Totul a început în clasa a 9-a, când am început a îndrăgi și mai mult activitățile extra-curriculare și voluntariatul. Fiind un elev ambițios, mereu căutam oportunități și implicare. Astfel, într-o bună zi o echipă arzătoare formată din 6 fete pline de entuziasm și creativitate mi-a propus să mă alătur echipei lor pentru participarea la competiția “Odiseea Cugetului” (Odyssey of the Mind). Nu am cugetat mult, și ferm am luat decizia. Era o decizie corectă, importantă și plină de angajament, care a influențat mult asupra formării și dezvoltării personalității mele. DA!

În calitate de membru am participat 3 ani consecutiv la competiția “Odiseea Cugetului”, atât la etapa națională cât și internațională. De aceea, am avut oportunitatea de a călători în mai multe țări, încă din anii de liceu. La etapa internațională, împreună cu echipa am participat consecutiv în următoarele țări: Slovacia, Belorusia și Polonia. Ocupând mereu locul I la etapa naționlă, ne-a determinat mult să depunem efort pentru a câștiga locuri de frunte și la etapa internațională. Așadar, în Slovacia am ocupat locul 3, Polonia — merite pentru creativitate și Belorusia — locul I; acea zi nu o voi uita niciodată!

Fiind anul I la universitate, pe lângă activitățile curriculare, am hotărât să-mi continui calea Odissei pentru noi experiențe și aventuri. Astfel, am devenit juriu la etapa națională “Odiseea Cugetului” la noi în țară.

Retrăind atmosfera concursului însă de acum la alt nivel, mi-a trezit niște emoții de dor și motivație pentru a-mi continua calea mai departe. Peste un an, am devenit juriu și la etapa internaționlă, la care concursul s-a desfășurat în Slovacia. Am gustat din o experiență ce nu poate fi descrisă, doar trăită; o experiență ce adaugă valoare. Au trecut 5 ani din momentul când am participat pentru prima dată în calitate de membru la competiția internațională “Odiseea Cugetului” în Slovacia, și acum când am participat în aceeași țară, însă de acum în calitate de juriu. High 5 Slovakia!

Global UGRAD alumna Tatiana Morari seems to accomplish the impossible: she manages to juggle a full-time university student course load, a job, and a full volunteer schedule, and all with a heavy dose of good humor and grace. As a Global UGRAD participant, Tatiana visited the state of Wisconsin during the 2009-2010 school-year where she studied Business Marketing and Logistics. During her stay, Morari became heavily involved with American organizations on her campus and learned how to efficiently organize a community project.

After returning home, she utilized these skills to remain active in the alumni community in tandem with her academic devotion. Tatiana soon became employed as the Open World/Legislative Fellows Program Assistant. She also became the first Logistics Assistant at the Creative Development Association (CDA), an NGO aiming to unite the Moldovan alumni community. Under this position Morari, along with a team of other alumni, helped to organize several events like an alumni congress and 4thof July picnics. However, she primarily focused on grants. She organized a series of seminars and trainings to teach fellow alumni how to write grant proposals. Additionally, Morari began to teach English to rural alumni through Skype in August 2011.
She advocates for exchanges regularly through recruitment presentations at Moldovan universities and even through presentations at UGRAD pre departure orientations.
Tatiana’s work reaches well beyond the alumni community and aims to assist youth throughout the country. In December 2010, Tatiana won a Project Smile grant funded by IREX to teach young children in Moldova about healthy life choices. In June 2011, she acted as the Logistics Coordinator for the Moldova International Model United Nations, a conference to teach students in Eastern Europe the inner workings of international governance. In August of the same year, Morari helped facilitate the Community School Academy organized by IREX and CRISS, a Romanian NGO. She taught Roma (and non-Roma) youth and mentors about community project organization and implementation.

