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Pse Bajram Curri or Why Bajram Curri? My name is Brenna Grey Mickey and I am part of Group 14 in Peace Corps Albania and am categorized as a community and organization development volunteer. The Albanian government invited the Peace Corps into Albania shortly after communism fell and the first group of volunteers came in 1992. Peace Corps was evacuated in 1997 because of civil unrest and the Peace Corps reentered Albania in 2003 and currently has around 80 volunteers in all different parts of Albania in three different sectors: community and organization development, health and teaching English as a second language.
I lived in Bishqem/Pajove for 2 months during Pre-Service Training. During these months I took language classes everyday, lived with an Albanian family and held "Zbavtemi Se Baskhu" which was our group project for our community. We had over 150 children show up and participate in American games (tug of war, sack racing, frisbee, duck duck goose) and receive certificates for their participation.
After spending two months together, our COD Bishqem and Pajove group was split up to all different parts of Albania after Swearing-in. We all officially became Peace Corps Volunteers May 26, 2011 after we had our Swearing-in Ceremony in Elbasan, Albania.
So, what does this mean for me? I was sent to Bajram Curri specifically to work with tourism in the community development sector. But Brenna, you have no experience in the tourism industry. I know, however, I do have experience in graphic design, marketing and web design, all three very important facets in productive tourism. This will defiantly not be my only focus while in Bajram Curri either; being the first female American (at least with the Peace Corps) to live in the Tropoja Region and living in a patriarchal society I hope to work with the women of this region in any way that I can, even if it's them teaching me how to cook. The entire Tropoja Region has recently been open to Peace Corps volunteers and by recently I mean me and my sitemates.
Oh, speaking of, let me introduce you to my sitemates, Garrett (Teutopolis, Illinois) and Eric (LA, California), we represent the States well, west coast, middle of the country, east coast.. We're known around Bajram Curri as Gerti, Eriniku and Brune if you're wondering.. Eric is a TEFL Volunteer and Garrett is a Health Volunteer. Garrett's wise country wisdom once said, "we gonna lean on each other," and so far that has proven to be true. For the next two years we will be working and living in Bajram Curri, the northern most city in the Tropoja Region of Albania. Click here for my contact information.
