October 30, 2006
Dear Family and Friends,
Several months ago, I was promoted to deputy coordinator of the
Roma-Gadje Dialogue Through Service Initiative. “Roma”
is the correct term for Gypsy, and “Gadje” is the
Roma word for a non-Roma person. The RGDTS is an international
volunteer project that puts non-Roma young adult volunteers into
Roma communities to live and serve for periods of one to two years.
Most of our volunteers work in educational and development projects,
but there are also cultural projects, human rights projects, and
other activities. We also engage them in public education activities
after their period of service to help spread information about
the situation of Roma across the world, since very few people
are familiar with the actual culture, history, and situation of
the Roma people, yet everyone seems to have an opinion (usually
negative) about them.
The second part of the project is giving Roma young adults the
chance to be volunteers, either in Roma projects or in Western
countries. These young Roma learn the language of the country,
leadership and presentation skills, group methods, etc., and then
take these skills back to their home communities to become agents
of positive change.
This past summer, I traveled in eight countries
in as many weeks, and we look set to be able to expand the program
to Bulgaria, Albania, Macedonia, and Bosnia next year, as well
as expanding the program to 100 volunteers!
I am now co-responsible (pardon me while I invent words) for
coordinating an international project between fifteen different
partner organizations in eight countries with forty volunteers.
I’m also responsible for the expansion of the project, and
I’m currently making a big effort to expand the RGDTS into
the Balkans. This past summer, I traveled in eight countries in
as many weeks, and we look set to be able to expand the program
to Bulgaria, Albania, Macedonia, and Bosnia next year, as well
as expanding the program to 100 volunteers!
So, tons of work to do—but people are excited, and I hope
that it stays that way. It's just more work and travel for me,
after all, but we are reaching thousands (and soon to be tens
of thousands) of mostly isolated, extremely poor Roma in these
rural areas, which is the important thing.
A few other summer highlights: I attended three weddings in the
course of one week. I went to a Pentecostal Roma baptism. I learned
that my (Protestant) religion is considered a sect in Bosnia (and
probably most of the Balkans) because the Reformation never reached
that far, so the idea of a "Protestant" is unknown to
people and governments there. I ate way too much heavy Balkan
food and made a new resolution to start exercising more and eating
less. I danced with a lot of Roma, both male and female, in a
bunch of different countries.
The reason why I think that the RGDTS is so important is because
few Roma and Gadje have had the opportunity to get to know each
others’ culture and way of life, which has led to hatred
and misunderstanding on both sides. It’s also important
in building a long-term solution to the problems of the Roma.
In 30 years, thousands of volunteers will have participated in
this program, and they will have tens of thousands of friends
and family members and hundreds of thousands of acquaintances.
In 30 years, our volunteers will also be the ones running their
countries, companies, and communities, and they will be in positions
to make serious changes to the structure of European society.
This is a ministry of reconciliation, and I am proud to be a part
of it.
The sad news is that I don’t know how much longer I will
be a part of it. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is facing a
funding crisis, and this affects everyone who is employed by the
national church (including me). I have been in discussions with
the PC(USA) about reappointing me, but as of yet, they’ve
not been able to give me much positive news, considering all of
the financial problems that they’re facing. If I do stay,
it will involve a good deal of fundraising on my part, which would
also be a challenge. So, I would ask for those of you who are
religiously inclined to pray for me regarding my future decisions—should
I stay? If I do stay, then how do I stay, and how do I pay for
it? If I don’t stay, what will I do? Where will I go? Will
I work? Study? If so, what?
No matter what, a big period of transition is approaching for
me, and it’s making me nervous, so please keep me in your
thoughts, and if you have any advice (or job offers), feel free
to contact me.
Budapest
Living in Budapest has been exciting as of late. The city has
experienced violent protests, rioting, and unrest off and on for
the past month, most recently flaring up on October 23, the fiftieth
anniversary of a successful but very short-lived Hungarian rebellion
against the Soviets that liberated the country for 10 days but
was then crushed by an invasion of several thousand Soviet tanks.
I won’t take you through the recent events in detail. Instead,
I’ll provide some links that will tell you all about it,
if you want to read (and watch some amazing video clips):
The only thing I’ll add was that this was my first personal
experience with tear gas, and that I suppose it’s good for
me to know that I have a very low tolerance to tear gas.
What’s more important to me is what this episode has taught
(or reinforced, anyway) about the way that democracy here in Eastern
Europe works. Hungary is a democracy, in spite of the rhetoric
flying around in the wake of these riots, but democracy here seems
to work a bit differently than elsewhere. Fifteen years after
the collapse of communism, people here are still struggling with
what it means to be a democracy, to allow democratic participation
in society (if you’re the government), to participate actively
in a democratic society (if you’re a citizen), and to ensure
participation of minorities in the functioning of a democratic
state.
The problem of the transition to democracy is, in large part,
a problem of grammar, strangely enough. Under communism, everything
was “we.” Everyone was part of a faceless, collective
mass, where everyone and yet no one was responsible. “We”
took care of “us,” meaning that all orders, decisions,
and initiatives came from above, from those directing the “us,”
and those who found themselves on top of the “us”
did whatever they needed in order to stay there. On the flip side,
“we” often accepted the dictates of communism, its
crimes, and its absurdities without protest, since “we”
were all responsible, and since making one’s opinion heard
could have been dangerous—since that would have been “I”
and not “we.”
The transition to “I” has been and still is painful.
Now “I” am responsible for my own person and being,
my own job, my own life, instead of the collective “we”
being responsible. Under the old system, you could blame the communists
for everything, from the bad state of the roads, schools, and
hospitals to the lack of food and toilet paper to the fact that
you had bad teeth. Now, however, “I” am the responsible
entity, and my life is determined by “me,” not by
“us.” I no longer have guaranteed health care (however
poor), a guaranteed pension (however small), a guaranteed job
(however distasteful), or a guaranteed house (however dilapidated).
I no longer have the safety of “us,” but I now have
many more possibilities than I had before, and I have the duty
to exercise my new rights and uphold my new responsibilities.
The added complication is that most of the current generation
of Eastern European adults (those who spent their formative young
adulthoods under communism) were almost completely infantalized
under communism and had little chance to exercise responsibility—and
an understanding of rights and responsibilities in a democracy
cannot be learned overnight.
As these riots in Budapest show, Eastern Europeans (whether governments
or civilians) have not had enough time to make this transition
fully yet. At the moment, democracy in Eastern Europe means not
having to say that you’re sorry as much as anything else.
The government doesn’t have to apologize for what it did
or does because it was elected by a majority vote in a democratic
country, so it has the power. The citizens don’t have to
restrain themselves from violence or respect the rights of minorities
if that’s what the majority wants – because that’s
democracy. In addition, there are no rules when it comes to earning
money, to corruption, to bribes, to looting the public purse,
to cheating on your taxes, to vandalism, etc. – because
that’s democracy, because that’s what I want to do.
Nonetheless, democracies in the West weren’t built in the
course of a decade and have gone through extremely difficult periods
themselves, so we shouldn’t expect for the process in Eastern
Europe to be perfect. Things are getting better, and I have much
hope for the future of the Eastern European states, and I love
this part of the world.
Take care of yourselves,
Peace,
Grant |
