Environmental Projects in Romania

This is extremely frustrating: working with the new tools in blogspot.

However, it must be done.

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I am adding this entry, with great pains (I had to delete and reconfigure earlier entries to have enough space to alter my closed blog) to compile environmental work I was involved with while in Romania.

I had to learn how to compost due to necessity, and after I saw results, I promoted it throughout my community: mayor's office, schools, neighborhood, and even to family and friends in the USA. My grandparents and mother still compost to this day.

 I learned that things like: paper, bread, fruit peels, and even hair can be great compost.

We built compost structures at every school in the community and educated students on their usage.

 I met people who worked with waste management in Austria. Austria is really ahead on how to manage waste in a sustainable manner. It was a great exchange. They came to consult Romanian communities because both countries have to follow strict EU regulations. 

 I was introduced to a plastic company, that said that if people in our community would collect and consolidate our trash, they could turn the waste into recycled plastic bags. It was a step in the right direction. I took samples back to my community and presented them to the mayor with several small project proposals.

 

When I realized that while people smiled and encouraged my grand ideas (they really weren't that grand or unattainable, they were very grassroot) they weren't keen to actually participate or to help me instigate them. 

I found enthusiasm and hope working with the children and sometimes (sometimes) the teachers in the community. I initiated several projects working with children such as small camps during the summer involving environmental stewardship mixed with: first aid training, leadership, technology, and water sanitation. All of these projects were funded with fundraising, local sponsors, or community donations.

 

 Peace Corps says that the strongest deters/emotion volunteers face after their service is the feeling that they didn't make a change in their community. That their 2 years of drive to help others have a better life was a waste. I know I made changes in my community. I know I tried my hardest to advocate and teach others on maintaining a clean community for children to live and play in. Like all the returned Peace Corps volunteers, I wonder if I could have tried harder. 

I don't have the resources to measure the changes before and after I was there, but what I can measure is how much I've changed and how much I've learned from my work in Romania. 

Those 2 years weren't a waste, it was a giant lesson on appreciation and acknowledgment.

Romanian stray doggy recycling

Romanian chicken (probably dinner) standing in underdeveloped sewage system