FHM

Greg HoltI spent four weeks this summer interning at Friends House Moscow (FHM), an internationally run social organization that supports grass roots projects and human rights in the tradition of Quaker social witness. I studied Russian language at Swarthmore College, and was especially interested in the religious and ethnic diversity of the former USSR, the processes of colonization used in southern Russia and Siberia, and peace work in Russia and Central Asia. So, clearly, I was excited by the possibility to work for a Quaker organization in that region, as well as to improve my practical knowledge of both Russian language and non-profit work.

When I applied to FHM, it was to work there for seven weeks and I knew then that it would be a jump into the deep end trying to pick up the ins and outs in an unfamiliar organization running multiple projects in several different contexts in a foreign country. Then, of course, I found out that the earliest I could possibly get a two-month visa would be about half way through the seven week period I was planning to work (and I already had a plane ticket out of Moscow, and further commitments in the States, so my departure was kinda fixed…). I ended up instead getting a one month tourist visa for about a fifth the price, but which of course only allowed me to be there four weeks- and at a time of the year when most projects weren’t running! By the time I left, I felt like I had just finished orienting myself, and I would have liked at least a half if not a full year to have really contributed meaningfully.