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Foundations for Freedom Newsletter24 Greencoat Place, SW1P 1RD, London, UKTel: +44 20 7798 6000 :: e-mail: info@f-4-f.org :: www.f-4-f.orgIssue 44 // February 2008

New members of F4F Management Group

LENA KASHKAREVA

26 years old

Lawyer

F4F admin/communication

officer

OLEKSANDR KOPIL

25 years old

Political Scientist

University Lecturer

CONTENTS:Introducing newmembers of F4FManagement GroupThe door half open…Introducing World’sInitiatives:"Action for Life"ViewpointDiscovering a newworld…Miles Paine: Review on“Finding Sanctuary”book by Ch. JamisonVisiting Course inCrimea: Autumn 2007Values andResponsibility in PublicLifeYouthfulness, Spiritand Russian bath­house...News in Brief. Calendarof Events

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people, world cuisine, traveling,cashew nuts, almond, Turkishdelights, grapefruits andpomegranates, beer, andsometimes – politics…

Name: LENA KASHKAREVA OLEKSANDR KOPIL

Age: 26 25Place of birth: Khabarovsk, Russia Nikolayev, UkrainePlace of living: the World! :) Nikolayev, UkraineNationality: Ukrainian UkrainianEducation: lawyer MA in Political SciencesOccupation: F4F Administrator/­

Communications officerUniversity Lecturer

Your calling: to live and learn to find one! :­)Your interests: searching for the balance in

everything

Last book you have read: "The Last Bow" by VictorAstafyev – highly recommend!

Leif Hovelsen “Out of the EvilNight”

Last movie you have seen: "Gods Must Be Crazy!" "Stardust", "Man of the Year"Your skills: I know how to study, but

generally I consider myselfenthusiastic amateur in everything

"specialist in a broad sense",mainly in the field of civil societyand NGO

Inspirational idea: "Sanctity – is not the privilege ofchosen. It’s the duty of all – yoursand mine" (Mother Theresa) Andanother: "you will not becomesaint through the sins of others"(by Russian writer Chekhov)

"We can’t change this world….,but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’tat least try to…"

Introducing new members of F4F Management Group:

Last year has brought significant changes to F4F coordination in the region. We have been writing aboutthe new F4F Committee members and introduced Tatiana Minbaeva from Russia, who has joined theCommittee. However, there were also changes made in the management of F4F. We have employed twonew people to work with us for the next two year – Lena Kashkareva (Ukraine) who will fill the part ofF4F Administration and Communications, and Sasha Kopil (Ukraine) who will work as a fundraiser.We thought that for all those friends who might not be acquainted with majority of people in the region, wemight give a short introduction of those who will work with and for Foundations for Freedom.So, let me introduce this new team of people!SHORT PROFILES:

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What has attracted you to F4F in the first place? And

how did your understanding changed since then?

Lena: That was an official chance to skip study at thecollege. Since then, I had nothing to skip – my studiesare over.Sasha: It was in 2004, when I was working with NGO“Centre for Political Education” in Kiev. It happened so,that this temporarily job has became my family and theleaders – Kostya Ploskyy and Anna Borzakovska – myvery good friends. Through “Centre for PoliticalEducation” I have also learned about Initiatives ofChange and F4F. Atmosphere of kindness, relationshipsfull of trust, care and attention they had for people, havesurprised me – it was very different from other NGOs Iworked with. Besides, all my meetings with interestingpeople from all over the world, and simple yet veryresonating idea…. I guess this is what has then attractedme to Foundations for Freedom.When you look back? What lessons have you gained?

Lena: Everything changes… (smiles)Sasha: My main lesson – change is a constant process,one can not stop. One can not just say “Right, I havechanged now and became a better human being, that’sit!” In reality, the struggle between kind, light andgoodhearted Sasha and envious, lazy Sasha is happeningevery day… Another thing, everything in life has itsconsequences – both, good and bad deeds. And it worksin one’s private life the same it works in one’sprofessional.What was keeping your inspiration?

Lena: The thought that inspiration – is not somethingcoming from the outside and leaving whenever it wantsnot depending on me. It is always within me, I alwayshave it.Sasha: Well, communication with interesting and deeppeople, my family and friends, in the first place. Besidesthat, no matter how strange it might be, my dreams. Andthen, sometimes, books that I read or movies I see.Why working with Foundations for Freedom?

Lena: It seemed like natural next step of my life’sevents.Sasha: I know F4F since 2004, yet only this summer Ifelt a certain responsibility and relatedness to thisprogramme. I have things to offer to F4F, there arethings I could learn from it. Moreover, it is just very niceto work in a group, which goals you believe in and withpeople you love and trust.What are expecting to gain from your work with F4F

coordination?

