Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Dushanbe team set to visit U.S.
After many weeks of working through the red-tape of planning an extensive visit around the world in the U.S., the Dushanbe team is finally set to come! They are scheduled to arrive in Chicago on August 7 and return August 18.
Those who will make up the Tajik team include a delegate from the Dushanbe city mayor's office, a university English teacher, a lawyer specializing in volunteer organizations, translators, and students from School #21 who were among the original pen-pals with students at Holy Cross school in Fort Wayne. Victor Ibragimov will lead the team.
During their visit in the greater Fort Wayne area a variety of activities are planned for the team, including:
- public school tours
- Indiana-Purdue University tour
- Glenbrook mall visit
- Fort Wayne tour (zoo, city parks, museums, etc.)
- Regional city visit (Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis?)
- Recreational time (state park perhaps)
- Volunteerism training
- Volunteer mentoring/projects at Black Pine Animal Park
- Amusement park or "fun time"
- and surely more!
We are looking forward to a great cultural exchange and learning experience! Stay tuned for more news...
Lori
Those who will make up the Tajik team include a delegate from the Dushanbe city mayor's office, a university English teacher, a lawyer specializing in volunteer organizations, translators, and students from School #21 who were among the original pen-pals with students at Holy Cross school in Fort Wayne. Victor Ibragimov will lead the team.
During their visit in the greater Fort Wayne area a variety of activities are planned for the team, including:
- public school tours
- Indiana-Purdue University tour
- Glenbrook mall visit
- Fort Wayne tour (zoo, city parks, museums, etc.)
- Regional city visit (Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis?)
- Recreational time (state park perhaps)
- Volunteerism training
- Volunteer mentoring/projects at Black Pine Animal Park
- Amusement park or "fun time"
- and surely more!
We are looking forward to a great cultural exchange and learning experience! Stay tuned for more news...
Lori
Dushanbe Zoo volunteers complete new lion habitat
Hi everyone,
The construction of new lion habitat is finally completed. Bobo (green
T-shirt in pictures) is a lead volunteer with over 500 hours worked at the
Dushanbe Zoo working on different projects: installation of volunteer
center room, painting the habitats of exotic animals, working on
playground area, improving the wild pigs habitat, creating the new lions'
habitat, and working on the garden area preparation. He is a hard worker and
now has many skills to share with other volunteers.
Enjoy the pictures!
Victor
(Correspondence received 7/15/08)
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Volunteers can do magic things!
This presentation was published by Youth Opportunities NGO. Check it out!
Dushanbe Zoo Volunteers
Dushanbe Zoo Volunteers
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Hundreds of Photos!
Check out our U.S. project teams photos from Istanbul and Dushanbe at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25807896@N07/
Zoo Project Updates April 28, 2008
This week was very busy. There was a lot of hard work. We completed the improvements of the wild pig habitat and the room for a new Volunteer and Information Resource Center. In addition, I have negotiated with Zoo Director to create a legal volunteer organization with volunteer regulations, rules, rights and obligations.
Today we have moved the wild pigs to their improved habitat. The pigs are so happy
now! I think the pigs still can’t believe to have real dirt and a big water pool.
The room for Volunteer and Information Resource Center is almost completed. Tomorrow we will just paint the floor, clean the carpets and furniture, fix up the lock and have a phone cable for a very nice VIRC office.
It was negotiated with the Dushanbe Zoo to create a "legal" volunteer organization with volunteer waivers, staff regulations, rules, rights and obligations. That would be great to use the same legal form of organization in Dushanbe Zoo as it is at Black Pine Animal Park.
We will start the process using samples from Black Pine. We will translate the core documents, we will need to hire a professional lawyer to complete the registration or legalization portions.
I think, once we complete the repairs of the office and install computers for the
Volunteer and Information Resource Center, it will provide more opportunities to arrange meetings with volunteers and to work on more detailed planning. At least there will be safer sockets to plug in the computer equipment!
The status for the lion’s habitat: We need a special construction worker to weld the upper levels of fence and rolls. We made a request to the mayor's office to help us with this. We hope to get it going next week.
Most of our volunteers are school students. We may have a lack of volunteers because of oncoming school exams. Students are very busy with getting ready for their school examinations.
Regards,
Victor (Ibragimov)
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
No Time to Blog!
During our visit in Dushanbe from April 3-14, unfortunately, we had very limited opportunity to update the blog (sorry!)