Tatiana’s work culminates in two great projects she co-founded. The first program, established in July 2011, was called the “Forever Young Project.” It aimed to extend English education to an often forgotten group, those over 40 years of age. The program became so popular that IREX, UNDP and the Moldovan Chancellery picked it up and began implementing the classes in government agencies. Morari taught weekly English classes at the Ministry of Economy until March 2012. Her other ambitious initiative, “Moldova Verde,” aims to jump start a ‘green’ movement in Moldova. Funded by IREX through Alumni Small Grants and the CDA, it promotes paper recycling. The nation-wide program took 30 young community leaders between the ages of 16 and 20 to collect paper and advocate about the benefits of recycling. The group then sold the paper to a recycling plant. Utilizing these funds, Moldova Verde then purchased trees and planted them in polluted areas throughout the country.
Tatiana Morari seems to be quite the university senior. Following her upcoming graduation from the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova, she certainly has a bright future ahead of her.

Programul de granturi mici pentru absolvenţi. Rezultatele rundei din aprilie 2011.
Membrii Comisiei de evaluare a Programului de granturi mici pentru absolvenţi, din care fac parte colaboratorii Secţiei pentru cultură şi presă în cadrul Ambasadei SUA, au luat decizia de a aproba spre finanţare deplină sau parţială următoarele proiecte:
• Proiectul absolventului programului Open World, Nicolae Dandiş, care vizează renovarea unui parc din oraşul Cahul de care vor beneficia peste 700 de oameni. Proiectul combină eforturile absolvenţilor programelor americane, administraţiei publice locale şi ale companiilor de afaceri din regiune.
• Proiectul absolventului programului Open World, Petru Dogocher, care vizează renovarea unei fântâni comunitare, de care vor beneficia locuitorii a 3 sate din raionul Orhei. Proiectul combină eforturile absolvenţilor programelor americane, administraţiei publice locale şi ale companiilor de afaceri din regiune.
• Proiectul absolventei programului Fulbright Natalia Alhazov, care vizează participarea Dnei Alhazov la conferinţa internaţională German Fulbright Alumni Association at 25: Shaping Changing World, 6-8 mai, 2011, Berlin.
• Proiectul absolventului programului SABIT, Lilian Tomescu, care vizează renovarea unui parc din satul Batâr, raionul Cimişlia.
• Proiectul absolventei programului UGRAD, Victoria Vlad, care presupune organizarea a unei serii de lecţii publice pentru studenţi si profesori dinMoldova citite de Dl. Sam Potolicchio, profesor american de la Universitatea Georgetown.
• Proiectul absolventului programului Muskie, Leonid Roşca, care vizează organizarea Festivalului verde pentru copii orfani în colaborare cu Clipa Siderală şi Outdoor Leadership Center.
• Proiectul absolventei programului FLEX, Nadejda Mustea, care vizează organizarea Zilei de Arte în cadrul orfelinatului din satul Corten, raionul Ceadir-Lunga, dedicată Zilei internaţionale a copiilor.
• Proiectul absolventei programului SABIT, Sofia Veliksar, care vizează participarea Dr. Veliksar la Simpozionul internaţional privind analiza plantelor şi a solului, ediţia a 12, care va avea loc în iunie 2011 în Grecia.
• Proiectul absolventului programului Ben Franklin, Daniel Vodă, care vizează participarea Dl. Vodă în cadrul Youth Ambassador Summer Institute, care va avea loc în Luxemburg şi Belgia în iulie, 2011.
• Proiectul absolventului programului UGRAD, Alexandru Godoroja, care vizează participarea Dl Godoroja în cadrul American Institute for Political and Economic Systems, care va avea loc în Praga în iulie 2011.
• Proiectul absolventului programului Community Connections, Vasile Suruceanu, care vizează participarea Dl Suruceanu la Congresul Asociaţiei europene pentru îngrijire paliativă, ediţia a 12, care va avea loc în Portugalia în mai 2011.
At the end of April, the Alumni Small Grants Program Selection Committee met to discuss submitted proposals. The following projects were selected for full or partial funding:
• Nicolae Dandis, Open World alumnus, with a Cahul park renovation project to benefit over 700 local residents. The project combines the efforts of USG alumni, local public administration, and local businesses.
• Petru Dogocher, Open World alumnus, with a project to renovate a local community spring and nearby area benefiting 3 villages in Orhei rayon. The project combines the efforts of USG alumni, local public administration, and a local business company.
• Natalia Alhazov, Fulbright alumna, with a travel grant for participation in the German Fulbright Alumni Association at 25: Shaping Changing World Conference in Berlin, May 6-8, 2011.

