4 Maijs Latvijas Republikas Neatkaribas deklaracijs pasludinasanas diena

May 4 is the Day that Latvians celebrate the Independence Declaration and is a five day weekend in Riga. We heard musical groups ranging from school groups to professional, saw the flower laying ceremony at the Freedom Monument attended by many dignitaries, saw flowers arranged to represent the four regions of Latvia and enjoyed the sunshine and long day...yes a long day sunrise at 5:36 and sunset at 9:07.

Storks Return
Both in Latvia and in Germany the stork is revered as a symbol of good luck—and a sure sign of spring. The huge nests dot the landscape atop chimneys, barns, telephone or power poles, occasionally dead trees. In all of our travels outside of Riga since last September we’ve seen the nests—empty. This week I was out of Riga in Sigulda, 45 km to the East and the entrance to Gauja National Park, and Kandava about 90 km to the the West. In both directions the storks are visible, occupying nests, flying to and from feeding and water sources, preening or resting in fields.
Latvians call the stork a sacred bird; scientists call it a bird of prey. According to the web, the stork has settled in Latvia only during the past two hundred years. Every year about 10,000 storks come to nest in Latvia from warmer climates. The life of the birds follows its own rhythms and humans have no say, but they do look forward to having storks nearby and it is interesting that storks seem to build their nests as close as possible to people’s houses—sometimes on them.
April 18, 2008
rej

Weekend in Finland

Finland (3/28-3/31/08)
Some of you will recall that in 1960/1961 the Delbert Jolley family in New Castle, PA hosted an AFS (American Field Service) exchange student from Pargas, Finland. We’ve stayed in contact with Gunnar ever since with visits back and forth, letters, pictures and more recently email. Cheryl & I visited Finland in 1988 with 2 young children in tow. This year with son Andrew, who is visiting here for much of April, we flew from Riga to Helsinki, a 40 minute flight, to spend a long weekend with Gunnar. He’s still as tall and blonde and broad-shouldered as ever with a hearty laugh that can be heard at least 3 blocks away—or halfway across the island where he lives. I should add here that it was from Gunnar that I learned some important lessons about international affairs and knowledge—lessons it has taken me many more years to appreciate. Gunnar and I got along well throughout his year-long stay and still enjoy reliving some of those experiences and shall we call them—“adventures”. But fairly early on there were more serious discussions, even arguments, about the U.S., American-style democracy, and the institutions of the U.S. government. The short story is this—he, the foreigner, had more knowledge, was more aware, and was more accurate describing many aspects of the U.S. government and our democracy than I. I certainly couldn’t admit that to him then; in fact, may not have admitted it to him any time since. The observations are these: Europeans often know a great deal about the U.S., generally more than we know about any of their countries. The various perspectives of others are useful ways to learn about ourselves—if we’re open to listening and hearing. And, there is almost always some significant truth in others’ perceptions and perspectives.
The weekend trip?? It was great! Northern Europe including the Baltics and Scandinavia had received the first real dose of winter with 4-8” of snow just before our trip so there was still snow on the ground. We had plenty of time to catch up, walked around and across the island he lives on, had a sauna, went to Swedish-Lutheran church on Sunday morning, visited a boat-building museum, the National Museum of History, enjoyed the 3rd segment of Handel’s Messiah plus the Hallelujah Chorus in the Lutheran Cathedral in Helsinki, had a wonderful, very elegant meal in an old estate-turned-restaurant, and consumed 90 homemade “platter” (small, flat, Deee-licious, pancakes).
We’re already looking forward to Gunnar’s return visit in early May here in Riga!

Social Work Class in Smiltene

Smiltene: “Values & Ethics” Course
The structure of the social work program and course/class schedule at Attistiba are quite different from the program at UNH, but the classrooms, students and course exercises are much the same. The photos show a recent course on “Values and Ethics in Social Work Practice” taught at one of the satellite campuses in a vocational-technical high school site in Smiltene.
Photo 1: Social work classroom; 22 students in this class
Photo 2: Role play phone conversation between client and social worker
Photo 3: Juris Osis, translating the student role play during class
Photo 4: Group photo of undergraduate Smiltene cohort (students all working; all in
their 30s & 40s)
April 4, 2008
rej

