"As a Peace Corps volunteer, you learn
not only to see the glass as half full, you look at it and
think, 'Hey, I can bathe in that.'"
Ed Cho - Peace Corps Turkmenistan
From June 2000 till June 2002 I served
as a Peace
Corps volunteer in Slovakia. During that time I lived
in the city of Košice and worked for an organization called
ETP (Environmental Training Project) Slovakia. These are some
of the things I was involved with there.
- ETP
Most of my time was focused on three projects: "Sustainable
Community Development in Middle Spiš", ETP's Sustainable Cities
Program, and the training program "Strengthening Capacity
in Environmental Project Development". In the process, I learned
how to write grants, prepare business plans, design and facilitate
trainings, teach English and computers, speak Slovak, and
reconsider much of what I thought I knew about NGOs.
- AIESEC
The biggest student organization in the world. I was working
with the Košice branch and the national committee to develop
an NGO internship program and strengthen relations with the
non-profit sector.
- Good Roma Fairy Kesaj Foundation
I taught English for a group of Roma and non-Roma working
with the foundation, from November 2001 to May 2002. And I
helped out with translation and other odd jobs when necessary.
-Berlitz
No, it's not really "Peace Corps" work, but I taught English
and studied Spanish during my last year.
- Spoločnosť
priateľov Zeme (Friends of the Earth), Košice
I managed and redesigned their webpage, and occasionally helped
with other things.
- University
Leadership Development Program (ULDP)(aka Líder,
SR)
A leadership development program for university students in
Central and Eastern Europe, founded by Peace Corps volunteers.
I poured tons of time into curriculum development, recruitment,
and fundraising, although the program essentially collapsed
with the departure of Peace Corps, unfortunately.
- Center for Community Development
of Lunik IX
The community center in the Roma ghetto in Košice. I wanted
to work with them but they weren't too open to outside help.
So I just did some translation work when necessary.
- RADIO9
- the student radio station at the Technical
University in Košice. I did a radio
show there spring 2001 and tried to help with organizational
development...
- BEST
- LBG Košice - a student group at the Technical
University. I was working with and training them on some
organizational issues during the Fall of 2000.
- SOSNA
- an environmental NGO that was conveniently located across
the hall from ETP. I occasionally helped them with random
tasks. They occasionally lavished me with wine and sweets.
It was a good relationship.
- UNDP
(United Nations Development Program) - I worked on a UNDP
project while at ETP.
- Jedlo namiesto
zbrani (Food Not Bombs Slovakia) - I made brownies
for them once.
- Changenet
- the web center for activism and NGOs in Slovakia
- Košice
- the city's webpage
- Slovakia.org
- a good site for general information about Slovakia
