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July 18th, 2012

7/17/2012

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My Most Important Teammate

Much of the project’s impact, progress, and future longevity is and will be thanks to the tremendous character of the school’s principle, Sergei Yudin. Sergei was much younger than I had expected, but youthful enthusiasm and optimism on both of our parts is what proved to make the project travel much further in the sticky mud of rural Russian infrastructure than the project’s critics had expected. Every weekday in Suzdal began in Sergei’s office. In the mornings we would talk about what I would be doing that day around the school and the current stage of construction. Often I would return to his office for lunch where we would sit for two or three hours at a time and engage in a tremendous cultural exchange about all aspects of education. After hours of wearing out the binding on my Webster English-Russian dictionary and using the chalkboard in his office for a game of explanatory Pictionary, we would sit contentiously smirking at the fact that we had carried out a tremendous cultural exchange and thoroughly designed some very exciting athletic and health programs for the school. Teachers often joined these lunch time conversations and they ultimately served as the forum to make the program truly comprehensive and all encompassing. Everyday Sergei reminded me of how thankful he was that SHCAB had chosen his school. For years he had been trying to find a few extra cents to buy some equipment and simply add a basketball hoop to the schoolyard. I could not have asked for a more enthusiastic and dedicated principle to organize this project with. Even with the setbacks and complications, which are obviously inherent in Provincial Russia, I can say that Sergei Yudin has set the bar for the type of school administrator that SHCAB can organize and implement effective action with.

In the photograph below, Sergei is presenting me with a gift from a student at the school. She is the most talented artist in the town according to her teachers and she painted this picture of the Alexandrovski Monastery (the largest Monastery in Suzdal) for me as a gift. She and some of the other students with whom I worked signed the back and Sergei wrote a special thank you to SHCAB. I may only be twenty-one years old, but I can proudly say that I have found a priceless possession. 


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July 18th, 2012

7/17/2012

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Don't Cough On Me! I Might Wake Up Fat!

I saw the effects of isolation and lack of exposure in practice everyday, when I organized soccer games and recreational activities for the schoolchildren and kindergarteners.  I found that for every backwards stereotype I had about Russian people, a ten year old kid at the school would ask me to clarify a stereotype five times more ill-informed and ridiculous about American people and American life. I will never forget the first misconception that I flattened in Suzdal. On my first day of leading my group of boys in a sport camp, ten-year-old Dima would not come near me and continually avoided coming within ten feet of me in our first soccer game. Fifteen kids and I pumped up over fifty soccer balls for two hours before we split into teams for the soccer game. After hours of teamwork and getting to know each other, I saw that Dima was the last of the boys to warm up to my presence, so I asked him what was going on. He told me that he was worried that I would give him obesity. He said that he heard obesity was a plague in America and that it was violently contagious. He said that it was getting so bad that people in Canada were fleeing to Europe. After the complete shock wore off I realized that Dima’s misconception wasn’t as absurd as I initially thought. It is not unimaginable that he had heard of obesity referred to as a plague and without any exposure to Americans, I was the first that all of these kids had ever met, how would he have any way of humanizing and making sense of this use of figurative language? I am no doctor, but I was able to explain the causes of obesity in a way the boys could understand and Dima displayed relief when after my explanation of how obesity is not transmitted by germs, he asked to play on my team. Explaining the situation of poor health among many Americans with regards to obesity allowed me to reframe the situation into a great moment where I got to talk to the kids about what kinds of choices lead to poor health like obesity and drug addiction. It was these completely unplanned moments that granted the project and my presence, what I hope is, a lasting p with these kids. 

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July 17th, 2012

7/16/2012

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What does peace look like? 

