lehman: There are so many activities we like. Our first experience of hospitality was with our host family, the Stamatis. They opened their house to two strangers and welcomed us with trust, did many activities with us, although we think that we interrupted their lives. Mrs. Irina taught us a lot about Moldovan culture, celebrations, traditions, food, and treats us like her own children, like a mother. Last year, my sisters and brother-in-law visited us and Mrs. Irina hosted us with great warmth.

Chris Flowers: We’ve been in Criuleni since August 2015. I am involved in projects all over the country, like the Diamond Challenge competition for youth entrepreneurship and the summer school Wave Week for those who want to become volunteers. But the nicest project is my work at the Day Center “Hope.” With the team there, we did a project to develop physiotherapy services. Recently, we wrote a project for a relaxation room for the beneficiaries of the center - just today we found out that we won a grant for this project. I have to say, that with this second project, the Center staff wrote 90% of everything, I’m proud that I could contribute to the development of self-confidence of the people who work here. I didn’t do much except encourage them to apply their abilities. I am lucky to work with this high quality team! We’ve already begun to discuss future projects that they can apply to after we leave Criuleni.

Rebecca Lehman: My involvement at school is very nice. I co-teach Health Education lessons with Mrs. Olga Rotari, Mrs. Valentina Dima, and Mrs. Nina Mânzat at Boris Dînga Middle & High School. We developed this partnership due to my masters in public health, which I had, but in the US I worked at a university, with adults and at the community level, though here I have my first experience working with children. I have students and partners who are very patient, clever, who have patience with me when I have trouble explaining things in Romanian.

You’ll remain in Criuleni several more months. What projects do you have to finish?

Rebecca Lehman: Mrs. Olga Rotari and I are working on a project to get microscopes for the school, which haven’t arrived yet. Maybe we will halp students become scientists, doctors, and they need practical skills for this.

Chris Flowers: I want to finish the project with “Hope” for the relaxation room, through which beneficiaries will learn to better control their emotions. I have IT experience in American and will teach the team there about programs like Excel, Word, and Google. We’ll continue to have “English Club” with the library, which we have every Tuesday at 4:00 for children and 5:00 for adults. I really like this activity and think we will continue in the summer. I have other project ideas - we can talk about them in August if they succeed.

Rebecca Lehman: We plan to end the school year well, and in the summer I have two projects that are closest to my heart. Lat year, together 9 American and Moldovan volunteers went on foot from library to library for seven days and we want to again this year travel 7-8 days on foot. We want to repeat our experience and maybe this year we’ll be lucky and it will be a good time. Last year it was rainy and there was a lot of mud. It remained a memory that’s both “dirty” and beautiful. We saw nature, much beauty, animals. We visited very small villages, that we could get to only by foot, with 100 locals. It was a beautiful experience. Also, in August I will work with a group of English and Moldovan volunteers to install indoor restrooms in a Moldovan school.

Chris Flowers: Before we came to Moldova, we had the goal to travel to every district in the country. We still have to visit many districts! Rebecca was in 17, but I was in 12. We hope that we’ll succeed this summer. This is a personal goal, not one from Peace Corps.

When I have the chance to talk with Peace Corps Volunteers, I always ask them what they think of Moldovan food.

Rebecca Lehman: Plăcintele (pies) are my favorite. I’m grateful to our host moms, who taught me how to make plăcintă. Of course, theirs are the most delicious, but I think that if I practice, I will succeed. In general, Moldova has given me a very positive impression.

Is there anything that’s hard to understand?

Chris Flowers: I have difficulty with doors (laughter). I struggle to figure out whether they open in or out, particularly when there are many doors, because they’re not marked!

Rebecca Lehman: I grew up in urban environments, I’ve always lived in large cities and didn’t know anything about animals, and now I see many in Moldova, but I have trouble understanding, for instance why is a cow roaring. Here in Moldova I’ve learned much about animals, I visited the zoo. When I have been in villages, I saw rabbits, nutria. Maybe because we’re vegetarians, we weren’t very interested in animals.

Edited for clarity by Svetlana Cernov In the photo: Rebecca & Chris with two English Club participants, Ecaterina and [Dina].