Another Plunge

This weekend I will be taking kids from an orphanage I have yet to work with to the dacha. All other volunteers are unavailable or tied up with a pilot project on ski instruction. An expat volunteer (Toby) got a little frustrated with the reality that we tend to just supervise chaos on the slopes, lending a hand or a piece of advice here or there rather than really instructing the kids on how to ski. This is true. I have a mantra that has served me well working with kids and within various institutions. If you pick a battle, win it. If you are not sure you can win, don't struggle. That is why I did not try to teach how to ski properly. I do not think I could have.

His frustration gets to the heart of a dilema for the Alpine Fund. What is the point of bringing kids to the mountains for a weekend? I obviously think it serves a good purpose otherwise I would not be here. Doing activities thalike going to the mountains allows people to share interests and get to know one another. By transcending a giving receiving relationship, it builds trust, community, and understanding. These are things that, despite the best of intentions, are often lacking between NGOs and the people they are trying to serve.

The Alpine Fund has a way to go. Trips to the mountains are a base but I do not think it is enough in and of itself. Administrative instability the last couple years has taken its toll on our reliability and the continuity with our past. Because I met with the president of the Fund in Minnesota before my departure, I learned how it all got started. Interestingly, I have found myself continually correcting a some mythology surrounding our past from the "old hand volunteers." The longest term volunteer we have has been working with the fund on and off for a year. There are those who worked in the beginning but none have much of anything to do with the day to day anymore.

Getting inside institutions is great. Each is as idiosyncratic as any person. I always learn a lot and sometimes there is the opportunity to affect things a little, hopefully for the better. 'Tis late and four hours of straight English teaching has sucked me dry my will to be concious.