Humanitarian Aid in Chukotka


    Throughout the 1990s, a number of small, public voluntary organizations in Alaska worked tirelessly to provide desperately needed aid (food, clothing, supplies froms needles and thread to fishing nets, etc. ) directly to families in Chukotkan villages. Eventually more food aid began to be provided locally in Chukotka, so organizations like AFOC shifted their attention to other needs for subsistance equipment, school supplies, and medicines, and to the development of youth and educational projects in Chukotka.
 Humanitarian assistance organizations targeting Chukotka

Webmaster's note: I personally do not approve of proselytizing in Chukotka, as I have often found it to be destructive of local cultural traditions and social networks. To the best of my knowledge, the following organizations do not engage in proselytizing in Chukotka, but are simply dedicated to helping people where they have urgent needs, some of them considering it their good Christian works towards their neighbors. This is a project I can agree with, and therefore I provide space on my website to publicize and facilitate their efforts.

Alaskan Friends of Chukotka is one of the most active groups, and serves as something like a clearing house of aid activity for Chukotka -- is Alaskan Friends of Chukotka (AFOC), coordinated by Nancy Mendenhall.
 
Native Russian Ministry, based in Anchorage, is the successor to the Russian Far East Task Force. It is a United Methodist aid project that sends clothing, school supplies, eyeglasses, yarn, needles and thread to families and schools in Chukotka and Magadan. They also support hospitals by sending supplies, and provide some supprot Doverie, an alcohol prevention group in Chukotka. The group has some part-time workers in Providenskii district who respond to families with emergency material needs. The coordinator is Arlene Wood, who can be reached by email at awood @ alaska.com and by telephone at (907) 243-3610.

 A fisherman repairs his net in preparation for the summer fishing season.

CHildren live in the tundra during their summer vacation
Groups in Fairbanks, Alaska:

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fairbanks was one of the original organizations that provided assistance to Chukotka. It continues to provide space on its website for AFOC, with its detailed instructions for mailing packages to Chukotka.

 Chena Ridge Friends Meeting in Fairbanks coordinates a network of individuals who send school supplies and sometimes clothing to Chukotka. Volunteers are always welcome, but if you do not have time to pack up a shipment yourself, monetary donations are always appreciated to pay for shipping. The contact person there is Diane Preston, P.O. Box 80872, Fairbanks, AK, 99708, dianep @ mosquitonet.com
  
 New Hope Methodist-Presbyterian Church in North Pole sent a work team to Provideniia in 2001 to help refurbish houses. For more information contact Joe Krizek at jvknpak @ hotmail.com

North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management, based in Barrow, Alaska, has a joint research agreement with two Native organizations in Providenskii and Chukotskii districts for studying sea mammals. It supplies technical aid, incuding fishing, hunting and work supplies to researchers through an annual bulk shipment. Financial contributions can assist with this. Contact Director Charles D.N. Brower at cbrower @ co.north-slope.ak.us, tel. (907) 852-2611 (ext. 350), fax (907) 852-0351 or 852-8948.

 Children play in the street of a Chukotkan village

Russian Far East Missions is supported by the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, based at Faith Lutheran Church in Homer, Alaska. This group provides staple foods and clothing to the six villages of Chukotskii district. Contact Coordinator Rev. Dennis Neels at djneels @ xyz.net, tel. (907) 235-7600, fax (907) 235-7660.
 

Collective farm workers take a smoke break in the fur shop. Many small groups, churches, and individuals have contributed to the shipments by these groups, or have sent boxes directly to families. These include Friends Meetings in Fairbanks, Juneau, and Anchorage, Bering Sea Lions in Nome, Unalakleet Sewing Circle, Village of Shungnak, Shishmaref Lutheran Church, St. Francis Church of Kotzebue, Our Saviour's Lutheran in Nome, United Methodist Churches in Nome, Sitka, Homer, and Anchorage, and many more in the U.S. outside of Alaska.

Some background about the "aid situation" in Chukotka

    If you go to the page "Facts about the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug" you will find a map of Chukotka and some logistical information about towns and villages there.

    After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's economy struggled to maintain stability. Many, many people "fell through the cracks" all over the country, but in the Arctic regions far from major urban centers, conditions were, and remain, particularly difficult. Conditions in Chukotka were bad when I made my first visit in the fall of 1995, but when I returned in the summer of 1998, things were noticeably worse. The winters of 1998-99 and 1999-2000 were very tough ones for residents of Chukotka. All of the existing problems worsened; there were reports of power outages in some villages that lasted for days, as temperatures fell well below freezing. To the astonishment of everyone, Chukotka's former administration, under the leadership of Aleksandr Nazarov, seemed to take the official position that there was no need for humanitarian aid in Chukotka, and consistently created bureaucratic blocks to prevent aid from getting into the region.
 
 Since 2000, Chukotka has seen some very surprising and very interesting developments. It began with the arrival on the scene of Roman Abramovich, one of Russia's oil barons and controversial "oligarchs," who ran for and won Chukotka's seat in Russia's national legislature (the Duma). Abramovich promptly established a humanitarian aid organization called Polius Nadezhdy ("Pole of Hope"), which began to send Chukotkan children to summer camps on the Black Sea and to send packages of food aid to families in Chukotkan villages, among other things. In 2001, Abramovich became governor of Chukotka, finally replacing the long-standing and much reviled former governor, Aleksandr Nazarov. As governor, Abramovich increased his humanitarian outreach to Chukotka's remote villages, and facilitated the establishment of a branch of the Red Cross in Chukotka. From all reports, what was for a while a real and present danger of starvation and freezing to death in Chukotkan villages is over, and I would say that the time of serious crisis has passed. This is a great relief, but it does not mean there are no needs in Chukotka's villages.
Roman Abromavich
Vladimir Etylin
Also early in 2000, Chukotkan indigenous activist Vladimir Etylin established an independent humanitarian aid organization called Poliarnaia zvezda ("Polar Star"), which focuses on the neglected villages of western Chukotka. He works closely with Alaska-based aid organizations to reach the villages of western Chukotka -- precisely the areas that tend to be overlooked by Alaskans, since so much attention gets focused on the villages of the Chukchi Peninsula. One of Etylin's main concerns is for reindeer herding in Chukotka, which has suffered a drastic decline since the collapse of the Soviet Union. He has a long-term vision for comprehensive, interdisciplinary research on Chukotkan reindeer herding, and continually seeks grants and partners to support his project.
Once Abramovich was in the governor's office, new opportunities opened up, and the U.S. government was quick to respond. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) allocated $3 million to the Alaska Chukotka Development Program, based in Anchorage, Alaska. Details about this program's wide-ranging activities can be found at their web site.

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