Post-Soviet

[Marilyn Mehlmann]

Every time I tell someone about the projects we work with in the countries of the former Soviet Union, the response is tremendous. It seems only bad news makes it into the media - well, I guess we all know that. So I keep thinking, I should keep a diary, write a blog - offer this pleasure to more people.

22 hours ago, a colleague and I got back from Minsk - the capital of Belarus, if you're having trouble locating it. It was our third trip this year, and I'll be there again next month. It's been called 'the last dictatorship in Europe', which is one way of looking at it, though rather simplistic. Of the former Soviet countries, it seems to be the least corrupt. It also has a higher standard of housing than most of the others. It is relatively peaceful - no warring factions or visibly oppressed minorities, the streets are safe, crime rates are low.

This is the country that was hardest hit by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The government now has plans to build its own (first) nuclear reactor. What??? Yes, truly.

The reason for going to Belarus is that we (GAP) support NGOs and other citizen groups to work systematically towards more sustainable lifestyles. 'Sustainable development' is coming into their language; 'Local Agenda 21' is also - finally - making a mark. There is lots of interest in workshops to learn participatory methods.

It's a bit of a long haul. After several years of projects together we're just penetrating the post-Soviet mind-set that says
- mistakes are wrong (don't get caught, and if you do don't admit anything)
- a leader is supposed to tell you what to do
- participation means... well, something different from what we mean
- democracy and human rights are things your government gives to you (or doesn't)

Right now we have a great, young project team, enthusiastic regional coordinators in the Vitebsk and Mogileff regions, lots of plans.

The most exciting thing, though, is the human contact. The lady from whom we buy our fruit & vegetables wants to know all about us, no matter we have no obvious language in common. I went to an osteopath ('no need of an interpreter', he said), with whom I had lovely existential conversations in a strange mixture of Russian (him), English (me), and broken German (both) - he turns out also to be a Russian orthodox priest. The mother of our project manager spent a couple of years in Ireland (she learnt to dance...), led a group of 70 Belarusian theology students to Greece, cooked us a superb borstch (beetroot soup), is lovingly cultivating geraniums (previously outlawed as decadent).

There are so many people in not only Belarus but also Ukraine, Russia, Georgia... who would fit right in to NHNE. Whom I'd love to invite. If it weren't for the language barrier. What can we do about it?

[Joan Schaefer Richmond]

Thank you for sharing this unique insight and experience. Yes, please do more of them!