• Lilian Tomescu, SABIT alumnus, with a park renovation project in the village of Batir, Cimislia rayon.
• Victoria Vlad, UGRAD alumna, with an educational project aimed at organizing a series of lectures for Moldovan students and faculty with a Georgetown University Professor, Mr. Sam Potolicchio. The lectures will take place at the end of May 2011 and will focus on American federalism issues, presidential communication aspects, and the economic models of politics.
• Leonid Rosca, Muskie alumnus, with the Green Festival for Orphans project put together in collaboration with Clipa Siderala and the Outdoor Leadership Center
• Nadejda Mustea, FLEX alumna, with an Arts Day Project at the Corten Orphanage, Ceadir-Lunga rayon dedicated to the International Children Day.
• Sofia Veliksar, SABIT alumna, with a travel grant for participation in the 12th International Symposium on Soil and Plants Analysis to take place inGreece on June 6-10, 2011.
• Daniel Voda, Ben Franklin alumnus, with a travel grant to participate in the Youth Ambassador Summer Institute to take place in Luxemburg andBelgium on July 4-14, 2011
• Alexandru Godoroja, UGRAD alumnus, with a travel grant to participate in the American Institute for Political and Economic Systems in Prague in July 2011.
• Vasile Suruceanu, Community Connections alumnus, with a travel grant to participate in the 12th Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care to take place in Portugal in May 2011.
Sursa: moldova.usembassy.gov/2011april-results.html

În data de 27 martie peste 27 de profesori din gimnaziile nr 4, 5, 6 din Orhei și din cele 4 licee din oraș: “Onisifor Ghibu”, “Alecu Russo”, “Mihail Lomonosov” și “Ion Luca Caragiale”, precum și dascălii din satele Susleni, Peresecina, Pelivan, Bolohani și Cismea au facut primul pas în descoperirea numeroaselor beneficii ale integrării proiectelor educaționale online în predarea limbilor moderne. Filiala IREX în Moldova împreuna cu Daniela Munca, absolventa Muskie 2008, au organizat un training pentru profesorii de limba engleză care și-au arătat interesul în a afla mai multe despre lucrul cu calculatorul și tehnicile și metodele acestuia.

Avînd în vedere faptul că profesorii au venit din diferite școli și fiecare a fost interesat de proiecte variate ce țin de vîrsta și nivelul elevilor pe care îi învață, trainingul a fost deosebit de util și pentru că a oferit oportunități nelimitate de implicarea elevilor din Moldova în proiecte pentru toate vîrstele și nivelele de cunoaștere a limbii engleze.

Experiența legată de proiectele online nu s-a oprit la un simplu training pentru profesorii din Orhei. “ Am dori ca pe viitor asemenea evenimente să fie organizate nu numai cu profesorii, dar si cu elevii din Orhei. Atunci cînd am vorbit cu elevii mei despre proiectele online organizate de iEARN, aceștia m-au întrebat cînd e posibil să organizăm o activitate și pentru ei”, ne spune Domnul Prisăcari, professor la Liceul “Ion Luca Caragiale”. In luna mai vor fi organizate înca cîteva activități care i-ar încadra și pe elevii din Orhei dornici de a-și extinde procesul instructiv în afara pereților școlii.

Valeriu Prisăcari,
Absolvent Community Connections

Absolventul Programului Lumea Deschisă Domnul Nicolae Dandiș, presedintele Asociatiei «DIALOG» din Cahul, directorul Centrului Pro-Europa, lector universitar la Universitatea de Stat «B.P.Hasdeu» din Cahul si consilier orasenesc, a elaborat proiectul ”Spatiile verzi — platforma de cooperare si de educatie in orasul Cahul”, care a fost finanțat de Ambasada SUA în Republica Moldova prin intermediul granturilor mici pentru absolvenți din 2011.