Lena: I really hope to get a sense that what I do canbring use and help to other people and world in general.

Sasha: I hope to get more experience of work in themulticultural and multi­language setting. Also, toreceive new knowledge and skills. And, what is veryimportant – new friendships!How do you evaluate, generally, the work of F4F in

the region, and in which areas should we work

more?

Lena: I highly evaluate it, otherwise I wouldn’t applyfor job. I believe we should work more and exchangeour experience with other IofC programmes, givemore support to people after our Visiting Courses, anddefinitely train more course facilitators.Sasha: I am very glad that F4F is being active inUkraine, however I feel we should not forget the otherregions. I believe we should work more with peopleresponsible for the future of our countries – in politicsor business. Also, it might be time to do somethingmore than just courses or meetings. Could it be asocial project or a campaign? Just my thinkingaloud…What is the feeling you start your job with?

Lena: With a certain sense of fear… (smiles)Sasha: With a sense of interest and being intrigued.What are your priorities for the first month in new

job?

Lena: To get clear with F4F structure and the processof work, as well as develop understanding andeffective strategy for future plans.Sasha: First, I need to get acquainted with a newsystem and understand what was done before in thearea of fundraising, define realistic goals and try toachieve those. Generally, I see my professional task increating a fundraising system for F4F, which will needto be supported and nurtured later, but which will havea certain foundations in place. The thing is, it is often ahardest task to develop (from scratch) relationshipswith donor organisations, business companies orprivate individuals who could support our activities.And what about your professional goals in life?

Lena: I would like to find practical application ofeverything I have ever got and learned.Sasha: Hard question… Most probably, the biggerpart of my life will still be related to the activity ofnon­governmental and public organisations. That’show I see it today… (smiles)GOOD LUCK TO YOU!

Anna Pozogina (Latvia)

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The door half open…

Children are all asleep, the door to their room is slightlyopen, so that I can hear if they wake up and I can finally sitdown and write what I have got to say…I was thinking these days that 2007 is exactly 10 yearssince I got to know the ideas of Moral Re­Armament. Morethan one third of my life… What change did this 3 daysseminar called ''Search for Freedom'' make to my life? Ithink that is the main questions I asked myself.First thing that came to my mind is strong relationships.Some people I met during the following Visiting Courses

became my closest friends, those who don't come for a reason or season, but a lifetime: with whom I canshare joys or sorrows and who are always there. Also these are the people who look in the same directionand share the same ideals and therefore it is so important for me to know what they think whenever I haveto take a decision. It is generally believed that strongest relationships are formed in the childhood andeverything that comes later is ephemeral. Nevertheless, I am very grateful and blessed to start suchwonderful friendships in adulthood.Another, not less important thing is that in life I got a direction to search for. Life seems for me to be acontinuous quest and lucky are those who found out that what they are doing is the right thing for them todo. I don't pretend to be in this group yet, but I got to understand that exploring applied ethics andteaching it to others is something that brings inner satisfaction. May be because it is true that 'if you reallywant to learn something start teaching it to others'. I don't know if this is the path to follow till the veryend, but looks like a big next step.And finally, I realized that if together my husband and I can bring up ourthree children in virtue, as true humans, that would be the greatest goodwe could ever bring to this Earth! That though proved to be a hard task as Iunderstood it required first my personal behavior and personal example.

Integrity is crucial for children, as they will never do what they seeyou are not doing. As in leadership. And that's where my self­perception started to face challenges. I lack disciplineand I always failed in teaching myself discipline. Itis an ever lasting journey and I realize now thatjust wishing children to grow good and kind doesn'tmake them such at once.All these thought made me come to idea: we have tobe clear about how we want to see our childrenbefore they pop out, and change ourselves. Andnow, it is much harder, children woke up… got to go…

Mirciuc Alexandra (Moldova)

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Introducing World’s Initiatives

With this interview, we start a new series of articles about various initiatives, programmes, organisationsand groups throughout the world that work in the area of international development and strengthening ofworld community. In different directions and with different focuses, yet united by the same vision – to bringabout positive changes in our common world.We will attempt to tell why and how they were founded, what helps them move forward and what visionthey carry in the heart of their activities. We will talk about opportunities to get involved or support themin their efforts. And we will do this through talking to people working with these initiatives – being the onescarrying the flame, which once gave birth to that idea.Programme “Action for Life” is well known to many of us. The author of this article was a participantherself in years 2005 – 2006. And every time, there are several applicants from Eastern and CentralEurope wiling to take part in the next round of the programme. This time, we asked some questions to AlexBirnberg from Australia who is a member of the organising team for the upcoming programme “Action forLife 4”, which will commence on October 1st, 2008.

