The Peace Corps

There are around 120 Peace Corps volunteers in Moldova right now, and I think I met the majority of them the past two days. Really! My aunt’s friend used to work for Peace Corps Moldova, so I emailed her and she hooked me up with some of the current volunteers Friday night. Then Saturday was the big annual US Chamber of Commerce 4^th of July BBQ, so tons of volunteers came in from all over the country to celebrate, and I got to hang out with them all day. After all that fun, I want to share with you my personal top three takeaways on the Peace Corps (will I ever stop talking like a consultant, by the way?):

1. Though something like 25% of volunteers drop out of the Peace Corps before finishing their two years, everyone I met seemed really into it – most of them talked effusively their villages and homestay families and work and all. It was really inspiring to see such passion.
2. The work seems to be mostly what you make of it. While people’s enthusiasm for their “official” projects varied, most seemed pumped for extra initiatives they were taking on, from getting flush toilets installed to building sustainable greenhouses to helping edit national high school English textbooks. Apparently only about a quarter of these volunteers have lived in the developing world before, so it’s really cool that the Peace Corps can be such a springboard for people – helping them get settled in an underserved community and enabling them to build their own projects from the ground up. It sort of made me want to start something cool somewhere. :)
   
3. Everyone’s white. Well, not everyone – but it seemed like just about everyone. I just checked the Peace Corps website, which says only 16% of volunteers are people of color. Seeing as ~30% of the U.S. is non-white, I wonder what the main factors driving this low figure are? [This is a random aside, but I have such a pet peeve about organizations using the term “diverse” to mean “non-white.” It’s neither (a) technically accurate, (b) respectful of white people, who can clearly bring diversity – even ethnic/cultural diversity – to an organization, nor (c) conducive to creating a productive dialogue about what diversity means. The nonprofit I used to work for did that, and so does the Peace Corps website. Get with it, guys!]

Oh, also – I especially love my new Peace Corps friends after two of them came to my rescue last night! I went out with a bunch of them for pizza and beer and when I got back to my apartment building late at night, I pushed the button for the elevator, entered it, and then learned that none of the buttons inside were working. Not even the “door open” button – I was totally trapped! Luckily, I’d just exchanged cell numbers with people, so I called Katie and Angela, two new friends who were still in my neighborhood. They found their way to my building and pressed the button from the outside again to let me out. Man, that could have been bad….

The Snails, the local band that performed at the BBQ













Peace Corps folks getting down

Wait, what am I doing here?

Hmmm, I haven’t really explained that yet, now have I? Read on for the inside scoop....

The UNDP runs an initiative called “Growing Sustainable Businesses” (GSB) that’s dedicated to helping the business sector make good business decisions that just happen to help poor people. This basically consists of thinking up ways to make money by creating jobs for the poor or providing affordable goods and services to the poor – and then working with businesses to implement these ideas. This creates a sort of “the-more-we-serve-the-poor, the-more-money-we-make” model for the businesses, which is great because it gives them a real incentive to keep making people’s lives better. (I love this stuff!)

For instance: a big Moldovan carpet/yarn producer needs lots of wool to make its carpet/yarn. Moldovan farmers raise a lot of sheep for milk and meat. But the local farmers don’t know much about how to produce good wool, plus the local wool collection system doesn’t work very well, so the big company buys 97% of its wool from New Zealand. And the Moldovan farmers (many of whom are extremely poor) just gotta do without this extra source of income.

As some of you business-minded folk are probably already thinking, it would be cheaper for the carpet dudes to just buy their wool locally – if only there were grade-A wool to be purchased and an efficient system to get it into their hot little hands. But they’re unfortunately not sophisticated enough to develop a well-functioning local supply chain themselves.

