THANK YOU!

Thank you to all of you who donated to make this project possible and for all of your support!

Again Paul and Jesssica would like to thank all of our volunteer workers/translators who made this project possible:

From Germany:
Susann, Marle, Peter, Nils, and Clara

From Austria:
Bernadette and Christine K

From Macedonia:
Elena, Blagica, Gorica, Monica, Traki, Ivo, Mustafa, Daniela, Jordanka, Borjancho, Ljubomir, Maja, Jordana, Limonka and Matej

From the United States of America:
Jennifer, Kristen, Josh, Dave J, Mike E, Rene, Anna, Amanda L, Jordan, Maggie, Jason, Phil, Emily, Sam, Dave V, Linda, Christine M, and CJ

Finished!!!

The welder finally finished the drain cover and it has been put in place. This project is complete!

Cement Day 12

Everything was finished today except for the drain cover. You can see from the photos that all the sections and the drainage canal were finished.

We cemented the drain frame in now we just need to wait for the welder to finish the drain cover.

We are extremely thankful to Traki for all of his translating today and over the course of this whole project.

Cement Days 9, 10 and 11

The past few days have been a little rainy so things went slowly.

We had some problems with excessive name carving in the cement. But you can see the photos from the past three days, were able to fill it in and smooth it over.

We are getting close!

Cement Day 8

PCV Mike and PCV Dave came over from Probishtip today for one of our most productive day yet! Trainees Jason and Christine came and helped us finish up the day.

A HUGE thank you to PCV Mike, PCV Dave, Traki, and Trainees Jason and Christine for all of their help.

Cement Day 7

Little by little we get more done.

Today we had the help of PCV Anna and Macedonian Dalibor aka Traki.

We thank Traki for all of his translating skills and for helping with the wheelbarrow today. We thank PCV Anna for her hard work and help.

Cement Day 6

Day 6 in a row of working. Today PCV Amanda was joined by PCV Josh and some trainees to get another two sections complete. What a successful weekend!

We can not thank PCV Amanda, PCV Josh, or trainees Sam, Dave, Linda, Jason, and Emily enough for their commitment to excellence and all of their hard work.

We put up two fences this time so more people will stop walking through the cement by accident.

Cement Day 5

Today is Saturday and we were able to get a lot of work done.

PCV Amanda was here to help. Amanda and Jessica worked with the Municipality worker all day to get two large sections done.

We put up a makeshift fence in hopes that people will stop accidentally walking through the wet cement.

Bit by Bit

Today, only Jessica was able to work with the one municipality worker.

Luckily we got the cement mixer back. We finished one more small section done today.

Cement Day 3

This morning it was raining but luckily it had stopped by 11:00.

PCV Rene came for the day to help. Today we are still without a mixer so we had to do the back breaking work of mixing it by hand on the ground.

3 gold stars go to Rene for putting in such hard work to help us get another few sections done. By the end of the day we had some little Roma boys to cheer us on and help out a bit.

Cement Day 2

The rain is still holding off! This is great! Today Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) Dave came from for the day to help lay the cement.

Things were going really well until in the middle of the day the owner of the cement mixer came and took it away for no reason.

Luckily some of the trainees came again to help so we mixed some more on the ground. We would like to thank PCV Dave and the trainees Phil, Christine, Jason, Emily, CJ, and Dave. We got 2 and a half sections done today.

And We're Off!

The rain has finally stopped!

Today we had the one Peace Corps Volunteer and the Kratovo Peace Corps Trainees help us dig a drain, mix cement on the ground, and lay a bottom layer of cement in preparation for tomorrow. Check out the photos below! Thanks to Maggie for taking photos today!

We also want to thank Ljubomir for being so helpful in translating for us today and in the last two weeks. He is awesome!

A BIG thanks to Peace Corps Volunteer Maggie and the trainees Emily, Jason, Linda, Phil, and Sam for their help today!

Problem: Rain

We have been trying to get this project started every day last week and so far this week. But there have just been torrents of rain. The rain has been bouncing off the streets every day for 9 days. We can not lay cement in the rain.

This is also difficult because we had volunteers scheduled to come here for these 9 days and they could not work. We need to find some more volunteers to come.

We are doing our best to keep our spirits up.

Starting Work Soon

We the money has finally been transferred to our Macedonian account! We are excited to get the project going sometime this week!

Funded!

We decided to do fundraising to finish the project. After just 5 days of fundraising we achieved our goal. We will be able to finish the cement at the school grounds! We can never thank all of you who donated enough!

Here are the two sections we need to finish:

Work Progression Summary

A picture is worth 1000 words!

The question is now this: How are we going to finish this playground?!?!

Opening Event!

This was a great day! We started off the morning setting up balloons, food, and drinks. While we were wrapping up with our work, the people started trickling in. First some kids, some parents and grandmothers, and representatives from the school and the municipal government of Kratovo. The director of Koco Racin Elementary and our friend organization Regional Center for Sustainable Development gave a few opening remarks praising the great work done by Bauorden and Peace Corps for the community. It was very gracious.

