NI Ada Uff M"la rir IM r-r1. 11 41 III I I 1111111 ` 11111 IBM; MINIMr. 1.11priflff ■ MI•IamIllINI )1>'???)? •13(onneOusgemhotel of)ui1'on5to INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL SERVICE FREE 15 DAYTOUR FOR CELEBRANT Volunteers from America call us the Hi-hi Ha-ha family." In Turkmenistan, the people with ambition — those trying to make a better life in or out of the country — all have one thing in common: they speak English. "It's the ticket out," explains Perish. The Peace Corps volunteers in Turkmenistan have created a resource center where they work with teachers on improving the teachers' English, as well as helping them with other teaching skills. Teachers able to set up private classes make better wages than those teaching at public schools. Parents that can afford it pay well for private education. At the resource center, Perish's duties included teaching English to students in grades one through nine, and working with Turkmen teachers to improve their language skills. She also helped obtain additional resources, such as books, tapes and games. One of the volunteers' pro- jects was to find these teaching resources and get them to Turkmenistan. Perish received children's books from her old alma mater, East Middle School in Farmington Hills. A school in Boston sent textbooks. The volun- teers created a library and hired a librarian to maintain it. Perish was also instrumental in cre- ating the "Bookmark Association"pro- gram, which encourages children to read English books and give a brief oral report to the volunteers. As a reward, the children received small prizes donated from the United States. The program was so popular that other Peace Corps centers around the world will use the model and cre- ate their own associations. Perish spent 30 percent of her time teaching and 70 percent with com- munity development projects, work- ing at the resource center, obtaining books for and organizing the library, generating new ideas and following up on others. One of these projects included applying for U.S. government grants to organize educational conferences. Through one of these grants, Perish created a six-day training program to teach women how to start their own businesses. Her summers were spent manag- ing the kitchen at an English immer- sion camp, which served 250 people. The rest of her time was spent get- ting to know the people, customs and traditions of Turkmenistan. Her favorite customs revolved around birthday celebrations. "There are only a few religious holidays celebrated, so everyone makes a big deal out of birthdays," says Perish. "There was always beef or chicken to eat and Coke to drink at these celebrations, unlike the rest of the week." Perish did not celebrate the Jewish holidays while she was abroad, although she did explain the customs to her host family. Perish never got used to some local customs. One was wearing skirts and dresses all the time — never pants or shorts. This was beneficial in the win- ter, because there was little heat in the schools. The teachers would teach until they became too cold and then would take a break to drink warm tea or coffee. "A few times in the winter it was so cold that I decided it was more important for me to teach the children than it was to obey the cus- tom of not wearing a skirt," says per- ish. "I wore pants and raised more than a few eyebrows." But Perish made it through her three-year stint. Of 37 volunteers who began, only 21 completed the program. "There were a number of things about the country that did frustrate me," explains Perish. The personality of the country was so unlike mine. I'm usually an optimistic person. I was frustrated at all of the gloominess and barriers I found, but the hospitality and generosity of the people more than made up for all of the challenges I encountered." Perish is facing another challenge back home, one for which the Peace Corps did not prepare her. She has found some prospective employers are turned off by her Peace Corps experi- ence, and has had difficulty in secur- ing a full-time position in a field related to her college degree. She has been working part time for Jewish Family Service while looking for an international business position. Perish hopes she can find a job where she is able to combine her overseas experiences with her interna- tional relations and economics educa- tion, and possibly with her fluency in Russian. "It was difficult re-adjusting to the fast-paced lifestyle," she says. "What I didn't expect is that I would also have to overcome stereotypes that Peace Corps volunteers are just a bunch of people who enjoy travelling the world. 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