Since returning though, I'm happy to post a few photos and to say the project continues! Teens are volunteering at the Dushanbe Zoo under the guidance of Victor Ibragimov, Youth Opportunities, and volunteers from Zumrod NGO, an ecological society dedicated to the zoo project. So far the Tajik team has continued to support an upgraded bear habitat, has been constructing a new lion habitat (pictured), and will be upgrading a wild hog habitat soon.
During the U.S. team's visit one of the zoo's bears was moved into a newly propped habitat where more of "nature" was brought in for the bear to enjoy, including live fish in a holding pond! Ground was excavated for the new playground equipment and local engineers determined the best layout for visitor enjoyment. A new lion habitat that will house the zoo's male and female African lions, was also started in a section of the zoo that will provide natural shade and a grassy substrate.
We will continue to post photos as progress continues.
Since returning though, I'm happy to post a few photos and to say the project continues! Teens are volunteering at the Dushanbe Zoo under the guidance of Victor Ibragimov, Youth Opportunities, and volunteers from Zumrod NGO, an ecological society dedicated to the zoo project. So far the Tajik team has continued to support an upgraded bear habitat, has been constructing a new lion habitat (pictured), and will be upgrading a wild hog habitat soon.
During the U.S. team's visit one of the zoo's bears was moved into a newly propped habitat where more of "nature" was brought in for the bear to enjoy, including live fish in a holding pond! Ground was excavated for the new playground equipment and local engineers determined the best layout for visitor enjoyment. A new lion habitat that will house the zoo's male and female African lions, was also started in a section of the zoo that will provide natural shade and a grassy substrate.
We will continue to post photos as progress continues.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Students Enthusiastic to Volunteer
Volunteering Not a "Mandatory" Activity
The freedom Tajikistan gained with the fall of the USSR in 1991 is still not fully appreciated by many here in Dushanbe. Since our arrival last week we have learned it is important to help young people understand that volunteering to help improve the zoo, their zoo, is not a mandatory activity. While many welcome becoming involved, others do not understand why they must be in order for things to improve. This applies to many things in Tajik life.
For many the term "volunteer" has been applied to picking cotton, an activity mandated here. Schools shut down and all students are expected to help harvest. Slowly, however, we are making progress and redefining "volunteer". We aim to help students understand the Dushanbe Zoo is "their" zoo. If they choose to help improve conditions they will be creating a wonderful place for families to gather. learn, and enjoy. Many years ago, before the end of Soviet rule, the Dushanbe Zoo was called the second best zoo in the USSR. A seven-year civil war, however, took a horrible toll with elephants and many other animals shot and killed. A lot of damage was done to buildings and surroundings. The Tajiks now need to learn that to regain a reputation for high quality will take a lot of work. As one teacher at School #21 put it, "if not you, who? If not now, when?" So far students have been enthusiastic and the new playground and animal habitat improvements are underway. We hope the trend continues!
The U.S. team has enjoyed a variety of cultural experiences during this visit, not the least of which as been being welcomed into Tajik homes. We are all grateful for the warm hospitality of our hosts.
As soon as possible we will post photographs. The language barrier has made it virtually impossible to venture out "alone" to find an internet cafe or spend quality time updating the blog. We regret this and hope soon we can focus on it.
In the meantime, we have met with the Deputy Mayor of Dushanbe, officials at the U.S. Embassy, and today will meet the Minister of Education. With only a few days left there is much work ahead. With these new contacts we hope to keep communications flowing and the work underway for a very long time to come.
The freedom Tajikistan gained with the fall of the USSR in 1991 is still not fully appreciated by many here in Dushanbe. Since our arrival last week we have learned it is important to help young people understand that volunteering to help improve the zoo, their zoo, is not a mandatory activity. While many welcome becoming involved, others do not understand why they must be in order for things to improve. This applies to many things in Tajik life.
For many the term "volunteer" has been applied to picking cotton, an activity mandated here. Schools shut down and all students are expected to help harvest. Slowly, however, we are making progress and redefining "volunteer". We aim to help students understand the Dushanbe Zoo is "their" zoo. If they choose to help improve conditions they will be creating a wonderful place for families to gather. learn, and enjoy. Many years ago, before the end of Soviet rule, the Dushanbe Zoo was called the second best zoo in the USSR. A seven-year civil war, however, took a horrible toll with elephants and many other animals shot and killed. A lot of damage was done to buildings and surroundings. The Tajiks now need to learn that to regain a reputation for high quality will take a lot of work. As one teacher at School #21 put it, "if not you, who? If not now, when?" So far students have been enthusiastic and the new playground and animal habitat improvements are underway. We hope the trend continues!