Action for Life

“Action for Life” is a seven­monthleadership development program.Itsactivities mainly take part in the Southand Southeast Asia. It started as a visionof Taiwanese teacher Ren Jou Liu, whobelieved that young people should takemore leadership in the world processes,but this leadership should be of the newquality grounded in value­centeredmotivation. The programme has takenplace for three times now, and you canread some of participants’ reflectionsbelow.It aims to develop a new generation ofchange makers equipped with integrityand faith who are committed totransformation in the world by startingwith themselves. The course uses acombination of interactive training andfieldwork to expand the capacity of eachparticipant. Distinctively, participants andstaff come from different generations,nations, and faiths to form a diverselearning and working community thatrepresents an increasingly globalisedworld.An international faculty delivers acurriculum focused on team­building,cross­cultural communication, conflicttransformation and program developmentand management.Action for Life is facilitated by Initiativesof Change, and draws on its 60 years ofconsiderable experience in internationalreconciliation and peace building.The next Action for Life program, AfL4,will commence 1 October 2008.Although, the final date to submitapplications was 15 October 2007, weencourage you to follow the developmentof the programme and read about thefuture plans through Internet website:www.afl.iofc.org

Alex, can you tell us more about the upcoming

programme – what is the main thinking behind it?

What do you expect as a team?

The main aim of Action for Life 4 is to give itsparticipants a deep experience of personal change. Thischange will also give them the skills and energy needed totackle the big issues facing their communities andsocieties back home. Of course, we also hope thateveryone has a great time and creates a group of friendsthey can take with them for life.How is this programme different from previous three?

Is there any difference?

AfL4 is much more focused on the core idea of personaltransformation and developing top quality leadershipskills. This focus has led us to actually reduce the lengthof the course to 32 weeks (just over 7 months). We arealso introducing the concept of the ‘stepping stone’ projectto sharpen the skills and experience of participants. TheIndian fieldwork phase will also include some internshipopportunities with other leading NGOs which were notavailable before.How would you describe an “ideal participant”?

Someone who has the courage to face themselves, whohas the determination to want to make a difference in theworld and is not afraid to give their best.Where are you now in the process of preparation and

planning?

We are currently gathering the required resources to makeAfL4 a reality. This includes the process of application,with the October 15th deadline. Funding, as well as

Initiatives of Change Leadership Training and Development Programme

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support staff are also high priorities.What are some of the opportunities that you see

for the programme?

Action for Life has now happened three times.Each time it has attracted and empowered topquality people. This has given AfL a very goodreputation within the IofC network, but also withmany others who have been impacted by AfLalumni. As the network of alumni expands, theirimpact will grow. We see some great potential forAfL working with the many projects initiated byAfL alumni.And what might be the difficulties you could

face?

Apart from all the usual ones you mean? Ofcourse, the need for funding is something thatlooms large with aproject of this size.However, it may besomething like visaswhich becomes avery big obstacle.Each AfL has foundit increasinglydifficult to allowmove participantsbetween countries.This is a big concernfor us.I know, and you

have mentioned it

before, that you have introduced the new part

to the programme, called “The Stepping

Stones”. Can you share with us what is it all

about? What does that mean?

Looking back at previous AfLs, many participantsfound it very difficult to return to their homesituations after such an intense communityexperience. The aim of the stepping stone projectis two fold: to assist participants with the reality ofwhat they face back home and to make the broaderIofC network realise the potential of interlinkingwith AfL alumni.The idea is to send participants in teams of two orthree for a period of around 2 to 3 months to localIofC teams all over the world. The accepting teamwould have written up a project proposal to makesure the project is very clear for all concerned.

This will give the participants a great chance to useall they have learned and to apply more of theirinitiative before heading back to their homesituation.You have been a participant yourself. How does

that impact you in the process of planning? Is it

of help?

I think it has been a great help that everyone on thecore team has been on AfL before. It has allowedus to really think through our experiences and tokeep what is best and modify those things that wefelt did not deliver. Most of all, it is so great to beworking with a group of people who you can callfriends.So, after all, why you and AfL 4? What motivatedyou to take an “official role” in making it happen?

I was personally totallytransformed by my AfLexperience. It went verydeep for me, and I wasabsolutely convincedabout the necessity ofsuch a course to beoffered to another groupof people. When I foundout that there weren’tenough to take on AfL4– well, I had to put myconvictions to the test.So here I am!If you could look into

the future, after you finish with AfL 4, what

could be the thing you might like to see there?

I would love to see a strengthening of the AfLalumni all the way from AfL1 to AfL4. I hope thatthis group of dynamic people all over the worldcan feel really connected and start forming anucleus on which to rejuvenate the amazing ideasof IofC.Thanks and Good Luck!

