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Sunday, June 15, 2008
Return to the Motherland
By SHARON TEMPLEMAN
I’ve now been back in Nacogdoches for a week and must say it’s wonderful to be home. I enjoyed my fourth visit to Russia immensely and feel like Russia is my second home, but nothing can take the place of being in my own home with my beloved Don, Boomerang, Maggie, and Sebastian…or of my own pillow at night. It is always sad to leave my Russian friends while having no idea when we will be together again…if ever. But I am the eternal optimist who believes they will all accept our invitation and honor us with a visit to Texas and that, following their visits, I will once again return to feel the warmth and hospitality of the Russian people.
The experiences and feelings of my time in Russia are still swirling in my mind. I have so many memories, photos, and so much data to organize into meaningful narratives and reports. But for now I’m enjoying savoring it all as I spend time gardening, swimming, and reuniting with my friends and family here at home.
One of the questions asked by the Fulbright Program in my final report was especially thought provoking: “What did you learn from this short-term Senior Specialist experience?” I had spent so much time considering what I could offer that I hadn’t asked myself what I could learn. Now as I ponder this question, a number of things stand out. First, I learned about some of the changes that have taken place in the social environment since my first visit in 2000. I have mentioned some of those changes in previous entries: slightly more emphasis on serving people with disabilities, increased evidence of empowerment on the part of parents for their children, greater professionalization in the field of social work and social work education (the designation of National Social Work Day, for example), and increased efforts to address the declining population through incentives for families having a second child. Meanwhile, there are also efforts to place parentless children in foster homes rather than in orphanages.
Economically I learned/observed that since 2000, there is slight growth in the Russian middle class, but clearly the gap between lower and upper class is enormous. While housing standards have not progressed significantly except for the wealthy, people seem to have more money to spend. Salaries have improved to some extent for public service providers. Corruption in the form of under-the-table payment for services and privileges is more openly acknowledged and accepted. There are newer and more imported automobiles on the street with far fewer “clunkers.” It is said that in the US, for the first time in many generations children cannot count on faring better than their parents. In Russia, it is obvious that most children will fare better than their parents. Still, there is debate among Russians about whether and how democratization is better than Communism - especially among older Russians. Likewise, there are varying attitudes about Putin’s performance as President as well as opinions about his role as Prime Minister since President Dmitry Medvedev took office on May 7th.
Where religion is concerned, communities are focused on reconstructing Orthodox churches that were destroyed during Communist rule and returning to religious purposes those that were converted to cinemas, museums, and businesses. Protestant churches are cropping up, but are not readily visible. I met members of the Mormon, Baptist, and Assembly of God faiths.
In addition to learning about changes that have occurred between 2000 to the present I began to learn about subgroups of Russians, especially the Udmurts. Until now, Russians were Russians in my eyes. How naïve this is, as if all Americans are just Americans with no cultural uniqueness. Being in Udmurtia, a constituent republic of Russia, I was introduced to their Finno-Ugric language, history, and customs and became aware of the similarities between the Udmurts in Russia and the Native Americans with whom I work in Texas. Like Native Americans, Udmurts are very spiritual people with distinct clans. Their language is a melding of Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian. And also like Native Americans, the Udmurt language and culture, as well as the population itself, are at risk of extinction. As with our focus on educational success for Native American youth at SFA, efforts are underway to promote educational success for Udmurt youth.
An especially meaningful aspect of my introduction to the Udmurt people was the parallel process that I experienced through my work at Udmurtia State University. While teaching and providing consultation with faculty on skills for effective multicultural communication (awareness, understanding and action through curriculum development, activities, and hiring diverse faculty) in the university classroom, I was personally becoming more culturally aware of and competent with this population. I compare parallel process to “learning in stereo” where learning and doing occur simultaneously. This differs from “on the job training” in that my expertise in multicultural communication was already established, but as I taught others about my specialty, they taught me about their culture…their specialty.
Overall this latest visit to Russia was extraordinarily successful for me. I hope you have enjoyed hearing of my adventures as much as I enjoyed living them. By all means, explore the beauty, history, excitement, and hospitality of Russia for yourself. What an education is in store for you!!
Das vidanya y shesliva! Sharon