The day continued with a few hours of free play for both the kids and us adult kids who were joining in the fun. The Regional Center for Sustainable Development did a great job getting the word out to the community about the new playground and a fun time for all was the result.

This day was bittersweet. We had really grown attached to our Bauorden people and were sad to see them go so soon after they arrived. I think I can speak for all of the families that hosted the volunteers, the people who worked with us, and those in the community who formed special bonds with them, when I say that they were appreciated both for their service to the community and their personal friendship.

Days of Work 8 9 10

To be honest, these last days are a blur to me. Between having budget issues when the price of steel went up on the global market and the cement mix ran out, my mind was preoccupied on how to finish out the project before Jessica and I go back to the United States. All I can say is this: amongst great disappointment with the middle school campus there was equal if not greater excitement that the 1-5 playground was complete and looking good.

We finished off the week being satisfied with our work. The next day we were to have the opening event for the 1-5 playground organized by a local NGO named the Regional Center for Sustainable Development Kratovo.

This was the last day that our friends from Bauorden returned back to Germany and Austria. The Bauorden volunteers had truly become friends to not only Jessica and I, but also to many in the community of Kratovo.

Day 7 of Work

The Bauorden and local crews continued working on both campuses while Jessica and I had to go to a Peace Corps conference for close of service in Ohrid. (Hence, no pictures.) While we were given great hotel rooms over looking Lake Ohrid, I don't think either one of us had a good time because we desperately wanted to get back to the work-site in Kratovo.

Another thing that had been weighing on our mind was the fact that by the end of day 6 we had about 25% of the total area completed, but had used 33% of the materials. Nothing could prepare us for what we found when we returned....(to be continued)

Day 6 of Work

"But it said 'red' on the package!" This day was all about painting! Early in the morning Jessica cruised by the local hardware store and picked up some "red" paint to paint the fence around the new 1-5 campus playground. To her surprise, by "red", they actually meant "burnt sienna". Either way, the work Jessica and the Bauorden volunteers did started really bringing our vision for the playground into fruition. Meanwhile me and other Bauorden volunteers were up at the other campus chugging away at laying the concrete.

Day 5 of Work

Seriously, seriously, seriously, thank goodness it is Friday! The whole entire crew has been working so hard. I felt we all got a real boon in energy knowing we could just relax on the weekend and just enjoy each other's company.

One of the unforeseen difficulties that sprang up was that there we had many workers and only one cement mixer. This being said, everyone looked around and thought there were other little tasks we could do. When we finished with these tasks some of the volunteers went down to the other campus and finished pulling the weeds with phenomenal results. It truly is amazing how much better everything looks when you pay attention to detail!

What was really cool about today was that some of the workers from the high school and our little buddy, Matej, came over and pitched in.

Day 4 of Work

Everyone met at the 6-8 campus as we were going to start laying concrete. However, soon it became apparent that we were overstaffed as we needed to wait for the technical workers to take measurements of the school grounds before we laid the rebar and cement. In the meantime some of us started removing the sand surrounding the soccer field so we could lay the concrete as soon as possible. When we had finished that job, we decided to split the group. Me and a couple of the Bauorden volunteers stayed behind to help out with this task as Jessica and the others went to the 1-5 campus to start pulling weeds and getting that playground ready for the opening day. Later in the day everyone met back up at the 6-8 campus and we started mixing and laying the concrete.

Again, it was a joy that we had a couple of local volunteers wake up early and come out to work. Having these sorts friends in the community really makes all the volunteer work worthwhile.

Day 3 of Work

Day 3: We had completely cleaned up the entire playground and were ready to start laying the concrete. After a morning of painting/sealing the wood around the soccer field with some local and Bauorden volunteers, me and one volunteer started unloading two pallets of concrete and rebar from the truck while Jessica and a few other people used GPS units to measure the field. As we could go as far as we could go without a concrete mixer, we decided to break for the rest of the day.

Later in the afternoon I went to the municipality and informed my contact that we needed to clean the asphalt in the schoolyard so we could start laying concrete the next day. She then called the fire chief to send up a firetruck. Jessica and I met the firemen at the school. Meanwhile, I got a call from a Bauorden volunteer who had been held up at the Hungarian/Serbian border and came to Kratovo late. I had to hustle down to the bus station, bring the volunteer to his host family's residence, and then get back to the work site. Afterwards, the firemen drove Jessica and I back the center of town in the truck. Even though I'm a 29 year old man, I have to admit that that made my day.

Day 2 of Work

Oh, the 7:00 AM workday, how I have missed you! This is the pretty much the first day I've had to wake up this early since joining the Peace Corps. Not complaining.

Today was a continuation of yesterday: clearing out debris, garbage, weeds, and dirt. However, we also started putting some sealant on the wood surrounding the soccer field so it will last the community longer. In addition some of our community friends coming along and helping, so did three of our Peace Corps colleagues. Thanks Josh, Jennifer, & Kristen!

