Readjustment – An American teaches democracy to the village people, by Radu Tutuianu in the Romanian “Jurnalul National” daily newspaper, February 21 st, 2006

Villagers speak English with their tongue in their teeth. The American brought to the village Newsweek magazine, Human Rights courses and a project on democracy spirit. This Volunteer’s mission: to find solutions to the mentality and material problems of the community.

There is a new reference point on the Washington-London-Bucharest axis, Cudalbi village, Galati County. A Volunteer arrived here last year, with the Peace Corps – the United States Government service. Against all odds, the American didn’t commit a car accident or did he cause any collateral damage. On the contrary, the 24-year old young man peacefully teaches English in middle school and helps the adults – police officers, the unemployed, chief-accountants and administrators – to learn more on the American democracy. ‘I will be in Cudalbi for the next two years’, Russell says ‘just to help. The villagers found this hard to understand ’.

Who called for him. Schoolteacher Iulian Coromila, age 30, teaches at School nr. 2 in Cudalbi and he is one of the teachers Romania should find duplicates for. During the past few years, this schoolteacher has put forward several applications for grants and he only got one: “The Green Grass Home”, financed by the World Bank. He quickly understood that he needed a counselor in his approaches, so he applied and asked for an American English teacher to Peace Corps Romania. Eight months ago, Russell Shankland, a Journalism graduate from Missouri eager to travel and have cross-cultural experiences, was assigned to Cudalbi. ‘We need everything in our village: good roads, good sewerage, information centers, and education for children’, schoolteacher Iulian Cioromila says as he watches Russell entering the backseat of his white Dacia. ‘This is a car that runs all the time. You simply put up the hood, hit the engine and it starts’, Russell says in a mangled Romanian.

Brainstorming. As soon as he reached the village, the American called for a meeting with the Rural Development Association in Cudalbi. Just like a Western manager, Russell asked the villagers to have a brainstorming session, identify a common issue in the village and then find a way to solve this issue. ‘We learn to think by planning in America, following a reason of evolution. In Cudalbi, they all started to speak at the same time’, the Volunteer remembers, thinking this is another nature of society.

Russell has found why children abandon school. Children graduate their 8 th year in school but do not have enough reasons to go on, as their parents working in agriculture cannot afford to keep them in schools. ‘It concerns me and I try to do something about it. We need to raise money and support these poor families’, the Volunteers confesses. ‘We need to make sure every good kid who learns well and scores high goes to school’.

Competition begins. The American also brought along a keener sense of competition between the two schools the village has. The Nr. 1 School management, which subordinates the school Russell teaches at, became more supportive. Mircea Crasnic, the Nr. 1 School principal, understood that the American was an ace to be had by the other school: ‘We wish Russell could come at our school also, to teach English at least to our best students’. But the American, who studied with the Transatlantic Commerce Chamber in London, has already a lot of work to do: he teaches students from the 1 st to the 8 th grade, takes part in the “Democracy Spirit” project (within the European Comenius programme) and he teaches English to the parents twice a week. ‘I would like to initiate a Student Government. Two students before the principal and the teachers would represent each class; the same project is under development in a partner school in Poland. The students will have the right to vote and discuss matters on the online school paper’, Russell says, who each night surfs the Internet searching for information for the Human Rights class.

In class. Parents come each Tuesday and Wednesday to school to learn English from Russell. The teacher has a Newsweek subscription and he insists on his students to read it. Three months ago, the fair-haired American advertised free classes on the TV channel through the local cable company. ‘I could see they were free classes and I thought it might be useful to help my kid with his English homework’, one of the moms says, sitting in the back of the classroom. The chief accountant, the police officer in the village, the entrepreneur of a local firm, they all take the time to take part in class. They need an international language to understand computer, the Internet and the movies and ‘we may even end up abroad and we need English’. At first, 50 parents enrolled for Russell’s class. ‘Even simple people came, but you cannot cope unless you are a high school graduate’, one of the schoolteacher says. So 30 adults who have overcome the greatest obstacle of speaking English with the tongue between their teeth now attend the English and Democracy classes.

Interest. ‘ It concerns me when the village children abandon school. We are trying to do something about it, raise money and support these poor families. Any kid who does well in school has the right to go further in high school’. Russell Shankland, American Volunteer.

Experience. Russell Shankland was assigned to Cudalbi thanks to the Peace Corps American Agency. In 1961, John F. Kennedy, then a senator, proposed to the students of the University of Michigan to serve their country, by volunteering in countries that needed help. Ever since, 170.000 Volunteers entered the Peace Corps and worked in 137 countries. In 1991, the first Volunteers arrived in Romania, founding and orphanage, after which they were asked for more and more help. In its 15 years in Romania, 780 Volunteers served the country, with national and international NGOs as partners. When Russell arrived in the village, he went into a small store wanting to buy food. ‘ All I could find was juice, chips and spices. They had no vegetables, fruit or meat. I left the store worried I was not to find anything to eat in Cudalbi’

Why he came to Cudalbi. Russell Shankland was a lucky kid. He was born in a good family in the United States and he led a happy life. He wanted to return this favor to the world and he became a Peace Corps Volunteer. ‘This is also a way to learn more about myself. To learn what I can and what I cannot do. One of my colleagues is a Volunteer in Africa, with o electricity and no running water. Here, my school pays my rent and Peace Corps pays the utilities bills’, the young man says. The first time he learnt about Romania was at the Summer Olympic Games in 2004, when he noticed the Romanian gymnasts. Then he put down Romania on the list of his preferences and Peace Corps sent him to Cudalbi; School Nr. 2 is the only one having an American English teacher. Russell thinks he found a country that is broken in two: ‘There are a lot of people who toil the ground barehanded while their children surf the net at school’. The American believes the village needs him and that assigning him to a city would have been a mistake.

Translated by BonJoviette