Anna Pozogina (Latvia)

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When the bus entered the gates of private hotel“Gelios”, I deeply breathed in and thought “Wow…”But five minutes later, the first disappointmentcame – instead of giving the same room to me andmy friend I was put in the room with totallyunknown girl. And when I tried to protest, they saidthat it was for a reason!Yet disappointments continued: in my room I foundthe schedule for a week, where it was clearlystated that my personal free time was not morethan three hours per day. “And what about myplans to have a rest?!” – I was outraged andwondering what else to expect. What turned out,was that me and my friend, alongside with all otherparticipants, were not allowed to go to the

Mira Kang (South Korea; AfL3)Through this opportunity to live in diverse communityI have learned that our differences are not a weakness –they are our strength. Another significant learning forme is a deeper understanding of my life. For the lastfew years I have been in a constant run. I realised that Ineed to stop, look back and see whether the way I livedwas the way I actually wanted to live my life.Lena Kashkar’ova (Ukraine; AfL3)

AfL has helped me to get free from some of mypreoccupied ideas and attitudes, and has shown mehow much still needs to be changed. In realisingthat we are all interconnected I’ve seen how muchI’m still in “my” reality with “my” problems and“my” belongings. But in order to really help othersI have to leave my comfortable place.Chris Breitenberg (USA; AfL3)

I’ve wasted time in my life covering up my trueself by presenting different images to those aroundme.

"I learned to believe people again; found out many imperfections in me,and discovered a lot of what is important to me. I managed to get freefrom the fears that controlled my life. Thanks to you, I am no longerunaware ­ I know what I want to change in the world, in myrelationships with others and, first of all, in myself. I discovered that itsmore important to know who you really are, than whom you’d like toseem to be".

Quote of the participant of the VC in Crimea,April 2007

People have gotused to theroutines of theirlives: home –

work – home. I guess you’d agree, just few of uslike to leave the “comfort zones” and jump into theunknown. I am no difference in that sense. Let meintroduce myself – Anastasiya Kulikova, 3­yearstudent of Crimean­American College, and authorto this article.Obviously, when someone offered me to leave myordinary life for a week and go somewhere, withno motivation from my side, I just left this ideabehind. Yet, took the Application Form and filled itin, just in case. And in a week, totally unexpectedfrom my side, I found myself in the bus going toNikolayevka. I still had no particular motivation – Iwas going to have some rest.

V I E W P O I N T

But there is no reason to hide from myself or fromothers. I am who I am with strengths and faults justas everyone. I realised that we are each madebeautifully and our weaknesses are part of that.

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nightclub, which we found just across the street. Iwas angry with my quick decision to come, andwilling to go back to my usual environment. I wasnot happy neither with good conditions of thehotel, nor with closeness to the sea. Nothing wasenjoyable. I was desperately feeling sorry formyself.Yet, with the beginning of the first session,something happened within – being guided by ourfacilitators, we defined rules for the next week,“punishments” for breaking those rules, andgenerally felt like we know each other for ages(only later I discovered that most of participantshave already been together in the Club of YoungLeaders). That was definitely something new forme! I got accustomed with the process, graduallyloosing that feeling of disappointment I felt earlier.We had so much within our course programme!We were divided into groups that either worked inthe dining room, or were silent for fifteen to thirtyminutes in the morning (with unclear purpose atthat time).And most interesting was still ahead of me. Oneof the activities was to tell our life­story – basically,open our hearts to other people and dare to shareour fears. That evening will stay with me forever,candlelight and tea… And lives of other people,who were there with you and in those fewminutes, became closer than ever. I must mentionthat our hotel (our part of it) calmed down onlyaround three in the morning. There were tears,running from room to room, and the only possibleresult – we became much closer to each other.

I don’t know about others, but that momentchanged a lot for me. I have gained the motivation– “I have to change myself!”, “I need to change theworld around me!” I have noticed that most peoplebecame more serious in their attitude towardssessions of the course, being more creative andwith no doubt more open to each other.The experience I gained during the course can’t beestimated easily – I have re­explored many things:my faith, morals, love, goals and motives in life. Itbecame clear that we have to leave our “comfortzone” from time to time and develop, move on, andnever be satisfied with what we have achieved.It was hard to re­integrate into the usual routine, yetthought that through changing ourselves bit by bit,we change the world around us was veryencouraging. My home environment was somewhatnot usual anymore. We jumped into our everydayactivities, but we were different. I want to believethat all people who were on the course are slowlychanging the world they live in and their own lives.And I want to wish them luck!Finally, I would like to add that we should not beafraid to leave the “comfort zones” of our lives, aswe never know what and when we will lose, yetwhat can we gain instead.

