Russia... wow
Wow, where to start? What an incredible trip! Everything about the last four days was fantastic: the orphanage, the travel, my travel companions, the hotels, the surroundings, the complete and utter culture shock...
I spent the Friday and Saturday of last week visiting an orphanage just outside of Murmansk, Russia. Because Murmansk is quite a distance from Stavanger, the trip lasted from Wednesday to Sunday. On the way there we flew from Stavanger to Oslo, then from Oslo to Kirkenes (about as far north as you can go in continental Norway). From Kirkenes we drove through the Russian border (in itself an experience), then for another 4 hours to Murmansk. I can safely say that highways in northern Russia are not the best in the world.
A group of Stavanger employees support the Kildinstroj orphanage by donating a portion of their salary each month. Once a year, a group of four or five make a trip to the orphanage, and this year I was included in the group. In terms of support, this year we chose to provide woodworking equipment, a new computer, monitor, and printer, various items for the children (a new CD player, CDs, makeup, toys, sports equipment, etc), and are contributing approximately $10,000 to renovate the kitchen in conjunction with another charitable organization. In addition, we took all of the children to a puppet show in town and spent the afternoon with them playing games and just hanging out. It's amazing how kids are the same no matter where you are in the world: they just want to have fun, play, laugh, goof around, and have some attention paid to them.
All in all it was an incredible trip. I was able to get out to see some of the restaurants and nightlife in the city, as well as the war monuments and other sights, but the most interesting and memorable part of the trip, far and away, was being around the orphanage and the kids that live there. I absolutely hope to be able to go back next year if I am still living in Stavanger!
I spent the Friday and Saturday of last week visiting an orphanage just outside of Murmansk, Russia. Because Murmansk is quite a distance from Stavanger, the trip lasted from Wednesday to Sunday. On the way there we flew from Stavanger to Oslo, then from Oslo to Kirkenes (about as far north as you can go in continental Norway). From Kirkenes we drove through the Russian border (in itself an experience), then for another 4 hours to Murmansk. I can safely say that highways in northern Russia are not the best in the world.
A group of Stavanger employees support the Kildinstroj orphanage by donating a portion of their salary each month. Once a year, a group of four or five make a trip to the orphanage, and this year I was included in the group. In terms of support, this year we chose to provide woodworking equipment, a new computer, monitor, and printer, various items for the children (a new CD player, CDs, makeup, toys, sports equipment, etc), and are contributing approximately $10,000 to renovate the kitchen in conjunction with another charitable organization. In addition, we took all of the children to a puppet show in town and spent the afternoon with them playing games and just hanging out. It's amazing how kids are the same no matter where you are in the world: they just want to have fun, play, laugh, goof around, and have some attention paid to them.
All in all it was an incredible trip. I was able to get out to see some of the restaurants and nightlife in the city, as well as the war monuments and other sights, but the most interesting and memorable part of the trip, far and away, was being around the orphanage and the kids that live there. I absolutely hope to be able to go back next year if I am still living in Stavanger!
posted by MatticusFinch at
9:24 p.m.
1 Comments:
Mr. Finch,
Thank you for your interesting description of your travels and endeavors. As one who grew up in the former Soviet Union (now Belarus) and who personally knew impoverished children like the ones you helped, I appreciate what you are doing. The Russian government—like all heavily regulatory and interventionist governments—impoverishes its citizens; private charity can at least help some of them out without straining already overburdened taxpayers’ resources.
For some interesting discussions of Russian and other international affairs, I invite you to PanAsianBiz: http://www.panasianbiz.com
Sincerely,
G. Stolyarov II
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Anonymous, at 3:04 a.m.
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