Volunteers From Russia Help Out With 2010 Paralympics Ahead Of The Sochi Games: “We Are Here To Absorb Like Sponges”
If you stop a random person in the middle of the street anywhere in North America and ask them if they have ever volunteered their time for any cause before, the answer is most likely “yes.” In North America, it is kind of hard to get through high school and than college and than your post-college days without doing some sort of volunteer work. Russia is different in that respect. It is not that people do no want to volunteer their time in Russia. It is just that culturally people are used to getting paid for the work they do. In Russia, there is a notion that a person who works for you has to be paid or else you just do not hire them.
So when I found out that a group of Russian volunteers is arriving in Vancouver to help out with the Paralympic Games, I was a little skeptical. As I learned later, a group of 20 young men and women from Russia landed in YVR on March 2 to spend 21 days in Whistler for the Paralympics. Their goal? To watch, help out, make mistakes and learn…
Russian volunteers cheering for Paralympians, Whistler Olympic Park
I got to chat with one of the girls on the team named Vera Orlova when I went down to Whistler to watch Paralympic cross-country skiing last weekend. Slender, beamish Orlova donning the all-too-familiar Vancouver 2010 blue volunteer jacket said the team’s goal is “to absorb everything like a sponge.” Than, she said, it is going to be all about giving it all back.
Vera sat down with me to chat about the program as we were waiting for the women’s sitting 10k race to start. She and a few of her teammates had a day-off and got a chance to go see a sports event. Vera personally works at the Olympic village, going on errands for the Russian Paralympic team to help out with whatever needs to be done. As I was talking to her, I could not help but think that these guys are plain simple just happy to be here. “You know, as I was watching the broadcast of the Opening Ceremonies at the athletes village with the rest of the team, I still had to pinch myself to believe that I am actually here.” And from what she was telling me, it seemed like they had one hard journey to even make it on the plane to Vancouver.
Vera is from Tumen, a remote region in Russia where all the Russian oil is. But her teammates are literally from all over the place. All of the potential candidates for the project “Sochi-Vancouver-Sochi” were carefully selected in Russia’s bid to send a team to Vancouver that can learn as much as possible about the way volunteer task force was organized here to try to do the same in Sochi in four-years time. Vera says she had to go through round after round of an intense selection process that began in April of last year – voluminous applications, interviews, leadership skills assessment, communication prowess – all that was carefully looked at by the Sochi 2014 Olympic Organizing Committee to send out a team that could actually learn in Canada.
But, now that the best of the best are finally in Vancouver, Vera says they have to keep their eyes open and brains flexible.
“We came here to see how events of this scale are staged, how the volunteers are organized and how the duties are separated between the non-paid volunteers and salaried staff. So, we are taking notes if we think something could have been done better. And, we analyze a lot...”
Vera says they have to learn about resource management - things that happened in Vancouver, like having way too many volunteers at a single location and not enough at other venues. She says it was also surprising for them to see how much emphasis Canadians put on safety and sustainability.
“Another thing that was interesting to us was that the bulk of volunteers here in Canada are older people. I think the idea for Sochi is to aim for a much younger volunteer force.”
In 2011, Russia will start hiring volunteers for Sochi, and it has to find 25,000 of them just for the venues.
Vera says she thinks getting 25,000 young people to help out is not the biggest problem. “Getting that many people who can speak English and understand the mentality of foreigners could be a bit of a challenge.”
Me with Vera Orlova during the interview, Whistler Olympic Park
Vera Orlova giving the inteview, Whistler Olympic Park
I asked Vera if she thinks not getting paid will be a problem. Vera says she thinks the concept of donating one’s time is not foreign to Russians. Using the term “volunteering” to describe it though is new and something that Vera says might make some people question not getting paid. Even still, in Vera’s opinion the interest for the Sochi games is genuinely high in Russia.
So what is next, I asked.
Vera says coming down to Vancouver for Paralympics made her re-visit the concept of disability. It comes down to the perception of disability that still lingers in Russia.
“People with disability do not have a suitable environment to live and work in back at home. So, when we came to Vancouver, we realized that everything here is designed with equality in mind. It is amazing. The athletes on the Russian Paralympic team would approach us and ask us to go down to Vancouver and get them stuff. But, we would say, ‘you know, there is nothing preventing you from going downtown Vancouver and accessing anywhere you want to go to yourselves.’ It is not like that in Russia…”
“I think my attitude toward disability completely changed. I know that I won’t see disabled people quite the same way when I go back. I used to feel uncomfortable and sorry for people with disabilities. But, looking at Paralympians, there is this amazing spiritual beauty about them. I definitely want to strive for bigger things in my life now that I have been to Paralympics. Working side by side with some of these athletes makes your realize just how little you have accomplished…”
As for the next step for the Sochi volunteer recruitment, Vera says they are going home on March 23, and that is when the work really begins.
“We will act sort of like the nucleus around which a web of like-minded individuals will be weaved.”
The group is hoping to go to London in 2012 as well. Vera says they are optimistically cautious and periodically checking London 2012 website, just in case…The team is also hoping to help out with the first-ever youth Olympic Games that will be taking place in Singapore later this year.
Me with Team Russia volunteers, Whistler Olympic Park
YTFILES - Good luck to the volunteer team and big thanks for talking to YTFILES! It really felt like the team was excited to learn and help out with things, so I hope their knowledge and newly acquired skills are going to be put to good use in Russia.
Meanwhile, the medal tally for the Russian Paralympic Team stands at 38 medals as of Sunday afternoon. Way to go, team Russia!
