On November 30th of this year, I was invited as a member of Peace Corps Romania’s Volunteer Advisory Committee to join Peace Corps Staff and the United States Ambassador for Romania to an award ceremony at the Romanian Ministerul Afacerilor Externe (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). More on this in a minute, but first a little history lesson to provide some context.
Romania was subjected to communist rule for over forty years, culminating with the leadership of Nicolae Ceaușescu for the final twenty-four. Communism in Romania essentially ended with Ceaușescu’s overthrow in the revolution of late December 1989 and his execution in Târgoviște on Christmas day that same year. In the months to come the existing communist figureheads slowly rescinded control to democracy and one year later the first Peace Corps envoy arrived. The first volunteers came in March 1991 to serve as teachers of English as a Foreign Language. Over the next twenty years more than one thousand volunteers have come to Romania to offer educational resources and exchange cultural differences. The year 2011 was important for Peace Corps Romania because it not only represented the 20th anniversary of the agency’s work here, but also the 50th anniversary for Peace Corps’ global initiatives. Sadly, the announcement of Peace Corps’ close of service in Romania became official in 2011.
Opening with the Romanian National Anthem, it was in the spirit of friendship and gratitude that Romania’s President Traian Băsescu honored the Peace Corps for its service in Romania with the Ordinul Meritul Cultural or the Cultural Merit Order. This is the highest award that the Romanian government can bestow upon a civilian organization. As mentioned earlier, the United States Ambassador to Romania Mark Gitenstein was present as was the entire Peace Corps Romania staff, lead by Director Sheila Crowley. Presenting the award on behalf of the Romanian Government was Romania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Baconschi.
In a specially designated, sparse yet well-appointed room with modern wood-paneled walls and smart ambient lighting, each of the three leaders gave brief, but moving speeches on the topic of the Peace Corps and Romanian Government’s long partnership. With several American and Romanian flags on display behind him, Ambassador Gitenstein remarked that it is with reservation that Peace Corps is leaving Romania. The Ambassador stated that if the decision had been up to him and Director Crowley that the Peace Corps would continue to serve the Romanian people beyond the 2013 close of service. Following these remarks Minster Baconschi presented Director Crowley with the award and the ceremony was concluded within a quick twenty-minutes. A celebratory toast with champagne took place in the lobby and the opportunity to photographically document the event was taken advantage of.
After the event concluded, Director Crowley invited the Peace Corps Volunteers in attendance to lunch at a great French restaurant across town called, Rue du Pain. A relative of the Peace Corps Romania staff member owns the establishment and as I understand it, PCRO HQ frequents it regularly. I can certainly understand why; probably the best coffee and pastry I have had in Romania was at Rue du Pain. After all, there are few places in Romania that offer not only several different types of croissants but also four different choices for French baguettes; one of which was luckily selected to serve as my dinner on the overnight train to Cluj.
It’s interesting to me how a seemingly random confluence of events has taken place in my life that permitted me to take part in this event. To be clear, I did very little if anything at all to deserve the honor to attend this ceremony, short of being elected by my peers to liaise between my group of volunteers and the staff at our București headquarters. Having only been an active volunteer for a matter of months, I felt a little unworthy of being in the presence of such dignitaries, but was grateful for the experience.
As an interesting side note, the strong American and Romanian partnership continues to blossom. As late as last Friday, December 23rd the two governments officially announced the Ballistic Missile Defense Agreement by which the United States will deploy a ballistic missile defense system in Romania furthering the efforts of NATO’s missile defense systems. This move makes for some interesting conversation over țuica and cozonac as I continue to work towards my assigned role of spreading peace and friendship among my Romanian comrades.
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