Krasnyi Luch & new perspectives

Today we visited Krasnyi Luch and met more wonderful people doing a wide range of fantastic YMCA work.  What amazed us is their enthusiasm and motivation to keep going despite lack of funding, lack of infrastructure, lack of support from the society. However their mayor seems to have a great vision for the social programmes which is very unusual and she emphasized that the fact she's a woman plays a big part in her passion for young people and her dedication seems very strong.

We had a few presentations where it was clear that the local people live their town, have great concerns for the future of their offspring and it fuels their passion for the projects they initiate and run. The main issue for me personally is the fact that the Soviet culture of always showing the best, come across as dedicated and motivated but not lazy people still hung over whatever they do. They don't seem to grasp the importance of  highlighting concerns and issues especially to the international partners who could bring in their experience as well as potential sources of funding. I think we have to have debates and unlock their `natural` defences if we are to start establishing the areas of future work. Due to unforeseen circumstances I ended up back in the hotel with Kristina, one of the leaders in Krasnyi Luch, and started this topic. It is a good start and perhaps one that will lead to better understanding.

One new thing we heard today was our old YMCA song in Ukrainian! I can't upload the video from my phone here so will try to do when I get back to London! Promise...