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Anybody who visited the former Soviet Union remembers the ranks of identical cement apartment buildings that ring large cities for miles and miles. Imagine, then, the novelty of finding a three-bedroom ranch house with landscaping and a two-car garage
in the center of town!
This is what a team of American and Russian volunteers constructed last summer in Vladimir, an ancient capital of Russia, now an industrial city of 350,000 about 200 km. north-east of Moscow. The organization sponsoring them, Serendipity, was founded by Ronald Pope, a professor of political science at Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal.
An ISU colleague and specialist in energy conservation designed the house and supervised construction. With materials donated by Georgia Pacific, Whirlpool, Marvin Windows, and others--and to the amazement of the Russian volunteers--the house was completed in less than two months in mid-1992. It is now used to host meetings and house a library of Western books and videos. The basement serves as the classroom for Serendipity's English language Institute.
Serendipity's goal is to promote private enterprise in Vladimir. It seeks Americans willing to make investments in small-scale, start-up businesses such as restaurants, hotels, etc. These projects will serve as on-the-job training opportunities to demonstrate in practical terms how private enterprise operates. Serendipity has also organized workshops and brokered contacts between Russians and Americans active in agriculture, public health and law enforcement.
Serendipity's English language institute, staffed by American volunteers, has seen student enrollment grow in one year from 63 to over 170. Serendipity has also recently placed two summer interns in Vladimir to work on such projects as compiling informaion for tourists and developing a basic phone book of Vladimir businesses and services.
Serendipity is looking for 3 volunteers--room and board and a small stipend are provided--to teach English for 6-12 months. It is also looking for an individual willing to devote a minimum of 3 months to launching a tour business that would bring foreigners visiting Moscow to Vladimir for one or two-day trips. Fluency in Russian is not a prerequisite, as the language institute provides a ready pool of translators.
For more information contact Professor Ron Pope at:
Serendipity:
Russian Consulting and Development, Ltd.,
1403 Kingsridge Rd.
Normal, IL 61761
Tel. (309) 454-2364 or 438-8797
Fax: (309) 452-6332
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The URL for this page is: http://solar.rtd.utk.edu/~ccsi/csew/93-06/serendip.html
Last updated: June 7 1996
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