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Extension Agent Adds 'Real-World Dimension' to
Project in Serbia
By
Terri McLean
SANDY HOOK, Ky., (Aug. 16, 2006) – Despite the thousands of
miles that lay between Gwenda Adkins and her native eastern
Kentucky, she couldn’t have felt more at home traveling through
the foothills and mountains of Serbia this summer. But it wasn’t
the landscape that struck the most familiar chord. It was the
people.
“Rural people – we’re alike,” said Adkins as she recounted her
experiences in the Eastern European country. “I had so much in
common with the people over there.”
Perhaps that explains why Adkins, a longtime Extension agent in
Elliott County, was chosen to travel to Serbia to help develop
an education and outreach organization similar to the University
of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service. She conducted a
training workshop for people who might one day become Extension
personnel.
“I think to be successful in working with people, you have to be
one of them,” said Adkins, who traveled to Serbia as part of a
cooperative agreement between the UK College of Agriculture and
the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural
Service. It was her second trip to the country this year.
“They knew I was on their level,” she said. “They would ask me
what it is like where I live, so I would pull some pictures off
my laptop, of my mom and dad in front of the tobacco barn sawing
wood for the winter. I talked about the hills and the streams
where we lived…. They felt like I was one of them.”
Adkins – “a girl from the head of the holler in one of the
poorest counties in Kentucky” – likewise discovered a strong
connection with the Serbians who participated in the rural
development workshop. It was a connection between people who
share a passion for their past and a vision for the future, she
said.
“The area where we’re working and the people we’re working with
are very much like those in Elliott County and eastern Kentucky
who are trying to build upon what they have,” she said.
Adkins conducted the workshop along with Mike Reed, director of
international programs at the College of Agriculture, and Ron
Hustedde, Extension professor in community and leadership
development. She focused her efforts on agritourism, a subject
she has become familiar with as Elliott County struggles to make
the transition from growing tobacco to other agricultural
pursuits. She also used her experience in asset-based
development to help participants learn to recognize and build
upon their strengths, instead of getting bogged down in their
weaknesses.
“They’re just beginning to build on their agricultural assets to
capitalize on the tourist dollars,” she said. “They have
beautiful mountains and streams, beautiful clear rivers. They
have horses, cattle, grapes and vineyards, and sheep. And the
history; gosh, it’s such a rich historical place.”
One participant, who also served as a tour guide for his
American visitors, was a veterinarian who had been unable to
make a living in his chosen profession because there are too few
animals in a country that has been wracked by war and turmoil.
Instead, he’s using his training to help the Serbian Ministry of
Agriculture preserve some of the country’s native animal
species.
The man, named Sergej, is also working to preserve his
once-thriving village by opening a bed and breakfast in his
grandfather’s house. The bed and breakfast will complement plans
to develop a horseback riding trail on a nearby mountainside.
“It’s amazing to hear them talk about the things they are doing
in their country that they haven’t recognized as assets, as
things they could use to develop their economy,” Adkins said.
Adkins and her colleagues also taught workshop participants
communications skills, including how to run a facilitated
meeting.
“They had never thought of doing a facilitated meeting the way
we do,” she said. “It was totally new to them.”
It was also successful, Adkins said. She and her colleagues
helped two tourism-related groups that had never worked together
before to plan and carry out a facilitated meeting. As a result
of that first meeting, several goals were met and more joint
meetings were planned.
“They were pleased that they made that much progress,” she said.
Reed credits Adkins for adding a “real-world dimension” to the
workshop that might otherwise have been missing.
“During breaks, they flocked to Gwenda to congratulate her on
the presentations and to tell her their stories, too. Her
contribution to the success of the workshop – and let me assure
you it was a big success – was monumental,” Reed said.
While the Serbian participants learned much, Adkins says she,
too, benefited greatly from the experience.
“I could never explain how going to Serbia has affected me,” she
said. “It was a fantastic learning experience, a professional
growth experience. It gave me a perspective beyond what I
normally work with.”
The Serbian partnership – and it has become a partnership, with
several Serbian agriculture officials having already visited
Kentucky and Elliott County – will likely prove to be beneficial
for Adkins’ community in the foothills of the Appalachian
Mountains, as well.
“I learned so much from them that I can apply to Elliott
County,” she said. “There are a lot of things I want to share –
the excitement of the people in Serbia and their work ethic.
They don’t quit. … It’s that drive to go forward, to do more
even though they’re doing a lot already.”
Likewise, Adkins wants to help her community embrace its
cultural heritage much like the Serbians have embraced theirs.
“Sometimes, it’s hard for the people of eastern Kentucky to be
proud of our culture when it has been portrayed in a negative
way for so many years. That’s the reason for the strong effort
to develop cultural and community pride in our communities. We
should be proud of where we’re from and our ancestry,” she said.
Adkins has already shared some of her experiences through local
newspaper columns, and the response has been overwhelmingly
positive.
“They’re very proud that I’ve been chosen to spotlight Elliott
County internationally, and they’re very supportive,” she said.
Next February Adkins plans to present a program about Serbia for
International Month and is hopeful she can share it with
counties all over the state.
“I want to do that for a lot of reasons, to show where I have
been and where Elliott County has been, but also to show that we
have soul mates in other places that we have never thought
about. They are doing and working and have the same concerns we
have,” she said. |
Contact: Gwenda Adkins, 606-738-6400
Mike Reed, 859-257-7259 |
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