So it’s only about eight months before I finish my Peace Corps service. I can’t believe it, but I already need to start thinking about wrapping up my projects. I just started what will likely be my last major project. I’m calling this project the Young Men’s Leadership Development Group. The goals of this group will be create a space for honest and open discussion about men’s issues (gender roles, what it means to “be a man”, violence, love and relationships, etc…), gender, and human rights, to develop practical leadership and life skills, and to develop a module on how to work with young men in Kazakhstan about gender. This initial group will meet for three months, and it consists of some of my best English students. They will work with me towards the end of the three months to create this module. That way I have plenty of insight and opinions on what is effective from young Kazakh men themselves. Hopefully, I’ll be able to distribute this module to future volunteers and teachers around the country. Anyway, I’ll update how this is coming along in the next couple weeks. In the meantime, thanks to everyone who has been praying and thinking about my friend Jamie. She continues to make a little bit of progress everyday. It’s harder than I can say to stay here and continue my work so far away, but I’m encouraged by her improvements and try to send her a note (through her family and friends) every few days J.

So, as some of you may have heard, one of my best friends, Jamie, has been in a very bad car accident. She was on her way home (about a six hour drive from Shymkent) from my apartment, when the weather started getting really bad. Not to mention, people here are not very good drivers.

To make an incredibly long story short, she has been transferred to George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC. Her sister in law has been keeping a detailed blog of her condition (www.lailahrafik.blogspot.com). Please be praying that Jamie has a 100% recovery. And please also be praying for her family, friends, and the doctors that attend to her.

So I am aware that I am a terrible blogger. Nevertheless, I will try again to be better.

To catch you up on the last few months...

In July I went to Paris where I met my mom, sister, and one of my best friends from Cornell who had been teaching English there.

After I got past the year mark of being in Kazakhstan, everything seemed to get significantly better. Everyone tells you that. At that point my Russian was pretty good and I felt pretty comfortable in my community.

The beginning of September my site mate, Britt, and I started planning a workshop on gender and equality. I also went to PST (Pre-Service Training) for the new set of volunteers and did a training on working in a woman's organization.

We did the workshop right before Thanksgiving. It was held at a local college and attended by 40 students. We tried to get a lot of interest from girls AND boys, but only 3 of the 40 were boys... Next time we are going to be more intentional about getting boys to participate. This is pretty common here for boys not to participate in such programs. Gender and equality are still kind of new topics for people to discuss.

Then i was able to go home for Christmas. It was a great time and I left feeling sad, but energized to finish the rest of my service.

Technically, my service is over in November. So only about nine months left. I can't believe it. Time (since the summer) has gone by so fast. Now it's time to crack down and plan out what I want to accomplish the rest of my service. November will be here before I know it.

The contents of this site are mine and mine alone and do not reflect the positions of the Peace Corps or the United States Government.

My address in Kazakhstan: Peace Corps Volunteer

Joseph Mizener

PO Box 62

Shymkent, Kazakhstan

160000

Корпус Мира

Джозеф Майзенер

а/я 62

160000 Шымкент

Казахстан

If you send something, remember to include both the English and Russian address.