That’s where the UNDP GSB comes in. My boss Malgosia and her counterparts at USAID Moldova have been working for the past year to spiff up this supply chain. They’ve been focusing on two things:

• Providing farmer training (“No, Andrei, shear your sheep like this”)
• Working with local financial institutions to increase the wool collector intermediaries’ working capital so they can pay farmers on delivery and thus enable more sales (Translation for my non-businessy readers: arranging decent loans for the dudes who bring the wool from the farmers to the big company so they have enough cash to pay farmers before they themselves are paid)

Right now the project is just in the pilot stage, but so far, so good. I’ll be spending my summer working on this and a number of other projects with similar aims – I’ll definitely fill you in once I do anything noteworthy. So far my job unfortunately has been mostly administrative, data entry-ish stuff – Malgosia’s out of the country this week and she’s the only one here I’ll be working with, so I haven’t been able to dive into anything real yet. But I’ll do something good for the world soon, I promise. :)

My 'hood

Good news: I have a pull-out couch you can sleep on once you see these pix and decide you want to come visit. Seriously, if you can make it over here, you're welcome to crash with me! :)

This beautiful church and bell tower are in the middle of a park right by my house:

Another pic of the park (notice all the lovebirds on the benches) and the amazing 2-block-long flower market on my street:
Here's another shot of my street, and then one with the Stefan cel Mare (Steven the Great) statue, logically situated on nearby Stefan cel Mare Avenue. He's a local legend for protecting Moldavia (a region containing Moldova and part of present-day Romania) against the Ottomans in the 1400s. And last but certainly not least: my office.

The Convict

Set last weekend in Cristina's apartment

Carolyn: (Looks down at the playground outside) I wonder who that man sitting on the bench by himself is.

Cristina: Oh, he’s a convict.

Carolyn: What?!? (On a playground!?!)

Cristina: Well, I guess he used to live here, but then the government took away his apartment while he was in jail. Now to make it up to him, they gave him this little room nobody was living in on the ground floor.

Carolyn: Do you know what he was in jail for?

Cristina: (Thinks.) No. It’s ok, though. He’s harmless.

(Carolyn wonders whether this rather blasé attitude toward convicted felons is a result of:

• (a) Moldovans being less paranoid about their children’s safety than Americans,
• (b) Moldovans minding their own business more than Americans,
• (c) Moldovans putting less faith in their government’s declarations of who’s “bad” than Americans, or
• (d) some other cultural difference of which she’s completely unaware.)

Friends and more friends

First point: I'm looking at a map of where my blog's been viewed, and I can't help but be impressed by how worldly you all are! In the first 48 hours, my I've been viewed from:

• China
  
• Hong Kong
• India
• The Phillipines
• The UK
• Australia
• Brazil
• Greece
• South Africa
• Spain
• Poland
• France
• Canada
  
• And 13 U.S. states and the District of Columbia :)

Second point: I have some pictures of people I've met here -- check them out if you want some context about the folks I talk about. Tomorrow I'll put up a few pix of the city, so stay tuned.

Here's Cristina and me in a local bar, and then a pic with my landlady Galina. (Also consider this shot a preview for my upcoming post on differing cultural fashion norms. Yes, her shirt is completely see-through.)












And here I am with Cristina with her mom doing some rainbow-viewing on their balcony -- how cool is that?

On being a rich, wasteful American

Yes, I have become one of them. No longer a scrappy backpacker crashing in homestays or renting someone’s makeshift apartment-above-the-garage like I’ve done abroad in years past, I’ve now graduated to living in a legit 3-room, full-kitchen, hot-water-tub-and-shower, washing-machine/TV/VCR, expat-grade apartment on the ninth floor of a downtown apartment building six blocks from the Chisinau United Nations building where I work. I’m feeling conflicted about this, however, as this kind of superfluous spending contrasts so starkly (and almost embarrassingly) with the way most people here live. It's not at all that everyone around me is living in poverty – Chisinau is a city sprinkled with international clothing stores and Beemers on the streets – but these things aren't accessible to the vast majority of the Moldovan population. Cristina and her mom seem solidly upper-middle-class to me (and have a nice place themselves) and even they seem incredulous that I would unnecessarily spend so much money on myself here.