The U.S. team has enjoyed a variety of cultural experiences during this visit, not the least of which as been being welcomed into Tajik homes. We are all grateful for the warm hospitality of our hosts.
As soon as possible we will post photographs. The language barrier has made it virtually impossible to venture out "alone" to find an internet cafe or spend quality time updating the blog. We regret this and hope soon we can focus on it.
In the meantime, we have met with the Deputy Mayor of Dushanbe, officials at the U.S. Embassy, and today will meet the Minister of Education. With only a few days left there is much work ahead. With these new contacts we hope to keep communications flowing and the work underway for a very long time to come.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
U.S. Team Arrives in Dushanbe
We're here!!
Despite a few travel hiccups, the U.S. project team arrived in Dushanbe at about 3:40 a.m. today, tired but in good spirits.
Travel time from Indianapolis to Dushanbe was about 30 hours, including a wonderful side-trip into Istanbul for the day. Baggage did not, unfortunately, arrive with us so we did some shopping in the open market and hope they will be here Monday.
Tomorrow we will make our first visit to the Dushanbe Zoo. Everyone is excited to meet their counterparts and begin our work. Tonight, catch-up sleep!
Despite a few travel hiccups, the U.S. project team arrived in Dushanbe at about 3:40 a.m. today, tired but in good spirits.
Travel time from Indianapolis to Dushanbe was about 30 hours, including a wonderful side-trip into Istanbul for the day. Baggage did not, unfortunately, arrive with us so we did some shopping in the open market and hope they will be here Monday.
Tomorrow we will make our first visit to the Dushanbe Zoo. Everyone is excited to meet their counterparts and begin our work. Tonight, catch-up sleep!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Pilov Dinner to Help Raise Funding for Project
Dushanbe Zoo Benefit Dinner
A benefit dinner, featuring a traditional Tajikistan Pilov meal, will be held on April 26th, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at Holy Cross Lutheran Church’s cafeteria (Fort Wayne, Indiana). Tickets are $6.00 each.
A team of students from Holy Cross Lutheran School began a project to improve the zoo in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, two years ago when an email pen pal of theirs had a serious accident at the zoo. Out of a desire to help her, the project to improve safety and provide a better family experience at the zoo developed. Black Pine Animal Park joined with the students to receive a grant from the American Association of Museums in Washington, D.C., and have already designed a playground for the zoo and have the equipment on the way to Tajikistan. Monies from the dinner will go towards training their zoo volunteers, improving signage for safety around the animals, and providing exchange visits between the two countries.
Tickets may be purchased before April 23rd at Holy Cross Lutheran Church Offices at 3308 N. Anthony Blvd. from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, or call 483-3173.
For more information please visit www.dushanbezoo.org.
Activity Updates from Dushanbe Team
March 18, 2008
9th grade students of Public School #21, Parvizi Hairullo and Daler Abjabarov have visited Public Schools of Firdavsi, Sino and Somoni districts of Dushanbe city, where they met with directors and students of 7 to 9 grades to build friendly relations. In the framework of these meetings, the AAM MCCA Project for Zoo Improvement was presented to the audience and the most active school students were recruited to become volunteers for the Project. Because of numerous questions and expressed interest in the Project, a direct telephone line was organized to support and consult students volunteers for the Dushanbe Zoo.
The initial task of the volunteers is to create an educational database of existing animals at the Dushanbe Zoo. For this task, the student volunteers of Dushanbe city received all necessary instructions and templates to correctly collect the imformation about zoo animals. The Program of Additional Out-of-School Education, implemented by Youth Opportunities NGO and Zoo Project partners by assistance of the Ministry of Education of Tajikistan, will allow and involve active youth of Dushanbe city to take part at international social project, sponsored by the American Association of Museums.
At the very beginning of April, a delegation of professionals and students from Indiana, USA will visit Dushanbe Zoo to jointly plan and organize a series of educational trainings for school students around Dushanbe who will take part in creating of landscape design, animal signs, garden, picnic area and playground for the visitors of Dushanbe zoo.
It is planned to create a volunteer organization for Dushanbe Zoo and build relations with active NGOs who keep focus on development of ecological programms to educate youth in Dushanbe.
Youth Opportunities NGO and Zoo Project partners express special thanks and recognition of students and school directors of Dushanbe city, who assist to arrange necessary events to improve Dushanbe zoo.
