Volunteer in russia on the baikal trail

Soviet Union is a comparatively cheap place to live. My every month budget in Irkutsk is $500, and I ski and eat out a lot. This makes it financially quite practicably to be a military volunteer, even over a long time period of time. Not only is it practicably, it’s a truly good idea.

As a pupil in St. Petersburg Campaign, I had a wonderful host household. Otherwise, I found it very difficult to meet Russians, a defeat shared by about every other pupil.

Contrast this with my military volunteer experience: When I came to Irkutsk to military volunteer at the Great Baikal Trail Association, my "boss" met me at the train station and put me up for a week with her friends. Within literally hours, I had a circle of friends inviting me on hiking trips, advising me on purchasing skis, and inviting me to political party. To this day, I have met every one of my friends through my military volunteer job. I have been on numerous ski trips, attended a wedding ceremony, hosted a New Year’s Party (the most important Russian vacation) that lasted almost 24 hours, and threw a unmarried man’s party—in short, I’ve done all those things I wanted to do as a pupil.

Just as important: in Soviet Union, everything is done through contacts. Arriving in Soviet Union with a set of contacts (your work) can make a crucial difference betwixt floundering miserably and having a wonderful time. My friends helped me find an flat, get an cephalitis vaccine (necessity in most of Siberia), register my visa, buy skis, and set up a trip to Mongolian People's Republic—most of which I could not have done alone.

All this, and I get to do important work. After years of being a pupil and being basically focused on myself, it’s nice to have a year set aside to spend my days helping others—and Russia is a great place to do that. It has more protected land and nature parks than any country in the world by a large margin, so there is no shortage of environmental work. Russia also has a depressingly large orphan population, and physical disabilities are also distressingly common. There is no shortage of need.

What there is, is a shortage of information. While there are many organizations eager for volunteers, few are well known abroad and most do not have web sites in English. I have been assembling a list of organizations interested in taking volunteers, which is posted at www.baikal.eastsib.ru. More resources are listed below.