CCH hosts organizers from Slovakia and Romania

CCH’s community organizing department hosted two young organizers this month through an exchange program between Central Europe and the U.S. Our staff and leaders were sad to say goodbye today to Lia Gaudi, a Romanian youth organizer, and Bozena (Boba) Baluchova, a field worker in community health from Slovakia.

Boba Baluchova at the Take Back Chicago rally on Oct. 15
Boba Baluchova at the Take Back Chicago rally Oct. 15.

GLC Teach Democracy manages the organizers’ exchange. CCH has hosted six Central European organizers since April 2012. The program also sent CCH Organizing Director Jim Field and Re-Entry Organizer Rachel Ramirez to Hungary this year to train those who work in and with the Roma community. 

Boba wrote several articles and took many photos during her three-week stint with CCH, which she shares on the GLC Teach Democracy website.

Before coming to Chicago, Boba worked eight months as a development field worker in Kenya. Her work was through a Slovak-Kenyan development project of the health care and social work faculty at Trnava University.

“In comparison with the U.S., there is almost no culture of community organizing in Slovakia,” said Boba. She plans to share what she learned in Chicago by organizing “to make visible social change” in Slovak non-government organizations (NGOs) and schools.

– Anne Bowhay, Media