Back in the USSR…err…Moldova

Stepping off the plane in Chisinau for the first time in 2years, I immediately felt a mixture of nervous emotions mixed with elation. Luckily, somehow playing the role of semi-tourguide helped to suppress both sides of my initial reaction. I still haven’t fully processed the whole experience, but maybe by the time I’m done writing this blog entry I’ll have a better idea of how I feel about it.
This trip to Moldova was to help prepare a January Term course that will be offered through the Harvard School of Public Health. The course will take 15 Harvard graduate students from different programs to London, Italy and Moldova to study the humanitarian response to human trafficking. The course will be looking at London as an example of a destination country, Italy as a point of transit (as well as destination) and Moldova as a basic example of a source country. Our assignment on this trip was to identify organizations, individuals and government agencies with whom the students could meet in January.
Alia and Anaide—the two fabulous women in charge of the logistics for the J-term course—were delightful company in Moldova. We walked outside and found our driver, Constantin, waiting for us. After we arrived at the Hotel, we got changed and left almost immediately for the 4th of July party. It was strange being at the annual party for the 4th time but first time not as a Peace Corps volunteer. I saw all the PCVs but only recognized a couple of them from the training group that I worked with right before leaving for Belize. We met up with Vika who was a great help in sorting out a driver and helping us with other small logistical questions.
“Work” started on Sunday with a tour of the wine cellars at Cricova…but the real work started after the tour with our first interview and then went non-stop until Friday afternoon. Each day we had up to 5meetings with NGOs, Gov’t officials, journalists, doctors, lawyers, etc. who are involved either directly or tangentially with the issue of human trafficking in Moldova. About half the meetings needed translation from Romanian/Russian into English. It was a definitely a test of my language skills, and of course, with the Russian we called in extra help.
At the end of every day we had to debrief the meetings, recording the take-aways, gaps, tensions, and general observations. In general, the process taught me an extraordinary level of respect for field researchers—and also convinced me it may not be a path I’d necessarily choose for myself in life. Although, as Alia gently pointed out, it may have just been difficult for me given my highly emotional connection with Moldova.
For me, the two most impressive meetings were towards the end of the week. On Thursday evening we met with a lawyer who takes on multiple human trafficking cases each year pro-bono. It was very clear that, for her, it was an effort straight from her heart—but also that it had really affected her, she was at times seemingly paranoid even to be discussing the topic in public. On Friday afternoon, our very last meeting of the week was with an organization that runs a shelter for female victims of trafficking, specifically targeting women with children or who are pregnant. The people who run this shelter truly inspired me and I hope to somehow maintain communication with them and find ways to support their work.
It was difficult for me to not automatically put all the interviews into a cultural lens of my background with Moldova—and I really appreciated the debriefing sessions with Alia and Anaide who were able to keep things on a purely analytical level, helping me to put an emotional distance between myself and the stories we’d heard each day.
Because the students are supposed to experience everything first-hand, without the influence of a third-party filter, I don’t think I can write in too much detail the conclusions I reached at the end of the week. However, I think it suffices to say that I am beyond grateful that I had the opportunity to be part of this trip, and I look forward to the projects/reports that the students develop. I truly believe it can be a help to Moldova and to the people working there to end human trafficking.