Dear Friends of CCI,

We’ve sent out quite a lot of information about our September 2018 trip to Russia. It was a “first-of-its-kind” trip. It exceeded our original goals––and it whets our intentions to be more daring with 2019’s diplomacy efforts!

Thankfully, we were able to get six of our 25 travelers together in the Bay Area for a video to share their perceptions of the experience now that they have had time to consider the impact of the trip. Enjoy the frank discussions of their “take-aways” in the YouTube video below.

CCI’s 2019 trip coming up will be even more expansive and dramatic. In all likelihood the trip dates will be May 30 to June 15. We are waiting to learn if new “Experts” invited to interact with us can work with these dates.

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Dear CCI Friends,

Enjoy this report from lovely Krasnodar in the south of Russia. In September, our CCI travelers Pamela Tetarenko and Bill Headley visited the region for four days. In this short writing, they will become wonderful reporters for you to vicariously enjoy this city and its warm people.

Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

A modern day Krasnodar with a new bridge in town is shown above.  Note the number of new high-rise residential buildings in the background of this photo. Leaving their new soccer stadium last year, I was trying to find a city bus route for my group. I tried a shortcut, and we found ourselves walking through some of these new residential areas. It was the time of day when parents and small children were arriving home from work and child care centers. Between each building were long, wide play areas. These areas were fenced in and safe for the kids. Mothers and fathers were pushing swings, helping manage the seesaws and getting some physical exercise themselves. All seemed to be enjoying these areas between the houses. Shopping and medical clinics were in the immediate vicinity.

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Dear CCI Friends,

We are sending belated reports from our travelers who visited Russia’s regions this past September.

Relatively few Americans have visited the city of Irkutsk, Siberia which is 4,200 kilometers or 2,260 miles due east from Moscow. Russia is approximately 6,000 miles wide. Irkutsk was settled in 1661 as a Cossack community.

Following the 1825 St. Petersburg Decembrist Revolt, many young aristocrats were exiled in chains to Irkutsk and other God-forsaken places across Siberia. They traveled in shackles and were put in prison cells. Then amazingly, their young wives began the many months-long journeys to get to their husbands in exile.  Local prison keepers finally allowed them to live in cells with their husbands. Soon offspring were being born behind bars. Among the male exiles there were artists who captured their lives in captivity in many fine drawings.

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Dear Friends,

You may be asking, “How does CCI find all of these Russian people to host Americans in cities and regions across Russia?” It’s very simple. Between 1988 and 2008, we brought more than 8,000 Russians to American cities. They came on various CCI trips: from simple citizen diplomacy to more sophisticated programs such as learning business and non-profit management. They still have a great fondness and gratitude to CCI for their exposure to the outside world and, in many cases, the life-changing business education they received in the U.S.  Many still keep in touch with us on occasion. The next paragraph is about one of these Russians whom we hadn’t heard from since 1989.

On June 12th of this year, I received a message from an unknown man in Kungur, a small town in the Perm Mountains region, where the East meets the West in Russia. The email said, “Dear friends, I am one of 400 lucky people who visited the USA in 1989 according to your program, Soviets Meet Middle America. This trip greatly changed my life and since that time I have become the leader of the region-wide Association of Teachers of Foreign Languages. One of our goals is to present the American way of life to Russian students. We would be grateful if we could have a link with a similar organization in the USA and organize an exchange program among our students. We do believe and hope that citizens’ diplomacy is still as workable nowadays as it was in 1989. Sincerely yours, Victor Alexeev, PhD.”

At that very time, I was getting in touch with various Russian cities inviting them to host our September 2018 delegation of American travelers so I answered this email immediately. Victor Alexeev was delighted to get a response and learn that he could host three first-time American travelers to Russia in his small town of Kungur. This town is near Perm, a large industrial city, which had also contacted us in 2017 to inquire if they could in some way participate in CCI’s activities. It was a delight to correspond with this former CCI program participant. Please meet Victor Alexeev!

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