Here’s how I justify my $600/month pad to myself:

• I can afford it
• It makes me feel safe and comfortable
• I’m introducing my own money into the Moldovan economy in a legit, positive way
• If I had stayed in the US this summer, I’d be living somewhere this nice and spending more on it
  
• Although two months in this apartment cost more than many people in this country see in a year, if they had the cash to rent it, they probably would, too. The rich Moldovans in my neighborhood probably aren’t so conflicted about living there.
• Although this does seem frivolous in the face of the poverty in Moldova, renting a cheaper apartment wouldn’t actually help anyone here. I’m already directing my personal giving for the summer toward projects in Moldova, and I can’t be expected to give away everything I have, right?
• Other expats at work are spending $1000/month – which somehow makes my $600/month feel more reasonable

But maybe the lady doth protest too much here – for all this rhetoric, it still stands that two months’ rent for this apartment is more than many Moldovans will see in a year. Does this make me a bad person, or a bad representative of my country? Am I being somehow icky and condescending to come pay for myself to live the good life here while working to try to make Moldova a better place for people who don’t have the opportunity to live like this themselves? Or am I just suddenly feeling guilty about the inequities of the world because they’re a little more in my face than usual – note that I never concerned myself with the fact that my Stanford dorm was probably outside most Americans' price range – and if I were truly concerned, I should just stop squandering my money on unnecessary things no matter what country I’m in?

Thoughts, please!

************************

My bedroom, kitchen, living room, "study", and day/night views: (Don't worry – I'll post pix of something outside my apartment soon. I just need to take some first....)

Read this so you sound smart next time Moldova comes up in conversation

Location: Landlocked between Romania and Ukraine. Which makes me wonder whether I should trust the sushi restaurant my boss recommended….

Capital: Chisinau. (say KEESH-now)

Regarded as: Europe’s poorest country.

Contested region: Transdniestr, a rougue region of Moldova on the Ukrainian border. A self-proclaimed independent nation recognized by nobody but itself, it's known for suspected arms trade and general Soviet-ness.

Government: Parlimentary republic, headed by a president. The prez and parliamentary majority are currently both from the Moldovan Communist party.

Population: ~3.4 million – roughly half that of the little-known Chinese city of Dongguan where I taught English last summer.

Official language: “Moldovan,” although everyone here just calls it Romanian, as do linguists. And due to the country’s tumultuous history, everyone speaks Russian as well (or exclusively.) The choice of which to use can sometimes be a political statement.

Monetary unit: The leu (plural = lei), worth about 8 US cents. Although apartment rents are listed in euros/month, and cell phone plans are quoted in US dollars. Note again the bit of cultural confusion around here.

GDP: ~$3B USD, or ~$880/person. But the income disparity means that a significant portion of the population is much poorer than this, especially outside the cities.

Money sent home from Moldovans abroad: ~$1B – equivalent to a staggering one-third of GDP!

Major industries: Wine and textiles are main exports; 40% of the labor force works in agriculture but contributes only 14% to GDP.

History: You know how the “Six Flags” theme parks are named after the six different nations that have ruled Texas over the years? Well, Moldova’s sort of like that. Ruled by a variety of empires/nations over time, its most recent history saw it as part of Romania and then the Soviet Union before it declared independence in 1991.

Why not to start a company in Moldova (and what we can do about it)

What’s that you say? You have a great Moldovan business idea? Well, before you proceed with that, consider the following:

1. Where will you get capital? Nobody will fund you except maybe a bank giving you a business loan – and if you default on that, they’ll take your house in a snap.
2. You’re not worried because you don’t think you’ll default? Well, ok. But do you like the sound of the 20% interest you’ll be paying on your bank loans?
3. Still unphased? Well, clear your schedule – you better have a lot of free time to deal with all the necessary procedures and licenses. Check out these facts on doing business in Moldova vs. the US:

• Procedures necessary for starting a business: 10 (vs. 5 in the US)
• Days necessary for these procedures: 30 (vs. 5)
• Cost of these procedures: 17% of ave. per-capita income (vs. 0.7%)
• Minimum capital necessary: 22% of ave. per-capita income (vs. 0.0%)
• Days required to do all necessary procedures to open a warehouse: 122 (vs. 69)
• Cost of licenses, etc., for opening a warehouse: 215% of ave. per-capita income (vs. 16%)

4. Hmmm, so you’re sure you can get past those hurdles? Open your business, then. Just cross your fingers and hope that the government doesn't give your better-connected competitor a huge advantage – or even shut you down for some minute reason.