This project began as an idea to build a playground and teach kids about health. Luckily for the project, the Davis Foundation took a liking to it and helped me realize the implication that this project could be for promoting peace. I do not need to waste time explaining to you how deeply rooted the stereotypes, stigmas, and fear are between American and Russian cross-cultural understanding. Of course the ideological spitting contest that was the Cold War has left Russo-American relationships tainted and sour. Only after over ten weeks in Russia and studying Russian culture, history, politics, and language at the university level can I happily say that exposure has broken the crude and backwards stereotypes about Russian people that informed my childhood, and I live in the United States of America where free information and tolerance rank among the highest in the world. Now imagine the average Russian living in an isolated town with limited resources for education and travel abroad. Now take into consideration the fact that for the majority of their life they lived under a regime, which only presented the state of the world in the form of its motivated interests. Furthermore, consider that still to this day travel outside of the country is strictly visa warranted and Russia’s vast size and lack of proximity to western culture makes travel abroad unaffordable and a privilege only for the super elite.

Since junior high, when I would come home with questions about what the Soviet Union was, my mother would tell me the stories of performing duck and cover drills in school to be prepared for an impending Soviet attack. Of course hearing about my mother’s experience growing up transmitted a lot of fear and distrust into my understanding of the country with the world’s largest fleet of nuclear weapons. Even after years of exposure and study, this fear still informed my understanding of Russian people and Russo-American foreign policy. Then I sat at evening tea with my host-mother and heard her tell the same exact story as my mother had. At first it was eerie to hear her tell an identical version of practicing duck and cover drills for an impending American attack, but then I realized complete understanding and perspective with regards to the fear that dominates the cultural understanding of the average American or Russian citizen. It was this moment when, for me, peace was illuminated from the dark shadows of Cold War distortion and fear. Maybe harmony and community is only a cup of tea away.

In the end, my presence in Suzdal did not inform millions, it did not drastically disarm Cold War tensions, and it didn’t immediately inform Russo-American foreign policy for the better. In know way am I suggesting that SHCAB deserves anything within the same realm of a Nobel Peace Prize; however, what I am saying is that peace starts on the ground. A few powerful men in suits may execute diplomacy, but its foundation is built among the common people who grant those suits their offices. I am proud to say that the mere presence of the project knocked down stereotypes in both directions for a college student, his colleagues in SHCAB, his donors, his followers, a town mayor and staff, multiple local families, dozens of teachers, a school director, and most importantly immediately over fifty kids and thousands of kids in the future who will benefit from the new programs, facilities, and materials. This experience brought great clarity as to what the secret to peace, tolerance, and global community is: exposure.



            
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Reflecting, while Waiting

As I patiently await the completion of the final stages of construction I am constantly reflecting on every nuance of the project. Every night this week I will be writing about a different element of the projects positive influence on a community, a school, families, individual teachers, and most importantly individual children. 




O Provincial Russia

The cover material is having problems. There are some air bubbles under the matting. The fact that I had to order the material from France meant that the material and its nuances would be completely new to a small town in rural Russia and especially to the local professionals who had to tackle the task with me. There were other options but thorough research showed that the best thing for the longevity of the sports court is this material. It will make the court multipurpose, Russian winter retardant, and most importantly easily maintainable and sustainable for the school and community. Right now we are awaiting specialists from Moscow to come and fix the current problem. The firm in Moscow that has handled the material and my research both loudly say that the problem is very fixable; it just requires the right personnel and machinery.

I wish I could explain how convoluted the bureaucracy is, how cripplingly slow the pace of life is, how absent any semblance of organization is, and how different the attitude of rural Russia is from ours here in the states. The problem in scale is quite small and here state side, it would be taken care of with a phone call, maybe a few extra dollars, and about two days extra days total. In the area of Suzdal, things are more complicated in a way that one can only understand if you actually breathe in the cultural and structural differences on the ground. The principle, construction crew, mayor, SHCAB staff, and myself all are very confident that in due time, all will have been taken care of and the beautiful sports court will stand fully equipped and ready for the school’s first year with a comprehensive health and recreation program. Unfortunately, sometimes the places that need something most are the places where something is hardest to achieve. A challenge has never and will never stop SHCAB from vehemently pursuing its mission of improving the health and wellness of children all around the globe. 

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    Author

    Jeffrey Reppucci, SHCAB President and on the ground administrator of the Suzdal 2012 initiative.

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