Lord Of The Dreams

American Peace Corps Volunteer impresses the local community in Cudalbi

By Marius Tuca
Viata Libera Galati Daily News
Cudalbi, Romania
October 11, 2006

The Cudalbi village had a special holiday on Sunday. Important guests from Washington were traditionally welcomed to the Secondary School Nr. 2 in the village. Jody Olsen, Deputy Director in Peace Corps Washington accompanied by two other American officials as well as the Peace Corps Romania Country Director, Jim Ekstrom were welcomed by a traditional folk gathering and children waving American flags. The purpose of the visit was to evaluate Peace Corps Volunteer’s Russell Shankland work, who has been in Cudalbi for more than a year teaching English and not only. Moreover, the American officials wanted to look into the impact volunteerism has on the local community in Galati.

The village has already adopted Russell

Energetic and confident, Russell Shankland, the Cudalbi Volunteer, made his supervisors very happy when telling about the community he lives in. “At the beginning, when I found out I was going to be assigned to a village, I somehow felt frustrated as all my other colleagues had been assigned to large cities. I knew nothing about the village community in this country, but I can now say that I am the happiest man in the world as I have come to know everybody here. It has been very difficult especially during the first months, as nobody here speaks English. But I have become part of the community now”, Russell says. Thanks to him, student’s English skills have improved a lot since Russell is here. And that is not all. Many of the adults here have learnt English from Russell. At the same time, Russell has also learnt Romanian, so as the communication between him and the people in Cudalbi takes place in what Russell calls “Ronglish”.

The kids love Russell

Russell’s volunteerism in Cudalbi has had a great impact. Everybody speaks highly of him. Unlike his colleagues that volunteer in big cities, Russell is some sort of a local star in his village. He is mostly looked up to by the kids to whom he teaches English. And he gives them the same feedback. “We enjoy having all kinds of games and with Russell, we take pleasure in everything we learn”, one of the kids says to Jody Olsen. “The kids were very surprised by my taking them out of the classroom for educational purposes, especially the ones who are used to their teachers being rigid”, Russell says.

Garbage clothing

One of the most interesting programs in which the volunteer was involved was “The Green Grass of Home”, an environmental education awareness campaign. Tens of children came up with costumes made out of what would have become trash: plastic wrappings, bottle caps, etc. Showing the costumes impresses the American visitors who appreciated the creativity of the kids in Cudalbi. Not only did Russell manage to impress the local community, but he did the same thing with the American officials, who said, speechless: “We are proud of you, Russell!”

What he likes best about his community

All along his stay in the village, Russell got to know all sorts of local customs. “I ate fresh honey and crashed grapes in order to get wine and I have seen all the surrounding places by cart”, Russell says.