Day 1 of Work

We all met up at the 6-8 campus the next day at noon so the volunteers could sleep off the traveling from the day before. The first thing we needed to do was clean the playground so that we could lay the concrete later in the week. This meant we needed to remove all the garbage from the field, clear out all the asphalt and concrete debris, pull weeds, and shovel out the dirt on the perimeter so it would be level. Luckily, we got some help from some of the locals. Some members from the "host families", students from my and Jessica's ecological group, Volunteer Ecology Kratovo, our friend Mustafa from an NGO, RROMA, and even a worker from the school pitched in.

The mood of the day was very cheerful. Even after a long and hot work day, me and two of the Bauorden volunteers found the energy to have a wheelbarrow race. I came in 2nd place and had to pay my debt: a beer.

They're Here: Bauorden Welcome Dinner!!!

Poor, Jessica. She's a real trooper. Some of the volunteers came via airplane and some by bus... No problem with those logistics. Those coming by train... That's another story. Jessica waited for all the train delays and spent a total of 11 hours in the station! Meanwhile, I was back in Kratovo coordinating the welcome dinner with the host families and the cafe, Talisman, at which we were holding the dinner.

One by one Jessica put the volunteers on the bus and I received them when they got to Kratovo. As they stepped off the bus, my countenance turned to pure sunshine. Although I was feeling under pressure, when I saw their faces I knew that the prior four months' work was actually coming into fruition. I then got a taxi and rushed the first group to their host families' houses and started setting up the cafe while I waited for the next group.

Waiting...

So we got all the playground equipment installed at the 1-5 campus, we ordered all the materials (concrete, rebar, chain link fence) for the 6-8 campus, and now we're just waiting for our partner organization, Bauorden, to come help us do the work! They will be coming into Skopje on August 8th. In preparation for their arrival we have been busy finding "host families" for them.

The great thing about this project is that not only will Kratovo gain one new public park/playground and one renovated playground, but the economy will get a little boost as well. We have tried to purchase as much of the needed materials from local businesses as possible. In addition, we have arranged with Bauorden to provide some compensation to the host families. All in all, we estimate that as a result of this project approximately $3,850 will come into the local economy. This estimation doesn't include the incidentals the volunteers will be accruing either. As there is an unemployment rate hovering around 50% in Kratovo and the average salary is $250 per month, this project is a great help to the community. That is the money equivalent to the salary of 15.4 people for one month will come into the economy. On top of all of this, if Bauorden likes the work camp we are facilitating, they plan to come back for a couple more years.

Phase 1: New playground at the 1-5 campus

This playground project will be implemented in phases. The first one is to create an entire new playground at the 1-5 campus. As soon as we found out we were funded for this project, we ordered some playground equipment from a company in the neighboring town of Kriva Palanka: three teeter totters, a swing set, three teeter totters, a slide, a climbing rope, a picnic bench, and some trashcans.

This week the company started installing the new equipment!

Let the Good News Roll!

Over the last few months we've been in contact with an international voluntourism organization named Bauorden about coming and helping us reconstruct the playground...Got the confirmation today. They are coming!!!

I spoke with Stina Steingraeber, director for Bauorden's international projects, and she informed me that we will be hosting five volunteers from Germany and two from Austria. In addition to helping us with the work, they will also help finance a portion of the project. The race is on to find a few families who are willing to be "host families" for the volunteers!

Here is a link to their website: http://www.bauorden.de/

This Summer...

Ah, how bright the immediate future looks! Jessica and I just found out that we got approved for a Small Project Assistance grant (SPA) from the Peace Corps!

The project is to construct what will be the first public park in Kratovo at the 1-5 grade school and reconstruct the schoolyard between the middle and high school.

Currently, the grounds at Koco Racin Elementary School are in very poor condition. There is offensive graffiti covering the walls of the schools and gymnasium, broken concrete and asphalt chunks lying around on the ground, the fence around the mini-football field is in disrepair and there is no playground equipment at all. Also, the grounds surrounding the mini-football field is very uneven, full of holes and cracks, and along with the broken concrete and asphalt chunks makes the area unsafe. Beyond safety concerns this is not a very functional or pleasant place to play. This is not a family friendly space where parents can come with their children and everyone can socialize. Beautifying the school grounds, leveling out the area surrounding the mini-football field with cement, fixing part of the fence of mini-football field, and adding a playground at the schools will greatly assist in youth and community development in Kratovo. Having specified play areas for school-aged children will help with their social growth and their learning to cooperate with others.

We will plan to have an opening ceremony event to promote the new facility in Kratovo. This opening event will include games, relay races, and numerous activities for children/teenagers.These events will keep raising awareness of the playground’s existence as well as promote the social and physical fitness aspects we hope the playground and football field will enable in the future. Once complete, the playground and the newly beautified school grounds will be under the Municipality of Kratovo and the Koco Racin Elementary School and they will be in charge of maintenance.

Here are some pictures of what the schoolyard between the middle and high schools looks like: