But attending and assisting is a tad different than planning one from scratch. …and being in a country where such carnivals have never before been done adds an extra degree of difficulty. That said, here’s a peek at what Marly and I have been up to the last few months.
First, we decided on a time – April 23, 2011. Four to seven in the evening. At the Culture House, in a room I prayed would be large enough. Figured out how we wanted to advertise for the carnival and, more importantly, operate it. The best projects are the ones that most intimately involve the community, and even better is offering an opportunity for youth to shine as future leaders. To that end, we barged into class after class in each of the seven schools in Shakhtinsk and spread the word to nearby villages that we had an exciting opportunity for them.
Our pitch went like this – a quick introduction and one sentence explanation of our purpose for interrupting their class. But what’s the point in telling you when we can show you?! Having brought materials for a few silly games, we pulled kids to try their luck. Some batted balloons in the air, some bounced a super-ball with a Frisbee, and others tried to catch candy in a cup strapped to the top of their head. Some looked like clowns. And some of those clowns got candy.
By this point, it was clear whether we had captured their interest or not. Some kids were just spellbound; in other rooms you could hear the chirps of crickets. Thankfully the former was much more common, and we could confidently proceed. At the carnival, we explained, would be a wide variety of games, fun for all ages. We wanted them to first, come. Come themselves, and come with their families. Second, we asked for help from older students to decorate and operate the booths. Ideally, twelve students from each school would help us, each receiving a t-shirt for their work. Third, we requested all students to make a poster to advertise for the event. The best posters in two divisions (divided by age) were promised an award, as were the students who would do the best job decorating.
With schools informed, the first wave of tasks ceased. The next flurry of activity came after the posters were due. Two former students happened to be at my school at just the right time to help Marly and I judge the entries we had received. Goodness, are there some talented artists in town! And over thirty posters were created! We declared a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in both divisions, and then divided the posters to be delivered to and hung up at schools around town.
During this time, Marly and I were also busy deciding on what booths we wanted to have. Some fabulous ideas came from the show, A Minute to Win It. Most games require few materials, which would keep this huge project pretty low budget. What didn’t keep the budget down was the decision to purchase t-shirts. To make this a really special 50th occasion, we wanted the student workers and volunteers to wear custom-made Peace Corps 50th t-shirts. We researched prices in this area, and discovered that screen-printing alone would be astronomical. Thus, we looked overseas and worked through Marly’s cousin, and got a deal on shirts. Woo!
So… at this point, we gathered names of students from 10 schools and made lots of phone calls to remind each school to bring some candy and five cakes. We purchased materials, painted posters, and waited for the big day.
The whole process bears some resemblance to wedding planning. A small group of people work their rears off for months, knowing the event they’re planning will be over in a flash. And for this 3-hour project, we knew we needed as many volunteers as we could convince to travel to Shakhtinsk. And as much as you plan and plan and plan, there are bound to be oversights and incorrect assumptions… As you may guess, being in KZ doesn’t exactly alleviate that reality…
But moving on to what actually happened. Believe it or not, we pulled it off!! Started on Friday. Students came to the culture house with their own decorating materials and went to work making their spot beautiful. First hiccup was being told at first that we could not use tape. Anywhere. A little stiff-arming, and we started putting tape on the floor, but for the wall, we made do with thumbtacks. In less than two hours, the room was filled with balloons, ribbons, and posters, sort of ready for the next day’s carnival.
Another hiccup was these darn t-shirts. Given the day we placed our order, we knew we were cutting it close. The week of the carnival, and no t-shirts. In one last effort on Friday… I went to check my mail, and whal-ah! Package slips!! Two huge boxes stuffed with the prized shirts. One, count it: ONE, day before the carnival. You might say Marly and I took a huge sigh of relief. :)
On Saturday, we did last minute prep work, working even as excited students started streaming in to see what this carnival was all about. Opening words were given by Mr. Robert Cone, Country Director of Peace Corps Kazakhstan. We were honored that he made the trip to join our festivities. The room sang happy birthday to Peace Corps, and the games began!
Goodness was it madness. People sort of knew what was happening. We left some interpretation up to the booth workers themselves after sharing what we had in mind. Some ideas stuck, some were improved. And inevitably, you’ve got some student workers who have no intention of doing anything productive. Overall, though, all were pleased with the results. Kids had a great time, as did volunteers (of which we had seventeen helping!!). Rather than drone on, how about my first blog pictures since, what, PST? Enjoy!
Denise,
ReplyDeleteWOW, looks like a fun carnival! Good job!! The t-shirts look awesome!!
Really like the pictures, too!
Love,
Mom