My first big project at site was an event for the U.N. World Day Against Trafficking in Persons! With the help of other volunteers and my Albanian coworkers, I organized an activity at the cultural center with guest speakers and a student drama and dance performance! Here’s the story of how it all came together!
After about two and a half months at site, I was given the opportunity to organize an event in July!
Like I’ve mentioned before on my blog, everything in Albania starts with relationships. Before people will work with you, they have to get to know you first – usually through lots and lots of coffees. So as I was having a coffee with Denisa, the Head of Programming and Development at the bashkia, she mentioned to me that there wasn’t a lot going on in July and wanted to know if I had any ideas for an event.
Once we’d agreed on the major components of the event, I had about two weeks to pull everything together.
So I took the idea and ran with it. I looked up international days in July and stumbled across the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, which is July 30th. I suggested using the Peace Corps network to bring in guest speakers from Tirana, and Denisa liked the idea. We brainstormed extra activities for the event together, and we decided to include speakers from the bashkia and an additional student performance!
Once we’d agreed on the major components of the event, I had about two weeks to pull everything together. We were very fortunate to collaborate with speakers from Mary Ward Loreto and Different and Equal and I got my inspiration for the drama from YWAM Perth. While there were many stressful moments during the planning process, the event ran really smoothly and was well-attended! It was my first real Peace Corps success story, and here’s the very long version of how it all came about:
Monday, July 17, 2017, 10:21pm
9 days until the event
After connecting with Daniel (a member of the ATIP committee) at the All Peace Corps Conference, I got a message from him today telling me that we’re a go on the guest speakers for the event! Also the timing works perfectly – if all goes well, we’ll hold the event on Wednesday of next week!
Well, as with all plans here in Albania I’m taking things with a grain of salt. I’m hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.
With all plans here in Albania I’m taking things with a grain of salt.
With the guest speakers somewhat confirmed, I called Denisa and officially locked down the date of the event, and then my host sister Serena came downstairs to help me start planning for the student drama portion of the event.
She was initially really stressed because it was hard for her to get her classmates on the phone – let alone to commit to participating in the drama – but eventually after an hour and a half or so, we’d rounded up a group of about seven for a meeting tomorrow. So fingers crossed that that works out tomorrow!
Tuesday, July 18, 2017, 10:00pm
8 days until the event
At 6:00pm, my host sister, Serena, and I started our first drama meeting, and attendance was pretty good! When all the girls put their heads together they were able to come up with more people to invite, and having my site mate, Barbara, there was instrumental to recruiting boys for our drama.
The meeting started out a little slowly – we just watched the video for some inspiration – but once more and more people joined, everyone got more excited and the atmosphere became really fun! I don’t think I’ve ever seen Serena so excited.
Wednesday, July 19, 2017, 11:32pm
7 days until the event
I was really unsure of how the meeting would go, but to my surprise every single member of the cast showed up.
We had another 6:00pm drama meeting this evening. I was really unsure of how the meeting would go, but to my surprise every single member of the cast showed up – including two new boys who were late additions to the group (thanks to Barbara’s wonderful casting).
The meeting started out a little bit disorganized and everyone had a bad case of the giggles (which isn’t ideal for a topic like human trafficking), but after we ran through the drama a few times everyone started to calm down. I was really happy with the way the rehearsal went, and I truly hope we can keep it up until the actual event itself!
Thursday, July 20, 2017, 11:59pm
6 days until the event
At 3:00pm, I had a meeting with Denisa about the human trafficking event. She was able to lock down details, like the time of the event, right away. It was a quick but very informative meeting, and afterwords I went over to the bashkia because Denisa wanted me to shoot the guest speakers an email ASAP.
So I went back to the office where everyone was wrapping up for the day. By the time I was finished sending all my emails it was already 4:20pm and the doors to the bashkia had been locked from the inside!
So there I was, trapped in the building.
So there I was, trapped in the building. I immediately thought, “Yep, that seems about right.” And I paced around not really knowing what to do. As it turns out, the mayor and vice mayor were still in the building, so I was able to leave with them. Whew.
We had another drama meeting tonight, and the students were a little less focused than I would have liked. There was also a small disagreement between the cast (with boys and girls of different ages, things can get a little more complicated). But everything worked out in the end, and everyone still seemed invested in the production. Barbara watched one run through and said that it was looking good, and I’m pleased by the progress we’re making!
Monday, July 24, 2017, 11:21pm
2 days until the event
The week is off to a roaring start! Right out of the gate, I had another long day.
And the week is off to a roaring start. Right out of the gate, I had another long day. I spent a grand total of an hour and fifteen minutes at the bashkia before rushing out to meet Denisa for coffee. We figured out the agenda, I asked her some questions, and we were done in about twenty minutes.
When I got back home from our coffee, I worked straight until 5:15pm, then I had a tiny smidgen of a break before jumping right back into drama rehearsals. One of the actors came very late, so we didn’t have too much to do for the first forty minutes other than talk about logistics and run through the script for memorization, but once everyone was assembled we went through the drama three times!
