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.

In any foreign country, but especially in Russia, the only way not to get totally frustrated is to expect every seemingly simple task to take at least three attempts to get done. That way, you get to feel super competent if it only takes two tries (see above re:visa), and you don’t get frustrated and give up if your plans don’t seem to be working out.

Operating a non-governmental organization is a tricky business in Russia, where the political environment is not very favorable for charitable or non-governmental social work. The government keeps a pretty close eye on the activities of social organizations, and idle words can cause real legal problems for events or individuals. However, I was mindful of the post 9/11 listing of the AFSC as a potential terrorist organization by the US government, and the continual problems American Quakers have when employing war-tax resistors, and so perhaps it’s to our credit that our work is perceived as threatening by violent governments.


Many of the projects associated with FHM are grassroots and direct action, that is to say a group of individuals may see a specific problem in their community and take action to affect change first hand. This felt really satisfying to be a part of peripherally, although because many projects don’t operate in the summer I wasn’t able to participate myself outside of the FHM office. Some day I hope to return for a longer period and see first hand the restorative justice-based disciplinary programs implemented in highschools, drama-therapy workshops for children from unstable home environments, or job trainings with refugees and forcibly displaced persons.

In the office, I worked on reports, office moving, and translating grant applications. One grant was to enable the work of the Moscow Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP), which has held workshops with conscripts in the Russian army. A major problem in Russian society is the violence following young men suffering physical and psychological abuse while serving in the military. Rates of suicide and domestic abuse are extremely high among soldiers, and there is an urgent need for direct outreach to conscripts. The atmosphere seemed at least mildly interested on the part of the grant reviewing board, so we can only pray.

That work would not be complete without active support by FHM for the right to conscientious objection (CO) and alternative service. There is currently alternative service available to Russian men of draftable age (there is universal conscription in Russia), but its very poorly known, the term of service is twice as long (and military service may be cut leaving the alternative four times as long), and many are forced to work within the military system- e.g. on a military base, or in an ammunitions factory. FHM supports advocacy work for COs, and outreach/community building efforts by alternative service men, including a newsletter called ‘Alternativshchik’. If you can read Russian, check out: http://antimil.narod.ru/

I sometimes feel a calling to directly confront violent conflict. The U.S. American lifestyle and nation are both deeply responsible for much warfare, and yet some of us have the privilege to avoid direct confrontation with that. I think this kind of work is especially important at the age of young adulthood. This is an age when many of us have not settled into adult families and careers, but are mature enough to face challenging situations requiring great personal strength. I don’t feel as though four weeks in an office in a cosmopolitan city brings me any closer to answering this calling, but looking at government-mandated alternative service teams really makes me wonder what could be done if Quaker youth en masse took a year after school to serve our witness. Maybe it’s the sort of thing that is only possible with, hmmm, awkward hierarchies like the government and Mormon missionaries, but in any case, I hope we actively support our youth to answer the most difficult leadings that may come to them. Might we even give each other friendly nudges, maybe within our youth programming, to consider if we are called, especially at this time in our lives?

One of the amazing resources at FHM was the Quaker library, a collection of English and Russian language texts about Quakers, peace work, radical theology, etc. I read an amazing pamphlet collecting the testimonies of war resistors imprisoned in the 1920s, glanced through some far-too-dense Russian anarchist philosophy, and scratched my head over the incomprehensible opinions of Rozanov, a turn-of-the-century controversial Orthodox theologian, concerning sensuality and the church.


Many people have asked me about being vegetarian or vegan in Russia. I cooked entirely vegan meals for myself, but any time I ate at someone’s home or in a cafeteria or restaurant, there was probably meat or fish involved somewhere. Culturally, Russian food is heavily meat and dairy based, but vegetarianism isn’t entirely foreign; its more complex than that- for example, more than half the days of the calendar year are Orthodox fasting days (no meat except for fish), and some prominent thinkers such as Tolstoy have advocated vegetarianism. Many nutritious whole grains difficult to find outside of health food stores in the States are widely available and consumed daily in Russia (like buckwheat and millet), and a large percentage of fresh produce consumed is bought directly or only a couple steps from the producer (forest harvested mushrooms and berries, home grown cabbage, cucumbers, pears, plums, beets, etc). Although it was hard to find more than a couple varieties of beans, I felt very at ease with the level of direct control I had over my diet, and the ways that that supported my beliefs in participatory economics, low environmental impact food production, and anti-culturally hegemonic implementation of beliefs.

I was amazed at how quickly I made close connections in a famously unfriendly city. During the past year I lived in Austria, and this spring I was able to attend the Europe and Middle East Young Friends Spring Gathering, which was held in Moscow. It was a wonderful week of coming together across language, cultural, and organizational barriers. This summer I spent time deepening those ties and making new ones, whether over a feast at some one’s parents’ house, through hundreds of discussions of Quaker history and thought, or simply standing silently together on the balcony at midnight watching the city crane move illegally parked cars like baby whales onto the backs of flatbeds to be carted away.

Russia was simply beautiful in the summer- most weeks were hot (upper 70s, 80s), although one was cold and rainy. I was able to travel some to surrounding cities, cook over a bonfire in the Russian forest, visit 800-year-old Orthodox churches, swim in sandy brooks, and examine the construction of country beehives. I took intense yoga classes, went to outdoor concerts, and crashed on friends’ couches after arguing about gay film directors over too much home-fermented Siberian honey.

When I first arrived, fresh off an overnight train from Kiev, I walked into the meeting of a worship group that gathers twice a month at FHM. It was such wonderful welcome, full of warmth and spirit. I pray that the spirit of God will continue to bless the much-needed work of Quakers in Russia.

For more information about FHM, visit: http://fhm.quaker.org/ or http://www.quakers.ru/ (Russian language)

Gregory Holt, NEYM