Anastasiya Kulikova (Crimea, Ukraine)

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Discovering a new world…Twenty youngpeople gatheredin the mid­springat the Crimeansouth coast in asmall villagecalledNikolayevka.They wanted tospend fewunforgettableApril days

together, to learn how to hear oneself and others.Participants from the “Club for Young Leaders”(Simferopol, Ukraine) and guests from England,Latvia and Belarus got to know each other, andshared their expectations and fears aboutapproaching as a group this work of learning aboutyourself and surrounding environment. That’show the course “Freedom, Morals andResponsibility in Society” of the programme“Foundations for Freedom” has started.Course leaders – Angela Starovoytova, AnnaBondarenko and Lena Kashkareva from theCrimea, Kostyantin Ploskyy from Kiev, MikeMurphy from the UK and Latvian guest UllaErnstreite – were presenting basic human values tothe participants from a different perspectives.Those included core ideas of “Initiatives ofChange” and well­known humanity values likehonesty, purity, justice, unselfishness and love.Because the leaders were helping participants tothink deeply about each of those values, weretrying to transmit its meaning step by step, theimportance of those eternal human values havetouched our hearts. Some course participantsmanaged to discover and to feel not only positiveaspects of their personality, but also negative sidesof their ‘selves’. Understanding sickening traitslike lies, selfishness, hatred, envy, indifferencetowards others, pride, that exist in each humanbeing, went alongside with efforts to understandoneself as an individual and brought about hugeself­realisation and unforgettable experience.Number of entertaining psychological andinteractive games added joy and ease to thesessions, therefore balancing intellectual andphysical types of activities. Some of the most

remembered games were “Who would go toAtlantida?”, “Red and Blue”, and team­buildingtrainings that caused mixed feelings and lots ofconversations. A bright room where the group wasspending most of its working time was covered withchildren’s pictures, which supported welcoming andsincere atmosphere that group leaders were trying tocreate. The sound of the sea­waves and verycomfortable facilities of the private hotel inspiredproductive thoughts during ‘Quiet time’ sessions.The deepest emotional experience during the coursewas created when each of the participants wassharing their personal life­story. Shared experienceswere quite often helpful in understanding personalproblems of the listeners, in analysing personalattitude to oneself, family and others, in re­estimating values and life principles. Participantswere also greatly influenced by a popular Russianmovie ‘Island’.Apart from the planned sessions there were lots ofpersonal conversations that lasted at times till latenight. Young people were exchanging theirthoughts and impressions of the day, were helpingeach other, if someone was struggling, andexchanged their knowledge and interests. Allparticipants were learning about themselves, weremore attentive to the words of others as ifdiscovering a new world.On the closing session, in the tense atmosphere ofapproaching departure, each participant of thecourse had lit a candle and shared new thoughts andfeelings, experienced during the past days. Dancinglights of small candles have turned into the strongflame that was opened to many other little candles,so that through that unity the light could be shedonto the whole world.In a month time a letter came. It was personallyaddressed and written by each one of 20 youngpeople on one ordinary day in April, while sitting atthe coast of a Black Sea in a small Crimean placecalled Nikolaevka, collecting sunrays in envelopesand breathing salty sea breeze.

Lyubov Pranevych (Crimea)

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Miles Paine:

Review on “Finding Sanctuary”

book by Abbot Christopher JamisonOne interesting chapter relates to living incommunity. St Benedict in Rule 72 says ‘Theyshould each try to be the first to show respect toeach other, supporting with the greatestpatience one another’s weaknesses of body orbehaviour’. ‘Staying the course with otherpeople is a vital step in spiritual living’ saysAbbot Jamieson. Not many I know haveactively considered entering monastic life. Butsome try to battle their way through ‘living thelife’ on their own rather than escape the deadend of ‘self sanctuary’ (St Benedict). Ourreactions to other people teach us a great dealabout ourselves and a good reason to live with,even if not within, a community. While theword ‘community’ can have many differentmeanings here it means a group of people whohave the specific intention of engaging withothers who have the same interest. In otherwords as generally used in connexion with F4F.This invariably means both making requests onothers as well as offering them yourcontribution, whatever it may be.One interesting suggestion which might beapplied at the end of a team meeting forexample. Each person to say what they felt,good and bad, about the meeting or even thebehaviour of others at it.Maybe for future issues of the Newsletter itwould be good to have peoples’ feelings aboutthe contents. There might even be opportunityto hear from those who are learning truths aboutthemselves and their community that could be ahelp to others.‘Finding Sanctuary’ is unlikely to be available

to you and almost certainly not in Russian,Ukrainian or Romanian. But there will be manyother books that could be explored on St.Benedict or the Desert Fathers. If that failsthere are web sites such as www.sacredspace.ie,www.laybenedictines.org orwww.thesoulgym.org which have some bearingon the book under review.