Really, it’s so discouraging. Yesterday I had several conversations about this – first just with Cristina at home, then again with a group of her friends at a bar last night. We thought of some potential Moldovan market opportunities (I couldn’t tell you the exact demand elasticity for pants here, but when a decent-quality pair costs more than half the average monthly salary, there’s gotta be space for a low-price clothing brand), but nobody had any sense that they’d ever personally be able to bring these ideas to fruition. They could maybe do some entrepreneurial dealings in imports/exports from Romania/Ukraine, but that's about it. And these are smart (and relatively well-off) kids with university degrees in business and finance.

So what to do about it? The bureaucracy and corruption issues are hard to tackle from the outside, but the access to capital problem might be a bit easier to start attacking. The UNDP has a program called “Global Compact” that brings together businesses in the private sector in a dialogue on Corporate Social Responsibility issues, and the Moldovan Global Compact Network is considering starting a venture fund to support Moldovan youth (age 20-30) in starting businesses. It envisions using GC member company investment to create a profitable, self-sustainable fund providing financial and managerial support to local entrepreneurs, and eventually attracting international VC funds to the region after achieving reasonable proof of concept.

Sounds great – simply inject some capital and know-how and you stimulate the local economy, create jobs, and give talented Moldovans the opportunity for success here at home. Like the UNDP Growing Sustainable Business brochure points out, “the opposite of poverty is prosperity,” and this plan really has the potential to enable prosperity for some dedicated people. But will it get off the ground? Or will it get crushed under bureaucracy and member company skepticism? Let’s hope for the best, and I’ll keep you posted….

Good Point, Lady – or Thank Goodness for SMIF Funding. (A play in one act.)

Set Tuesday afternoon at the Tarom check-in counter, Otopeni Airport, Bucharest, Romania

Check-in agent: Your baggage is overweight. You need to pay a fee of 40 euros.

Carolyn: (Looks pained.) Oh no! Is there any way to avoid paying? I’m a student, so I don’t have much money. I’m working for the United Nations Development Programme this summer in Moldova, and they’re not paying me. (Continues to list reasons she shouldn’t have to [or doesn’t want to?] pay….)

Check-in agent: (Sighs.) Ok, you don’t have to pay the fee. But don’t do that again.

Carolyn: Thank you so much. I’ll be sure to pack less next time.

Check-in agent: No, no, that’s fine. Just be sure not to take any more jobs that don’t pay! (Looks at Carolyn like she’s insane.)

Moldovan hospitality

Ok, so just about every country I’ve ever visited seems to be known for its extremely welcoming and friendly people. But this is out of control. Cristina (my aunt and uncle’s exchange student from five years ago) and her mom have been at my beck and call for the past four days. Not that I’m even beckoning and calling – they just somehow figure out exactly what I need (e.g., help finding an apartment) and then go extraordinarily out of their ways to provide it for me (e.g., Mrs. Andoni leaving work for four hours to join us in an apartment-hunting expedition because she’s a “better negotiator” than Cristina. Also because my own Romanian/Russian-language negotiation skills are unfortunately slightly sub-par.) Cristina’s friend (and ex) Adrian has been amazingly helpful, too. He drove Cristina to pick me up from the airport and a few days later hooked us up with free tickets to the philharmonic’s season finale.

This has been such a warm welcome into the country – it’s been amazingly easy adjusting to life here. However, I’m about ready to move into my own place and stop relying so much on the kindness of others....

I'm here!

Hello, adoring public! :)

So I’ve never blogged before – but because so many people asked for updates from Moldova this summer (and because I’m in danger of exploding any time I don’t express every thought that crosses my mind), I figured I’d keep a little online record of my time here. So bookmark me and check back often for the inside scoop about life in Chisinau!

I arrived yesterday (June19th) and will be here ten weeks (until August 24th), with a little traveling time after that. I’m staying with some family friends this first week (convenient, right?) and will hopefully soon be moving into my own apartment near my office downtown. I’m excited to be here!