Mai multe detalii citiți AICI

Absolventul Programului Lumea Deschisă, Victor Koroli, după revenirea din USA, împreună cu echipa sa de lucru, s-au implicat în dezvoltarea conceptului de rețele Wi Fi în localitățile rurale din Moldova. Alianța Centrelor Comunitare de Acces la Informație și Instruire din Moldova, al cărei director executiv este Victor Koroli, în parteneriat cu DT Consulting OÜ din Estonia implementeză proiectul «Rețeaua decentralizată de transmitere interactivă a informației» în Moldova. Anterior partenerii estonieni au preluat expertiza americană și au implemnetat cu succes mai multe proiecte în Estonia în domeniul respectiv.

Pentru a citi mai multe detalii accesați AICI

On October 25, 2011, the Creative Development Association (CDA) which represents the Moldovan U.S. alumni community organized, in cooperation with the office of Vice Prime Minister Mihai Moldovan, the round table «Education for the 3rd Millenium: U.S. Alumni Best Practices.» Other NGOs, such The Youth Parliament, The National Youth Council, The National Council of Students Organizations, Students' Alliance, Young Journalist Center also took part in the discussion.
CDA members presented several successful projects that were implemented during 2011, emphasizing their aims and impact, as well as the impediments depicted during their implementation.

2008-09 Global UGRAD alumna Olga Bogdan presented the Moldova International Model United Nations (MDIMUN) project which had 69 participants from six countries who gathered in Chisinau for four days and worked hard to accomplish the task of simulating one of the most complex international organizations. Another project, Wave Week Moldova 2011, is a summer school which combines leadership and volunteer skills which replicates American Spark the Wave project.

2009-10 Global UGRAD alumna Tatiana Morari talked about the impact of the English on Skype project which encourages U.S. alumni from around the country to learn English through modern technologies.

2008-09 FLEX alumna Crisitina Caraus presented Global Youth Service Day project implemented in the city of Soroca, in which youngsters demonstrated interest and dedication in contributing to the development of their own community.

2010 Ben Franklin Transatlantic Fellows (BFTF) alumnus Daniel Voda lead a group of students who created the Department of Political and Administrative Science newspaper «Departmental Monitor» at Moldova State University. Voda also initiated, in partnership with the National Radio of Moldova, a two-hour program for youth, called «RadioActiv.» It has proved to be a platform which informs youth about NGOs, volunteer opportunities, success stories, encourage for discussion and reflection.

2009-10 Global UGRAD alumnus Alexandru Lebedev presented the PaperGirl project which brought creativity and art to Chisinau citizens. Last, but not least, CDA members emphasized involvement in such projects of local/regional/national administrative bodies, difficulties in finding private funding, reduced involvement of other social groups, besides youth.

The Vice Prime Minister Mihai Moldovan praised CDA initiatives and stressed the importance of the contributions made by U.S. alumni to the intellectual and professional development of the country. He also expressed his deep interest in the way CDA members view the solutions to the encountered problems.
The CDA President Svetlana Suveica underscored that the year of 2011 was declared the European Year of Volunteering and suggested to work on identifying and implementing viable mechanisms that would enforce the law on volunteering, adopted on September 24, 2010. Volunteering is only occasionally on Moldovan political agenda, there is not a national online platform or a national campaign which promotes volunteering and underlines its wide impact both on the society and the volunteer. One of the suggested mechanisms was to implement a system of skills recognition acquired through volunteering which could encourage youth to gather practice through volunteering.

CDA members emphasized the need to increase the access to the information on the extracurricular opportunities for youth, to revive youth local councils, as well as find vivid mechanisms for the establishment of private-state-NGO partnerships.
«Education for the 3rd millennium» means the assumed common effort of civil society, public and private spheres through encouraging value, responsibility and innovation. The direct and indirect participants in the educational process in Moldova see the idea of integrated education as crucial in this sense and agree on the importance of the social impact of education, in which both formal and non-formal educations are organically combined. As school and other educational institutions provide limited social impact practices initiated by civil society can be seen as an important solution in this sense.