January 2007

I have just read a bookcalled ‘Finding Sanctuary’;an easy read and less than200 pages. It has become abest­seller partly because itfollows a British televisionseries about five men aged29 to 37. They volunteeredto enter a Benedictinemonastery for forty days,temporarily leaving a range

of professional careers. The author is the Abbot of theMonastery, Christopher Jamieson, who earlier was a monkthen a teacher and headmaster.The book contains much profound wisdom and I found itchallenging and humbling as well as in some waysstrengthening my own personal discoveries on my walk infaith through life.The founder of the monastic order, Saint Benedict, was born inthe year 480 and defined a number of Rules or basic principlesfor living in community; ‘a whole way life’ as Jamiesondescribes it. St Benedict drew much of his inspiration from the‘Desert Fathers’ These very early Christians were among thepioneers who decided to live in community; they still havemuch to teach us today. Two books about them have recentlybeen published in England one by our present AnglicanArchbishop, Rowan Williams.Much of ‘Finding Sanctuary’ relates, as the title suggests, tothe need to find time for silence and the practice ofcontemplation and listening. For many, silence is difficult toachieve and for some impossible, or unbearable, to maintainfor long. There are both personal as well as practical hurdlesthat get in the way. But it is and has been down the ages thevery foundation for living a god­centred life. It is presumablysomething which all those who read this Newsletter will haveattempted to practice from the very first F4F course. As withprayer, it requires discipline to maintain and develop. And itmay not get any easier as time goes on. But books such as thishelp to encourage, re­stimulate and develop the attempt, as itdid for me. And to know that I am not the only one who findsit difficult is at least a comfort.Although there is a chapter on obedience this relates moreabout obedience to one another ‘in love’ than obedience to anyinner unexpected or difficult promptings. The outcome ofaccepting such inner prompting for me has always been anencouragement that help me pursue and develop adequatetimes of daily silence and guidance.

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Visiting Course in Crimea:

Autumn 2007

"To understand isto forgive",shared one of theCrimea VCparticipants,during an R&Dtime in our smallgroup.I felt this shortphrase contains amuch deepermeaning than Ithink.We had 7 days, ina beautiful resort, at the seaside with a group ofpeople interested in their personal growth, readyto search, curious, able to receive and apply theirown discoveries in life.

It is difficult for me to judge the impact of thisVC on each participant, I believe it is anongoing process inside and outside eachparticipant and facilitator, which can’t bemeasured or framed into words.Outside of our usual environment and with a lotof spiritual input, time and space forintrospection, interesting topics discussed duringtraining sessions ­ our mind and heart may getcloser and more in touch to our deeper nature.We may or may not discover new things aboutourselves, other people around us, meaning ofour existence, our values, beliefs, identity, spirit.

Every time I meet a new group of people I amdazzled by the thought of the higher meaninghidden in this meeting. What things are theythere to teach me? What can I give them? Howcan I serve them? I notice inside me a fear ofbeing vulnerable, of being judged especiallyafter a personal sharing session. Maybe that fearis inside some of them as well. Maybe not.

Probably the deepest moment for me was thefinal session when all of us shared what weare taking from this course. We lit a smallcandle from a bigger fire in the center of theroom. Each person shared deeply. I felt a trueunity, connection with everybody andeverything around me. I hope that this timewas useful for us and that we got closer towho we really are meant to be.I remember after my first VC in Moldova in2000, it felt strange to get back to my dailyroutine. A bit difficult. It was an intense anduseful 10­day course, which took us quitedeep into who we are and what we couldchange in our lives. Unfortunately it waschallenging for me to maintain that depthevery day. Maybe I was not successful atdoing this. Support from friends who trulycare is very important in such moments.After 8 years and the VC in Crimea I helpedrun, I still ask myself who am I truly and whatam I meant to do in this place? I think that myanswer is in every day that I live.Thank you for the chance to help.

Violeta Frimu (Moldova)

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This was the theme of 7­day discussion that tookplace in the framework of Visiting Course byFoundations for Freedom run in Bahchisaray,Ukraine from 13th­19th of August 2007. Thecourse was initiated by National DemocraticLeague of Youth together Youth Movement“STUDAKTIV” from Sevastopol, Ukraine.This course was organised for activists of youthnon­governmental organisations and members ofStudent Parliaments from Ukraine. It gathered 20people from Kiev, Poltava, Rovno, Donetsk,Cherkassi, Simferopol and of course Sevastopol.The selected course venue, house of YouthCentre, was more than suitable and gladly invitedus to stay with them. This 3­stored private housewas enormously comfortableand warm. Thanks to this,we could spend all of ourtime with great joy, andnot worry aboutaccommodationmatters.We had manychallenges on ourway. Let’s takethe fact that wehad to refuse orminimise ourcommunicationwith the outsideworld. Yet howmuch of our energyis wasted onproblems which we deal with in our everydaylives….Young and experienced team of facilitators:Vyacheslav Balan (Moldova), Anna Pozogina(Latvia), Zoryana Borbulevych (Ukraine), AnnaBondarenko (Ukraine) and junior­facilitatorAnatoliy Zasoba (Ukraine) helped the participantsto explore essential concepts of Freedom, Love,Responsibility (the latter three are the officialvalues of STUDAKTIV), alongside withCompassion, Unselfishness, Honesty andIntegrity. We got acquainted with broadunderstanding of these concepts not only frommajor world religions, philosophy and psychology,but also from areas like coaching and meditation.

