PICTURES FROM SHEKI – The older man and wife aboard a bus is another example of interesting people wherever. On the gentleman’s lapel is his WWII medal. This man, like many of the Greatest Generation in the U.S., was a war hero. He and his wife are still very proud of service to his country and the world. A few of the mountains in the background of a horse grazing is a postcard portrait. The view from the Panorama Hotel in Sheki was breathtaking. An Albanian Church without its cross or any sign it was once a church is one of two in Sheki. And, finally, our good friend Dorothy left her camera and her blue bag in a taxi. We went back to the area where we caught the taxi and asked around. The drivers started calling around all the drivers they knew until they found the bag and returned it Dorothy in 15 minutes. We have discovered many wonderful and friendly people.
Let us share a most unusual week with each of you. On Tuesday Linda returned from school and was preparing supper in the kitchen. The window of the kitchen looks out over the courtyard of 5 apartment buildings. To her right was an army green truck with canvas over the load area, and there were about 40 people gathered around. There was wailing and a wrapped body on the ground. People moved the body to the truck, but the truck did not move. Within a half-hour the body was removed and placed under a half-tubular red carpet like structure.
It was about that time Denney returned and entered the courtyard and noticed the activity. Not knowing what had happened, but noticed the military like truck. He walked very slowly and then several men raised the red carpet structure above their heads and a processional left the courtyard. There was wailing and the pounding of the chest by about 50 people. Twenty minutes or so the women returned to the apartment building. Women do not go to the burial site, and the body is buried the same day as the person dies.
We learned that a woman in her 40’s with 2 grown children had died of complications from Diabetes. The next morning there was a fence of blue tarps outside the apartment building of the deceased. Many people came and visited the home. Around the corner was a blue tarp tent where rituals were held every hour. On Friday everyone who visited the family was fed a meal. The meal was prepared in the garden area of the apartment below us. Fires heated 25 gallon kettles of stew. There was a table with 50 bowls on a makeshift table. Death is a community experience which lasts 7 days, with the fourth day being significant. Mourning is intensified on the fortieth day after the death and at the one year anniversary.
We were moved by the mourning process, and it was difficult as an observer we wanted to document and take pictures to describe, but of course wanted to respectfully honor those who were mourning. Second, if the woman would have been in the U.S. or had resources she could have controlled here diabetes better.
A second event happened on Friday at the Central Library where Denney works. Denney actually assists in the IATP (Internet Access and Teaching Program) center in the library. It is funded by USAID. The country director and the regional director came to inspect and interview participants of the center. Since Wednesday everyone had been cleaning and sprucing up the center. Alma, Denney’s counterpart, had been collecting money to help buy a new vacuum cleaner for the room. It was a clean as it has been since he came.
The Regional Director spoke Russian and English while the country director spoke Azerbaijani. The room was packed with people from the library and my conversation clubs. After the meeting I was able to spend time with both the Regional Director and Country Director.
The Regional Director was a young woman from Kyrgyzstan. Her husband is a translator for financial institutions. She has a modern marriage where her husband and she share the responsibilities at home and with their 8 year old daughter. She comes from a country where there are still kidnap marriages. The marriages are illegal, but continue.

As we talked she shared that when she was in the 10th grade she was an average student. A Peace Corps Volunteer came and she participated in the programs. She thought at the time it was primarily entertainment with games and other activities. She related on reflection that the PCV had changed her life. The volunteer had opened up to her a whole world beyond her culture and country. She is a most amazing person who now studies Interior Design over the internet as a hobby and is looking into a course through George Washington University online. I cannot tell you how inspired I was by this brave, intelligent, insightful, and compassionate woman.

The Peace Corps does make a difference, one by one. There is a saying in Azerbaijan, drop by drop a lake is made.

One of the activities in a conversation club is taking picutres of the community. The Regional Director encouraged us to publish them on their web site and invite other IATP centers in other cities and countries to do so. We might even try to get a US school to participate also. Opening up the world to young people is what we are about.

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