Asociația pentru Dezvoltare Creativă, cu sprijinul financiar al Ambasadei SUA în Republica Moldova și în parteneriat cu SRL ”ABS” în data de 15 octombrie 2011 a promovat reciclarea plasticului într-un mod creativ pentru un Chișinău mai ecologic și cetățeni mai responsabili.
O echipă de voluntari, de cca 60 de persoane divizate în 2 echipe în 2 locaţii din Chişinău au mers din uşă în uşă şi au adunat sticle din plastic de la locuitorii capitalei dar şi din străzi. Un aspect important l-a constituit comunicarea cu trecătorii, aceştia au fost întrebaţi dacă:
Au reciclat vreodată deșeurile din plastic?
Dacă cunosc că SRL ”ABS” a amplasat zeci de containere special amenajate pentru colectarea plasticului în toate regiunile Chișinăului?
La care răspunsurile au fost variate, de la «Da, adun sticle şi le pun în containere speciale», până la «Eu nu am sticle din plastic».
Voluntarii au fost entuziasmaţi de contactul cu Chişinăuenii, în cadrul discuţiei aceşti au menţionat: «Am fost plăcut suprinşi că locuitorii oraşului ne deschideau uşa şi ne ascultau cu atenţie mesajul, contribuind cu sticle din plastic», un alt voluntar a menţionat că, unii Chişinăuieni cuprinşi de entuziasm au oferit câte 2-3 saci plini din plastic, adunat prin casă.
În cadrul campaniei, au participat şi 7 tineri din Suedia, care au remarcat că a fost o experienţă în pplus pentru a cunoaşte cultura şi ataşamentul locuitorilor capitalei faţă de mediu.
De altfel partea a II-a a evenimentului a fost una deosebită, echipa ADC, împreună cu copii şi profesorii de la Centrul «Speranţa» au dat dovadă de spirit creativ şi au făcut diverse obiecte din plastic, precum bijuterii, obiecte de birotică, jucării etc., angajând tinerii în activitate plăcută de voluntariat.
Evenimentul «Colectăm plasticul pentru un oraş mai ecologic» a culminat cu un picnic în aer liber, distracţii active ale voluntarilor şi o atmosferă frumoasă creată de ataşamentul faţă de mediu!
Asociația pentru Dezvoltare Creativă menţionează că în cadrul campaniei au participat voluntari de toate vârstele: liceeni, studenți și absolvenți ai programelor de schimb cu SUA, membri activi ADC.

Dear FLEX Alumni and Alumni Friends, we would like to present you the activities that took place lately in our community.
As always, don’t forget to share your success stories by sending a short description of your accomplishments toflexalumni.moldova@gmail.com A success story can be anything that you consider worth sharing with the FLEXcommunity — getting admitted to a university, attending a conference, starting a project, winning a grant, etc. Lead by example!

The FLEX Alumni Community in Moldova has now a direct link to its Facebook page. Like us @www.facebook.com/FLEX.AlumniMD

September 2011 ALUMNI ACTIVITIES

Run for your Family’s Integrity marathon, on September 4, was a recent event, with nationwide impact, that brought together more than 120 people in a common effort to sensitize the society against the perils of migration, given that there are currently more than 150,000 children in Moldova with one or both parents abroad. Among the members of the organizing group were FLEX and Global UGRAD Alumni, namely, Cristina Muntean ’10, Gabriela Cernalev '11, Eugen Lazarenco '11. At the same time, Iana Enache '11, Tudor Ionita '11, Iulia Mirzac '11, Alexandra Girdea '11, Iulian Baxan '10, Alina Zestrea '11, Anastasia Colosovschi '11, Irina Rusu '11, Eugen Prodan '10, and Dragalina Birsan '11 volunteered at the event and helped in various duties.