Participants have been introduced to theinstruments of Quite Time/ RnD and sharingyour life­story. Not any of the participants havebeen left indifferent to the process of thecourse. This course has united, both, previouslyconsolidated group from Sevastopol (we were11 people) and new, but very understandingand open to each other, group from the rest ofUkraine.One of unofficial participants within our coursewas two­year old Nikita, son of AnnaBondarenko. This little guy has brought a lot ofinteresting and unusual to the activities, alwaysbehaving and making our time even moreenjoyable. He has taught many the franknessand sincerity, which is so typical to children. In

particular, what has left adeep impact onto some ofus who have not yetexperienced the role of“parent” was the way themother approached herchild. Anna hasconquered people’shearts with her wisdom inbringing Nikita up. In herattitude, one could feelgreat love and care,

which was not limiting thefreedom of act and right to

choose of the child.Laughter and tears, freedomand responsibility, integrity and

sincerity – these were not justemotions or topics for discussion during thecourse. The course will stay in the memory ofeach participant, because it has significantlyinfluenced the philosophy and inner world ofeveryone. It has helped us to discoversomething new and clarify all that was alreadywithin us through putting everything in order. Isincerely wish that everyone takes this course,for all of us, often being in the “desert ofexistence”, are desperate for the sip of cool,infinitely pure “water” from the source of“eternal living”….

Аnatoliy Zasoba (Ukraine)Course organiser

Values and Responsibility in Public Life

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YOUTHFULNESS, SPIRIT AND RUSSIAN BATH­HOUSE...If one cay that our society has learned to pass onthe cognitive, rational knowledge to the cominggenerations, let’s say with the help ofUniversities and books, then what relates topassing on the Spiritual component, faith, themagical side to our existence, which obviouslyinvolves the irrational aspect as well, bears moredifficulty.It is obvious to me, that one can’t pass on themystical image of faith through introducing the“youth programme of spiritual development”,for it is not something one can understand, butrather something one can feel. NikolayBerdyaev (Russian philosopher) has describedfaith as a heroic deed, renunciation of rationalmind. And this heroic path of spiritualdevelopment is unique for each and everyone,so I find it impossible to define any model for it.Nevertheless, what can be valuable, is sharingyour own experience and insights. So, where didI find my Spirit?I was surprised to discover that what has, in thefirst place, connected me to the spiritual notionin general and the spirit of my nation inparticular, was such ordinary thing as Russianbath­houses. I was overwhelmed with this newperception I had of such a common thing. I’vestarted going to bath­house with my father whenI was seven. He was a great admirer andenthusiast of this thing. I remember howawkward and ashamed I felt being totally nakedin front of others. I remember how, afterwards, Iwas sitting with father’s friends and listening tofishing and hunting stories, sad and funnyexperiences of those adult people, who weresitting in a big hall, like patricians, wrapped intheir bed­sheets. Those stories were sincere andpure, like after Holy Communion – they werepurified not by soap and shower. The words ofRussian actor and singer Vladimir Visotskyycome to my mind: “Don’t be in a rush for ashower. Don’t compare equally washing andpurity. One has to clean one’s soul with theswitch of birch twigs. One has to evaporate

stink from it first”. Now, remembering thosemellow conversations in the bath­house, I seeno anger, anxiety in any.Rather, the simple words of those simplepeople have filled the air with peace and senseof eternity.I also remember how after the bath­house, allof my life difficulties and offences seemedlight as a down, which you could easily blowoff into the air. And besides the physicalwarmth I had after hot bath, I also feltconnectedness and warmth of heart to peoplearound me. So, I ask the question – why thosekind feelings and thoughts came, and wherefrom? Pragmatic person, as such, will start todescribe the logical connection and impact ofsteam and warmth onto the nerve system andinner organs.