Tuesday, July 25, 2017, 11:55pm
1 day until the event
This afternoon after the outdoor excursion trip with Barbara, I braved the hot sun and met Denisa in her office. We worked on invitations and got the meeting room arranged for the event. When I finally got back to the bashkia, it was already 2:30pm and the Urbanistika office was bustling with activity. I jumped right into my projects, and at 4:00pm I still had hours worth of work left to do at home. Ack.
When I got back to my apartment, I continued working right up until 6:00pm, which was our dress rehearsal at CESVI. The students were really focused during the beginning of the rehearsal, but they definitely got a lot gigglier as time went on. Still we got in some good run throughs of the drama, so I was happy. Denisa was there to watch, and she enjoyed the performance, as well.
I’ve had such a fun time this past week! Sure I’ve been busy, but it’s been so nice to have something productive to do.
Back at home for the night, I spent a lot of time creating a background video for the students’ dance performance. Now I’m finally ready for bed. I’m a little nervous for tomorrow – nothing’s ever settled until it’s settled. But with that said, I think I’ve done all I can possibly do to prepare. I’ve crossed my I’s and dotted all my T’s. Or the other way around.
Here’s hoping that tomorrow I have good news to report! Honestly though, just the planning for the event has been a blast. I love the organizational challenge and using my graphic design and video editing skills. I’ve had such a fun time this past week and a half. Sure I’ve been a bit busy and the experience was little stressful, but it’s been so, so, so nice to have something productive to do.
Wednesday, July 26, 2017, 11:58pm
Show time!
Wow wow wow. What a crazy long, exciting, nerve-wracking day it’s been. But now looking back, everything went really well – almost better than I’d hoped.
My inner cynic was whispering, “Nothing is going to work out.”
I started out my morning in the bashkia, trying to ignore my inner cynic that was whispering, “Nothing is going to work out. Everyone will know that you’re not cut out for this.” There was one brief moment when I tried to call both the guest speaker from Tirana and Daniel and neither of them answered and I felt my heart sink, but they got in touch with me about ten minutes later. To distract myself, I worked on other projects, and before long I was heading out the door and on my way to the cultural center to begin setting up for the event.
I had a quick lunch then started getting the PowerPoint ready, and as I was preparing I got a call from Daniel letting me know the he’d arrived. So I went downstairs to greet him, showed him the space, and afterwords I was going to take him to get fast food when all of a sudden the guest speakers called and we made a detour to say hello to them. We greeted each other, they were impressed with my Shqip, and then we went for a coffee.
Before long I had to run back to CESVI to run the drama rehearsal. When I arrived, things were a little chaotic. We were missing one actor, the students were playing with the mic, I had to add two videos to the PowerPoint at the last minute, and it felt like everything was a mess. Thankfully things settled down, and there was just enough time for us to run the drama twice.
The drama itself went by in the blink of an eye, and the students were wonderful!
Then we had a lot of downtime waiting for people to slowly filter into the event. As I waited for Denisa’s go-ahead to start the event, I chatted with the volunteers who’d come to support the event from Kelcyre, I greeted my friends and acquaintances who’d arrived, and I fluttered around the room nervously.
We finally got things going around 2:10pm. Denisa gave a brief introduction and then we were off! The drama itself went by in the blink of an eye. The students were wonderful – they treated the drama very seriously, acted with emotion, and remembered all their lines. I was so, so proud of all them!
Truly what made me happy about the event wasn’t the attendance, though we had a good crowd of about 50 attendees (many only stayed for the drama or filtered out later during the lectures), it was seeing the dedication of the students and helping them to create something that they can be proud of. It made it all worth the effort.
After the drama and the dance performance, I let out a sigh of relief. The hardest part was over. My supervisor Eva gave a brief speech, a woman from the bashkia spoke about trafficking here in Permet, and then we jumped straight into the guest speakers from Tirana, both of whom were wonderful!
Truly what made me happy about the event was seeing the dedication of the students and helping them to create something that they can be proud of.
Overall, despite some tiny hiccups (like most of the audience leaving before the end of the event), I was really pleased with the event. Attendance was good. People from the bashkia were there along with other invited guests and friends and family of the students. My program manager came all the way from Tirana, and everything went really smoothly! Denisa was also happy with the event, and if she’s not concerned with attendance or the audience’s interest in the topic, I’m not either.
I mentioned earlier in a different post that I wasn’t sure how I’d measure success here in Albania or how I’d ever build up confidence in my work. But after an activity like this and with the prospect of grants, Youth Councils, and more events to come, I can start to see now how my life will change for the better in the next two years. This is just the beginning of more work to come, I hope, and I’m so lucky to be in Permet.
BONUS: Watch the video of the performance at this link, and check out extra pictures from the event!
Uprooted Abroad 
WOW!! Congratulations, Laurelin!! You’re on your way!!! (I know this happened months ago – can’t WAIT to hear what you’ve accomplished subsequent to this great success!)
Thank you! 🙂 It was so much fun and definitely a good learning experience, too!