About 20 FLEX '11 Alumni participated at a reception organized by the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova William Moser and Mrs. Moser, at the Ambassador's residence, on September 27. The FLEX Alumni joined representatives of other U.S. Government-sponsored exchange programs in a discussionabout their oversea experiences and the Moldovan alumni community.
Press HERE to find out more about the event

On September 19-25

Papergirl Moldova project exposed all 444 art works created during the creative workshops, at the local mall center in Chisinau. Papergirl Moldova is an art project, linked to the international Papergirl project around the world that aims to bring people closer to art. A group on active young people organized 20 art workshops every weekend, from April to August, and the exhibition being the second part of the project, followed by the third one — the distribution of art works. We had around 30 people coming to each workshop and around 200 people visiting the exhibition. The project leader Nata Andreev ’07, says that for the first year the project was organized they are very happy with the results and enough motivated to continue this project next year. For more information, visit www.papergirl.din.md

UPCOMING EVENTS and other OPPORTUNITIES

October 15 — City Representatives Conference
October 15 — Colectăm plasticul pentru un oraș mai ecologic — Clean-up event organized by the Creative Development Association
October 30 — FLEX Alumni Halloween Party — Join us for a spooky event of celebrating Halloween. Pumpkin carving, candies, and a scary movie with popcorn included!
Legislative Fellowship Program — LFP Program Goals are: to strengthen understanding of U.S. legislative process; to enhance appreciation of the role of civil society and its engagement in the political process; to create partnerships between U.S. and foreign institutions; to establish a common language for developing practical solutions for shared problems and concerns.

SUCCES STORIES

Dorin Gaibu '09 has won a Small Alumni Grant, provided by the U.S. Embassy in Moldova, to organize the European Volunteering Conference in Moldova, in partnership with AIESEC Chisinau. European Volunteering Conference (EVC) is an international conference designed to foster communication and to encourage partnerships and harmonization between NGOs from the Republic of Moldova and abroad in the European Year of Volunteering. By providing a better understanding, interaction and know-how techniques of organizational efficiency between Youth Leaders of NGOs from both the Republic of Moldova and other foreign countries, a large networking and a virtual platform of common interests will be reached for further country to country cooperation.

Denis Delimarschi '08 was awarded the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award (MVP) for his work with the Windows Phone 7 – the total number of awardees around the world in different areas is around 1000-2000 people. Denis was noticed for his technical publications on his blog and outside of it, and he is under “the Microsoft wing”. He will be attending the Global MVP Summit in Seattle this upcoming Februaryas a part of the program, where he will be meeting fellow professionals and Microsoft developers.

Iulian Baxan '10 will be studying business administration at Babeş-Bolyai University, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

WE ARE ON FACEBOOK!!!

Your favorite community is now part of the biggest social networks in the world! Announcements from us and our partners, the possibility for you to post ideas, questions and comments, and many more interesting things on FLEX Alumni community in Moldova.
Success stories:
FLEX Alumni Grant winners were announced and on behalf of the entire community we would like to congratulate everyone that participated! This year we have three grant winners for Moldova. Dorina Cernatinschi ‘10 and her team will be organizing a whole series of fundraising activities. All the collected funds will go to help children in their late stage of cancer. As a general partner FLEX Alumni will work with Angelus Hospice Center (www.hospiceangelus.md).
Alex Godoroja ’07 won a personal grant to participate in a Summer School — American Institute on Political and Economic Systems, located in Prague, Czech Republic. It will host 100 students from more than 25 countries. When back in Moldova Alex will organize a training for students in September on modern political and economic models, with a special focus on the American society.
Alexandr Hriptun ’08 will be leading a cleaning up project called “Eco Dniester”. Together with other fellow Alumni they plan to collect garbage on the left side of the river. This project aims to create a common base for people from both sides, proving that no matter where you come from we have one main goal, to make the river area cleaner.
During the 9th Alumni Congress several outstanding Alumni were awarded with “The Best Alumnus/a of the Year. We are very happy to have Cristina Caraus ’10, Elena Grusca ’10and Alexandr Hriptun ’08 among the most successful Alumni in our entire community. Their devotement and commitment was to the attention of ACD Board as long with everyone present at the event. Alumni received certificates from His Excellency Asif J. Chaudhry Ambassador of the United States in Moldova.
Also we would like to congratulate Cristina Caraus ’10 for being elected as a new member for thenew ACD board, elected during the 9th Alumni Congress.

Events:

We continnue to celebrate GYSD (Global Youth Service Day)!