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Why so? I don’t think it is related to time andmorals. Orthodox priest Vladimir Zelinskyhas noticed that: “To be honest, not only inour lifetime, have people loved the darknesswith some sort of perverted love; the worldhas seen time worse than these”. I dare tosuggest, that it might be the part of ourcommon journey, which we have to undertakein order to be re­born from the ashes.While finishing these lines, I thought – whatdid I write about? Was it about bath­house? Itseems, not really. Was it about educatingyounger generations? I was not planning togive my wisdom on that as well. Mostprobably, it was about the beauty of life,which allows finding real treasures in theordinary things around you. About the factthat you can find those treasures in the thingsyou knew since you were born – knew withyour mind, but rarely with your heart, knewbut never really listened to what they have toshare…

Yet, can it be so, that in this Slavic bath­houseexperience there happen a reconciliation of twopolarities – collective (nude and open toeveryone) and individual (shy and self­concentrating)? And could it be so that thisindividual finds enough courage to becomenaked and through this – feel the greaterconnection to all more intimately discoveringitself?Could it be the place where the Slavic spiritexplores itself as force that unites the collectivepower of the East with the individual West,which Vladimir Solovyev was writing about?Victor Ploskyy in his “Bath­house Tractate”was writing about the origins of the bath­houses: “All bath­houses started in Rome. Atthe time where there were thousands of bath­houses in Rome, before Christ birth, theterritory of modern Russia….was inhabited byhungry, wild tribes”. Its interesting that in theWest bath­house (as a place something biggerthan just a place for washing) has never got thesame sense as a tradition. In the same“Tractate”, one can read that with the collapseof Rome Empire and the spread of Catholicism,bath­houses have been viewed as somethingimmoral and finally disappeared.What about today? Well, even in the Slavicworld, bath­houses are not perceived as a partof community life anymore. From one side,there are less and less bath­houses workingwith every year. From the other side, numerous“community surrogates” (like TV, Internet,night­clubs) are slowly pushing awayeverything people considered spiritual.Especially, when talking about the youngergeneration.

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News in Brief:

The middle of October 2007, in Chernigiv (NorthUkraine), was marked with F4F Visiting Course runfor leaders and activists of regional youth NGOs.The course was invited by Tatyana Gromovaya –energetic leader of youth NGO “Youth of 21stCentury” and a former participant of Visiting Courseherself. The aim of this course was to help youngleaders to develop foundation for future cooperation

and develop team­work, especially on the regionallevel.Bhavesh Patel with support of F4F will lead an“Open Space Technology” (OST) training inMoldova, on February 8th – 10th 2008. The trainingwill gather around 10 participants from 3 countries,who are willing to learn how to use OST facilitationmethod. It will take place in the “Sunrise” centre forelderly people in Straceni.There will be Visiting Course Stage 2 delivered toNational Democratic League of Youth (NDLM) inUkraine at the end of February. The VC 2 willgather leaders of the regional bodies of NDLM whohave been through the VC before. The course willbe led by David Curtis (UK) and Anna Pozogina(Latvia) with support of Miles Paine (UK). It will lookdeeper at the questions of values and principleswithin work of NDLM nationally, and aim to furtherdefining vision and goals for the next year.Foundations for Freedom is planning to host aninternational conference dedicated to the 15thAnniversary of F4F work in the region of Easternand Central Europe. The conference is planned forNovember 2008 and the organisers are looking forideas and people who could help with the Planningprocess. If you are interested or have any ideas,please write to Zoriana Borbulevych on:zoro_ua@yahoo.com

F4F Management Group members have just comeback from 40th Asia Plateau Celebrations andinternational meeting of Initiatives of Change inPanchgani, India. Angela Starovoytova, LenaKashkareva and Oleksandr Kopil haverepresented Foundations for Freedom andpresented our future plans in the region andinternationally. We hope to hear more from them inthe next issue of F4F Newsletter.F4F has started a consultative process forTraining of Trainers. The first meeting of existingVisiting Course leaders and facilitators happenedin December in Crimea, Ukraine. The nextmeeting is planned for end of February­beginningof March. The actual Training of Trainers, asplanned, should happen Spring 2008. Follow ouremail loop for additional information andopportunity to take part.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS:

February 16 – Follow­Up meeting in Chernigiv,UkraineFebruary 23-24 – F4F Committee meeting inKiev, UkraineFebruary 25-27 – Follow­Up course for regionalleaders of National Democratic League of Youth,UkraineBeg. Of March – 2nd Consultative Meeting ofF4F Visiting Course facilitators and leadersMarch 15-16 – National Community­buildingmeeting in Ukraine

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Dear Reader,We would like to thank everyone who has contributedto making this issue of the F4F Newsletter. If youthink that someone else you know should get thisnewsletter or if you have any suggestions, pleasecontact the editor Anna Pozogina atannapozogina@gmail.com.Thank you.

Foundations for Freedom Newsletter24 Greencoat Place, SW1P 1RD, London, UKTel: +44 20 7798 6000 :: e-mail: info@f-4-f.org :: www.f-4-f.orgIssue 44 // February 2008