- Victor Ibragimov
9th grade students of Public School #21, Parvizi Hairullo and Daler Abjabarov have visited Public Schools of Firdavsi, Sino and Somoni districts of Dushanbe city, where they met with directors and students of 7 to 9 grades to build friendly relations. In the framework of these meetings, the AAM MCCA Project for Zoo Improvement was presented to the audience and the most active school students were recruited to become volunteers for the Project. Because of numerous questions and expressed interest in the Project, a direct telephone line was organized to support and consult students volunteers for the Dushanbe Zoo.
The initial task of the volunteers is to create an educational database of existing animals at the Dushanbe Zoo. For this task, the student volunteers of Dushanbe city received all necessary instructions and templates to correctly collect the imformation about zoo animals. The Program of Additional Out-of-School Education, implemented by Youth Opportunities NGO and Zoo Project partners by assistance of the Ministry of Education of Tajikistan, will allow and involve active youth of Dushanbe city to take part at international social project, sponsored by the American Association of Museums.
At the very beginning of April, a delegation of professionals and students from Indiana, USA will visit Dushanbe Zoo to jointly plan and organize a series of educational trainings for school students around Dushanbe who will take part in creating of landscape design, animal signs, garden, picnic area and playground for the visitors of Dushanbe zoo.
It is planned to create a volunteer organization for Dushanbe Zoo and build relations with active NGOs who keep focus on development of ecological programms to educate youth in Dushanbe.
Youth Opportunities NGO and Zoo Project partners express special thanks and recognition of students and school directors of Dushanbe city, who assist to arrange necessary events to improve Dushanbe zoo.
- Victor Ibragimov
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Black Pine hosts visitors from Tajikistan
Our very small home town enjoyed seeing some unfamiliar faces this week, including that of Victor Ibragimov (pictured with "Peaches", a resident of Black Pine) when three visitors from Tajikistan joined up with local MCCA project team members for lunch and a sanctuary tour!Roger Kovacs and Lori Gagen met up with Victor, the MCCA Tajikistan-based project manager, and were joined by Pulod Amirbekov and another lovely gentleman we'll just call "Art" (sorry, we tried to capture his full name but failed to get it in writing). The latter two men are participating in a cultural business exchange and are staying in Kalamazoo, MI, which is coincidentally only about two hours from Albion. When they learned of the MCCA project here they wanted to make the trip to meet and visit, and learn more. They hope to perhaps get involved back in Dushanbe when they return home.
We all enjoyed a nice meal at a local eatery then a tour of Black Pine. It became clear this will be a great team that will enjoy working together on this important project to help bring the benefits of volunteerism and philantrhopy to the Dushanbe Zoo this summer.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Tajikistan in midst of energy and food crisis
BBC America reports:
Energy Crisis Hits Tajikistan - See audio/video
Tajikistan is in the grip of emergency food shortages, the UN's World Food Programme is warning.
The deteriorating food situation is part of the energy crisis which hit the mountainous nation in the middle of its coldest winter for five decades.
The cost of food has tripled in recent months, partially because of rising world prices.
Some humanitarian agencies claim Central Asia's poorest nation is heading towards catastrophe.
It's well below zero in Tajikistan, but most people have no electricity, no heating and now, increasingly, many don't have enough food either.
One family in the village of Sagdyan, outside the capital Dushanbe, said their four children were surviving on milk and rice. Their next door neighbours could not afford even that.
One meal a day
Zlatan Milisic, the country director for the World Food Programme in Tajikistan, says it's not just the rural population that's being affected, but people in the cities too.
"We are seeing more and more people who are eating just one meal a day. And we only expect the food situation to deteriorate. This is already a real emergency," said Mr Milisic.
He added additional funding was urgently needed to assist the people.
Even at the best of times, tens of thousands of people are malnourished.
But this winter is affecting a huge proportion of the population. People are spending all they have on trying to keep warm.
And the worst is still to come - Tajikistan is currently using up its last energy resources, and it may face a total blackout.
Energy Crisis Hits Tajikistan - See audio/video
Tajikistan is in the grip of emergency food shortages, the UN's World Food Programme is warning.
The deteriorating food situation is part of the energy crisis which hit the mountainous nation in the middle of its coldest winter for five decades.
The cost of food has tripled in recent months, partially because of rising world prices.
Some humanitarian agencies claim Central Asia's poorest nation is heading towards catastrophe.
It's well below zero in Tajikistan, but most people have no electricity, no heating and now, increasingly, many don't have enough food either.
One family in the village of Sagdyan, outside the capital Dushanbe, said their four children were surviving on milk and rice. Their next door neighbours could not afford even that.
One meal a day
Zlatan Milisic, the country director for the World Food Programme in Tajikistan, says it's not just the rural population that's being affected, but people in the cities too.
