Robert Dietrich

Hey all,

Some of you might have noticed that I had to take down my entry regarding the ongoing political turmoil transpiring here.  There is a media blackout in effect; they’re censoring everything and it’s hard to get access to good information.  I wanted to take up some of the slack, but as a US Govt. employee, we have things we can say and things we can’t – and so I was required to comply and delete my entry. 

Sorry all:  please email me with any questions you may have and I’ll give you the lowdown on what happened (is happening) here. 

Otherwise, business is going well.  Things have been relatively quiet out in the regions where I work; I haven’t felt endangered in any way.  The “Armenian Artists Direct,” shop I am organizing on the first floor of the Harsnaqar hotel complex is coming along well; we’ve had meetings with some fantastic local artists and we’re going to finalize their contract papers next week.  Harsnaqar’s marketing plan is complete, and we meet on it next week to develop their very first annual implementation schedule.  Two weeks from now I’ll be holding a two-week long customer service training seminar for their employees with the help of two Armenian business trainers.  I’ll also be doing some sales training for their Marketing Director (my counterpart for this project) as she gets ready to start soliciting our institutional and organizational market segments in the capital.  This project is a really exciting one for me.

I’m also trying to find some microfinance lending opportunities for businesses in my community.  There is an organization I’d like to work with, and I’m going to try and contact them, to see if there might be a microfinance institution they could partner with in my country-of-service.  Check out www.kiva.org – it allows you to loan money to entrepreneurs in developing countries around the world.

I also have written a grant and submitted it to two different organizations, including the Global Fund for Women, to help train and create civic and social activist networks in communities around my Marz (state).  One of the problems in communities throughout Armenia is the lack of knowledge about how to enact change: how to organize, how to protest, what resources are available, and just generally how to collaborate to find solutions that address problems that have an overall commonality.  I’m excited about the project, and I hope the grant is approved.  It’ll be a year-long project.

Other than that, we have a meeting with Eurasia in two weeks on another grant I wrote for a professional transition school.  In two weeks I have a design seminar for all the independent print media vehicles in my Marz, in three weeks we have a subscription agent sales training seminar for our B2B and B2C sales agents that will be working on the implementation of part of the marketing plan I wrote for the independent media in my Marz.  I have a business plan to finish for a small logistics management company in my community. And on, and on.  Things are going well.

Also, as the chairman for the PR Committee for Peace Corps Armenia, I’m busy helping with preparations for our new class of volunteers coming at the beginning of June.  So if any of you all are reading this, we’re getting really excited to meet you.  This is a great assignment and we look forward to greeting you as a new addition to the great legacy of service that the Peace Corps has here in Armenia.

Also, I have my FIRST friend travelling out to visit, which I’m very excited about.  My friend Silvia R. from Italy is coming for about nine days at the end of April.  Not only is she going to have a “culturally authentic” experience here, but she’s also going to volunteer some of her time to speaking with young women with professional aspirations in rural areas.  She’s already scheduled to give two group presentations to youth NGO’s in smaller villages in the Lori Marz.

And finally, I’ve just finished reading, “Consciousness Explained,” by Daniel C. Dennett.  A great read; it’s a very approachable theory of human consciousness – I highly recommend it.  Next up, I’m going to read Sigmund Freud’s, “Totem and Taboo.”  Don’t ask me why, thought it might be fun.  I’m also excited because Silvia plans on bringing me some contemporary Italian authors’ works (in English translation).  I’ll let you know what she brings and what I think.

Hope all is well.

-Dietrich

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 at 5:08 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.