Priecigas Lieldienas

Leildienas is the Easter Celebration in Latvia which is all of Holy Week ending with Easter Monday which is a national holiday. On Palm Sunday the tradition is to wake up children in the house by tickling them with pussy willows. In church pussy willows not palms are presented. One friend says this is an Orthodox tradition. Pussy willows are found in all the flower markets. On Easter we went to St. Saviors the Anglican Church which has services in English. We have been attending quite regularly. There is wonderful music with a gospel choir of young Latvians singing once each month and an accomplished organist who often brings in other musicians to play...flutiest, violinists, and a saxophone player. On Easter, after church in Livu Laukum, one of the city squares, we saw these folk dancers, egg rollers and swing riders enjoying Easter festivities. The tradition with the egg rolling is to see which egg goes the farthest. There were children coloring eggs. The eggs were tied to a string and the children were holding them dangling from their in a pot of steaming onion skins. Blueberries and beets are also used for natural dye coloring. For food there were stands with sausages and hot drinks. Daffodils and other spring flowers are showing up at the flower market where there are always roses. The days are now longer with the sun rising about 6:17 and setting about 18:45 (6:45) with daylight savings time going into effect on the 30 of Marts.

Liepaja

“Spring?!”
Liepaja is the 3rd largest city in Latvia with a current population close to 90,000. Last week the city celebrated its 383rd Birthday. It’s an ice free, manmade port on the Baltic in western Latvia, fortified by Tsarist Russia in the late 1890s that became the largest Baltic naval base of the Soviet Union during the cold war. The base housed a nuclear submarine base and significant numbers of Russian army and naval forces—a garrison of 20,000 military personnel at its height. With the end of the cold war and breakup of the Soviet Union, the base was abandoned. The last Soviet troops departed in 1994. The vast area became a wasteland of abandoned buildings and the site of street crime, drugs, and vagrancy. It was settled by the homeless, unemployed, and poor single-parent families among others, many sent by the city who owns much of the property. Liepaja itself is today a bustling, old city with a renovated downtown, significant business and commercial enterprise, an artist colony, and tourist industry. The Naval Port Area, Karosta, remains an impoverished ghetto on the northern edge of the city.
We arrived late morning by car, drove around the city, stopped for lunch then drove out to Karosta—block after block of early 1900s, two-three storey brick barracks-type buildings and dozens of 5-6 storey, Soviet style, concrete slab apartments and barracks. Many were inhabited but were mixed with uninhabited, derelict buildings with caved-in roofs, deteriorating structures, and first floor windows and doors bricked up or boarded up to discourage squatters and vandals.
We didn’t actually see any of the residences but the stories are distressing. Three generations living in 2 rooms; a single mattress (if that) on the floor for 2, or 3, or 4 kids; children under the guardianship of a grandparent because parents rights have been terminated who return to live with the parent only doors away from the guardian. The divorce rate is very high. Intermittent employment or unemployment and substance use/abuse are epidemic. A family receiving a new blanket or mattress is as likely to sell it for the money they can get as they are to use it for their children.
The light in this darkness is an afternoon/after-school 2-7 p.m. day care center for 25-30 children from the port area that operates in an upstairs one-room space about the size of a 60-70 person classroom at UNH. There are 4 small tables at one end for the lunch that is served daily, an open area for recreation and indoor games in the middle and a stage/chancel area with piano at the other end. The space is shared, without cost to the day center, with the small Baptist congregation of 20 whose pastor grew up in Karosta. Both Day Center and Church share a small office (filled with boxes of donations), kitchen and single-occupancy WC, all on the 2nd floor of the building. The Day Center itself is run by Buckners International in Latvia (same as “Shoes for Orphan Souls” program). Zande, the on-site coordinator is an energetic, highly skilled and very capable young woman with missionary spirit and zeal who is doing the best kind of social work imaginable even without the formal training.
Donations?? That’s a story in itself. There is No Need! for any more donations of stuffed animals. They line shelves and overflow bins and boxes in all of the child facilities I have visited. There is a container of donated goods from the U.S. that’s been sitting in storage at the port of entry in Riga, held up at a cost of 1,000 LVLs per month (that’s $2,000 per month). The Customs Office says the organization must have a non-profit permit to take delivery of the container and the finance ministry says no such documentation is required. There’s more. Customs regulations require that donated goods be “used”. Most of the donation containers from the U.S. include boxes of diapers. Think of the absurdity of used Pampers or Huggies. (Social work types might imagine a Saul Alinsky type operation to encourage change using cartons of used diapers, preferably several days old, to deliver personally to the customs officials.)
There are other interesting details to the story. Some of you may recall that Cheryl and I were resident managers of a Psychiatric Halfway House in Boston for the first 3 years of our marriage. In a major "catch 22" Cheryl cooked daily for 23 people with no stove or oven using 4 electric frying pans and hot plates. The City of Boston “rooming house permit” did not allow stoves or ovens and any attempt to convert the Back Bay “Rooming” house to apartments or condos for mentally ill would have kicked off a firestorm of protests and legal wrangling that might well have killed the project. The Day Center in Liepaja faces some similar challenges. Inspectors for the city have thus far denied a formal occupancy permit until the kitchen space is up to code with sink, dish washer, an oven/stove and refrigerator. They are there, donated by a local dealer, waiting to be installed. Further, some city officials say there’s no need for the facility in the first place—“the government” should be providing these services.
The children? Absolutely delightful! There were 23 yesterday—2 five year olds, 2 13-14, and others ranging in between. They’ve had other visitors so they greeted us with handshakes and high fives, asked our names in English and sang a medley of Easter and other religious songs for the guests. Several older children were practicing dance moves to a tape-recorded, hip-hop tune when we walked in—they were good! Three youngsters in small chef’s hats and white aprons served as waitress/waiters for the children’s afternoon meal.
It’s an impressive beginning; a small bright spot of spring, worthy of nurture, in an otherwise bleak, still wintery landscape.
Note: The pictures come from Wikipedia since Cheryl has the camera at home these 2 weeks. They don’t really give much sense of either the children or overall conditions but do show Liepaja. The Orthodox Cathedral is located on the grounds of the former military base.
March 20, 2008
rej