"We are seeing more and more people who are eating just one meal a day. And we only expect the food situation to deteriorate. This is already a real emergency," said Mr Milisic.
He added additional funding was urgently needed to assist the people.
Even at the best of times, tens of thousands of people are malnourished.
But this winter is affecting a huge proportion of the population. People are spending all they have on trying to keep warm.
And the worst is still to come - Tajikistan is currently using up its last energy resources, and it may face a total blackout.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Playground Equipment for Dushanbe Zoo
Roger Kovacs reports that some of the items the U.S. project team wants to get for the new playground at the Dushanbe Zoo is on order! The company we are purchasing from, AAA State of Play, will ship the items to Denver to be consolidated on a shipment to Dushanbe, which will help us come in under our current budget of $7500 US.
The new playground equipment will include slides, swings, a see-saw, and balance beams. The team in Tajikistan reports they can get pea gravel there to make a safe base for kids to play. Plus there will be a "handicap-style" swing seat to accommodate children with special needs.
This is a great start to efforts to improve the experience for visitors to the Dushanbe Zoo. Congratulations team!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Holy Cross students hard at work
Roger has been meeting with the kids from Holy Cross school in Fort Wayne, and they are a busy bunch! They have been trying to figure out when everyone can travel to Dushanbe from the U.S. as well as researching playground equipment to be shipped soon.
Annette at Holy Cross would also like Black Pine to come to the school soon for an outreach program so that we can document the typical educational presentation, and also so the kids there will have a better understanding of our mission. We hope to arrange something soon.
We're looking forward to Victor's visit to the U.S. soon!
Annette at Holy Cross would also like Black Pine to come to the school soon for an outreach program so that we can document the typical educational presentation, and also so the kids there will have a better understanding of our mission. We hope to arrange something soon.
We're looking forward to Victor's visit to the U.S. soon!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Volunteer Connections Receives Check
Today I was pleased, on behalf of the American Association of Museums and as the fiscal agent for the MCCA grant project, to present a check for $1,400 to Karen Lemire, Director of Volunteer Connections in Albion, Indiana.
Karen will be one of the U.S. team members who will travel to Dushanbe this spring and coordinate volunteer training for zoo staff. She has been instrumental in helping Black Pine take our volunteer program to a higher level having created professional staff manuals and helping to coordinate several volunteer orientations. She formerly was the Volunteer Coordinator at the Fort Wayne Childrens Zoo so brings years of experience to this project.
Volunteer Connections is a relatively new organization serving our county (a region of about 40,000 people) by working to achieve the highest level of volunteerism amoung counties throughout the state! She works every day to connect those who want to help with those organizations who need help.
Congratulations Karen and Volunteer Connections! Certainly this contribution will help facilitate more great things locally, and now abroad!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Welcome to our AAM MCCA project blog!
Welcome! We will assume you have already read about this Museums Community Collaborations Abroad grant project, but if not, please check out the project web site.
(The Museums & Community Collaborations Abroad Program (MCCA) is administered by the American Association of Museums (AAM), and funded by the US Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).)
After working for the past few weeks to finalize the grant agreement, Roger traveled from Fort Wayne up to Albion to meet with Lori and open a checking account to deposit the first installment of grant funds. A couple of days later we received the first of several installments. The first $1,500 was sent just in time for Volunteer Connections to be eligible for a matching grant from the Dekko Foundation. Volunteer Connections is a new organization in Noble County and serves organizations like Black Pine Animal Park by helping identify and match up potential volunteers with organizations who rely on them. Karen Lemire is Director of Volunteer Connections and she will participate as a U.S. team member on the MCCA project. She was very excited that these funds arrived in time to be eligible for a grant match locally.
Please stay tuned for updates on this exciting project... we're just getting started!!
(The Museums & Community Collaborations Abroad Program (MCCA) is administered by the American Association of Museums (AAM), and funded by the US Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).)
After working for the past few weeks to finalize the grant agreement, Roger traveled from Fort Wayne up to Albion to meet with Lori and open a checking account to deposit the first installment of grant funds. A couple of days later we received the first of several installments. The first $1,500 was sent just in time for Volunteer Connections to be eligible for a matching grant from the Dekko Foundation. Volunteer Connections is a new organization in Noble County and serves organizations like Black Pine Animal Park by helping identify and match up potential volunteers with organizations who rely on them. Karen Lemire is Director of Volunteer Connections and she will participate as a U.S. team member on the MCCA project. She was very excited that these funds arrived in time to be eligible for a grant match locally.
Please stay tuned for updates on this exciting project... we're just getting started!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