Papergirl decided to continue celebrating GYSD using innovative and creative ideas to bring eco messages on everyone’s t-shirts. After organizing a regular workshop, four active members Nata Andreev ’07, Alex Lebedev UGRAD Alumnus’10, Virginia Grigoras and Adrian Nemo went to a rock concert “Vadul lui Woodstock”, held at Vadul lui Voda. This music festival every year gathers everyone that likes to spend time in a different way. Couple of hundreds of people were enjoying the brand new spring atmosphere. Here at the festival the coordinators organized a NGO fair. Papergirl literally brought more colors to everyone present! We had acrylic paint, that everyone could use to color their t-shirts writing eco messages, as long with face painting and drawing artistic flowers on the flipcharts that we brought along. All the people we happy that this year Woodstock festival had more colors than ever! Here are some pictures from the event: papergirl.din.md

FLEX Alumni Reunion

Sunday, May 22, ten Alumni gathered together for a FLEX Alumni Reunion, at American Councils, Chisinau. Ludmila Bilevschi ’97 introduced to everyone at the event the new Film Festival organized by the US Embassy in Chisinau and also made few announcements regarding future Alumni events. During the reunion Alumni had to compile a draft presentation for the future Alumni generations. Also, everyone wanted to know more details about the Re-entry seminar we are organizing this year and we all agreed that we have to organize something different and special every year. At the end of the event everyone enjoyed pizza and warm conversations about future plans and past exchange experiences.

ACD (Association for Creative Development) Congress

Saturday, May 28 Alumni from all exchange programs, sponsored by US Government gathered together for the 9th Alumni Congress, at LeoGrand Convetion Center, Chisinau. Around couple of hundreds of Alumni attended the event. The event aimed to discuss various issues and questions about the most important events in the community, the creation of new non-governmental organizations that will represent the interests of all alumni in Moldova, etc. During the event there were also selected the new Alumni Council members and present best practices in our community. The presentations were designed to help create new projects and activities in partnership with local organizations and graduates from various fields · diversify and strengthen networking graduates already created in the community. Nata Andreev ’07made a presentation about Papergirl project in Moldova, Elena Grusca ’10 told the audience about Access Microscholarship program and Cristina Caraus ’10 shared everyone her first GYSD experience in Moldova.
The event was massively reported with help of different media resources. Here are few links you might consider useful:
www.publika.md/desi-au-invatat-in-sua--prefera-sa-lucreze-in-moldova-afla-detalii_341751.html
www.niuzer.ro/Actualitate-Externa/Ambasadorul-SUA-Asif-J.-Chaudhry-a-vorbit-astazi-la-Congresul-anual-al-absolvenilor-programelor-de-schimb-americane-2647579.html
www.privesc.eu/Arhiva/4664/Congresul-Absolventilor-programelor-educationale-in-SUA
www.europalibera.org/archive/news/20110528/445/445.html?id=24207964

Papergirl and Hai, Moldova!

Saturday, May 28 the eco-social national initiative Hai, Moldova! organized a picnic in one of Chisinau parks to present the official results of the cleaning-up event. 6,800 tons of trash and over 100,000 volunteers — are the final results of the National Clean Day, held on 16 April by the team Hai Moldova. The total came out great cleaning 113,600 people in 28 districts. Most active district, where waste is collected Stefan Voda (750 tonnes) and the number of people is Telenesti, where volunteers came out 7750 (11% of district population), according to Hai Moldova Movement issued a press release.
A Papergirl delegation went to the event to bring some extra colors. Everyone could use the acrylic paint to color their faces or decorate their t-shirts with eco messages. We are happy that GYSD spirit could contribute so much to bring so many people together! Hai, Moldova team became this year GYSD country partner and benefited from a grant awarder later in April.
Here is a link with pictures from this event: papergirl.din.md/2011/05/hai-papergirl-moldova/

Fundraising at Ungheni

Wednesday, June 1 Elena Grusca’ 10 and her fellows from high school organized a fundraising for children with disabilities. They had a table, in the central park, where was organized a concert for the children. They sold raffle tickets for different prizes. Elena also organized a small session of face painting, also for money. They were able to gather bout 500 lei (about $50). All the funds will be donated to children with disabilities.