March Reflections on Latvian Experiences

“The Best Part of Being in Latvia?”
“Hope you are having a good time.” “Are you still enjoying yourself?” These and similar questions have triggered some recent reflective thinking about the experience here this year. The honest answer to the questions above is the same as it would be if someone asked me at home, “yes, sometimes.” Then of course, I’d suggest a different kind of question—questions that try to capture a different gestalt. “What’s it like for you?” “What are you doing/learning/being challenged by?” “What’s the best part of being in Latvia?”
Without a doubt, it’s the people we’ve met that make the experiences memorable.
It’s the students in courses at Attistiba—in Riga, Smiltene, Rezekne, and Daugavpils; mostly middle-aged in their 30s & 40s, but some on either end of the age spectrum. They are Latvian, but many are of Russian, Lithuanian, Estonian or Polish heritage. They come in all shapes and sizes—some quite privileged, others clearly working-class. Almost all are women. Some are quite reserved—“Latvian-like” and others are more open. All understand and speak at least two languages, usually Russian and Latvian. Many understand some English, but are reluctant to use it except on their way out the door at the end of the class. Then, they try out their English. There was one group of younger students who somehow managed to get themselves and the class filmed for a brief spot on a regular local t.v. show, Kopa (Together). There are the older students, some who admit to being in my “age range”, with grandchildren, but not yet anyone who has claimed to be older.
There are the faculty and staff of Attistiba, some of whom have only recently become more open and willing to engage. We communicate in English, German, Latvian, and often with hand gestures and other non-verbal body signals and only rarely need to find a translator to clarify. The staff, in particular, seem to have learned that I appreciate their helpful hints in Latvian and their use of English, no matter how well-spoken. Almost always I get the meaning or intent and unless asked specifically, don’t correct them—there’s no need! It’s the faculty and staff translators that have to put up with me the most. I don’t come close to understanding all of their words, but know very well there are times when they’re “covering for me” making sense sometimes when I don’t.
There are any number of Latvians and ex-pat Australians, Canadians, British, and Americans we’ve met—most with parents driven out of Latvia either just before or at the end of WWII. There’s one 82 year old at church who himself was driven out of Latvia, first east, then west to displaced persons camps in Germany, then to the U.S. and following his retirement as a classics professor at Merrimack College in Andover, MA (15 miles from our Topsfield home!) he returned to Latvia. Among the pictures he carries with him is one of Eleanor Roosevelt visiting the D.P. Camp in Germany. As an educated English & German speaker, he provided translation for her visit.
There are the directors, social workers and staff of social service agencies who seem used to visitors—both local and from abroad. Salaries are low, facilities often limited, budgets almost always inadequate to meet the mandates set for them, but they do obviously care about the developmentally disabled, homeless elderly, or children in their care.
Finally, there is a most impressive small group of students and faculty Fulbrighters we’ve come to know quite well. Through them we’ve also met their special friends as well as parents, spouses, children and host families. Intelligent, well-traveled, personable, open to studying, learning and teaching in a new environment in what is for most of us a new part of the world.
So, when I’m asked about the best part of being in Latvia, I would answer, it’s the people and their stories; it’s the people and our shared experiences; it’s the people and their willingness to engage that’s made this year the kind of rewarding, stimulating, sometimes challenging experience that it’s been.
March 7, rej