"Idni Ekoloski Instructori" Proekt

My plan to do nothing of significance before coming home hasn't really panned out. I've been doing some work on a recently-approved (!) project that I wrote so that I can pass the reins to my coworkers with confidence. The title of the project is "Future Environmental Instructors," and the general idea is to teach about 70 elementary and high school students how to design and implement small environmental projects and campaigns. For the project, my coworkers are writing a workbook on project and campaign design, which will also have information about local resources that can be used for environmental projects (e.g. NGOs, municipal government, communal services providers). Then we are having two 3-day training sessions with the students, which will be facilitated by my NGO coworkers and teachers at local schools. During the training sessions, the students and teachers will work in small groups to develop ideas for environmental projects. Then, in September, the participants will select one of the ideas generated during the training sessions to implement throughout the town. The project will be their choice, but it must include teaching students at other schools in town (hence the title of the project) and raising public environmental awareness. The other project ideas that aren't selected for implementation during September will be scheduled for implementation later in the school year. My NGO coworkers will follow up with the schools to ensure that the activities are implemented and to provide any additional support.

So, when I get back from the States, I am going to be VERY busy. As soon as I get back, I have to attend a training session for PCVs involved in the GLOBE program. Then, I will have to start reading and evaluating project proposals as per my SPA committee obligations. Then the heart of this project (the training sessions) will be during the last week of June/first week of July. And I'll have to skip out on one of the training days in order to go to Skopje for the SPA committee meeting. The upside to this three-week period of chaos is that I'll be too busy to be homesick. And, once all of the above things are finished, I can look forward to a trip to Turkey with the Flomster in late July! Woohoo!

See (most of) you soon!