IBC Launches First American Website
I want to give some kudos to the IBC Internet Division team for launching their first site for an American client. The site is located at www.dwacademy.com. In addition to this being the first American website, the team also used this opportunity to train one of the kids from the Zhas Dauren Orphanage in web development, flash and cms development. It was an all around win, win.

The team has come a long way in a year and a half.

This Blog and my site
First, I want to say that I absolutely had no idea how many people checked my site and read my blog until I went home for the holidays. It seems almost everyone that I know keeps tabs on me via my site. With that said, I guess I need to apologize for not being more diligent in my updates. Basically my lack of updates has been a combination of being busy with projects and just thinking that the content was boring. I guess it is more interesting to my reader base than to the writer. To say it another way, I think the things that seemed extraordinary about this experience have now become completely ordinary but I think they still give you a laugh or a smile.

So, I will try to update the blog a bit more often and I will try to add new photos over the next few weeks. I also need to finalize my final e-mail newsletter.

Three Months to go
Can you believe it, I only have three months left in Kazakhstan. Well, I can’t say that the time has flown by but I can say the time has been filled with some great experiences. I am ready to head back to my “real” life in the states but I am sure it will be difficult saying goodbye to all of my new friends.

No final decisions on where I will land when I return to the US but it is looking like New York or Dallas. Stay Tuned for my latest job news.

The Weather Is Freezing
Well, I have finally experienced a REAL winter. For the past few weeks, the temperature in Uralsk has been hovering around -35. Luckily this week, it is about -15 to -20 and snowing. I realized that this was the coldest weather that I had every experienced when I was walking to work and my eyelashes froze together.

You would think that the cold winter weather would keep us inside but I joined 8 other volunteers (and 6 local friends) for the annual sin cleansing cold plunge. Yes, we did the plunge in -35 degree weather. And yes, it was really cold. I lost feeling in my feet and hands almost instantly but I still managed to drink my shot of vodka and take a bite of a salty pickle before I put my clothes back on. It was still a great time but I much preferred the -5 weather that we had last year.

I knew this was my last chance to plunge in Uralsk so I couldn't let the weather stop me!

Back in Uralsk
I arrived back in Uralsk after a fantastic visit to the states. I definitely feel refueled after my month home. I had a great week in Dallas reconnecting with friends and colleagues and seeing my new niece for the first time not to mention seeing my sister for the first time after a year. I also did some preliminary job interviews. Then I was off to New York for more visiting, hanging with my family and doing a few more interviews. After New York, I headed to Kentucky to spend time with my Mom, Dad and other family members. It was a great and relaxing visit. I ended my trip back in Dallas with my mom, sister and a few friends. I also had a nice stop in Amsterdam on the way back to Uralsk.

Now I am on my final 4 months in Uralsk and the last mile of my Peace Corps Volunteering.

Home for the Holidays
I am heading home on Dec 8 and will be there until Jan 2. It will be my first time home in nearly two years and I can't wait.

Launch of Pushkin Hotel Website
I wanted to invite you to visit the newly launched Pushkin website at http://www.pushkinhotel.com.

I would also suggest that if you are planning a visit to Uralsk, you should consider staying at the Pushkin - especially for the adoption couples. The Pushkin is the nicest hotel in Uralsk and the management provides great customer service. They also provide high speed internet service and free laundry service. In the past, people complained about the mostly italian menu but it has improved and there are so many more restaurant choices in Uralsk that it isn't an issue.

Enjoy the site.

Secondary Projects that Make a Difference: Helping the Zhas Dauren Orphanage
Sue and I wrote the following story to chronicle our work with the orphanage. I thought I would share it with you. In the story, it seems like Sue and I did all the work but really it was a joint effort between multiple NGOs, donor organizations, volunteers and friends. I hope you enjoy it.
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When Sue and I arrived in Uralsk, Kazakhstan in the spring of 2004, we knew we would be spending the majority of our time working with our NGOs to help business leaders but we also knew that we wanted to focus our secondary projects on helping the kids at the local orphanages. We had no idea how our internal desire to help the kids would turn into such a comprehensive series of programs and touch our own hearts in so many ways.

So here is the story as we saw it or at least how we would tell it on this day.

Project One: Foster Care Program
Sponsored By: Phillip Morris
Implemented By: Women’s Union

It all started during our first few weeks in Uralsk when Sue arrived at her new organization – Business Association of Women. During the first meeting the director talked about a new project that they had started a month prior and told Sue that they needed the help of an American to work with the children. We realized that this could be the starting point for accomplishing our goals for working with the orphanage in Uralsk.

The program is similar to the foster care system in America. During the first year there were 14 families with 20 children, seven of these families were somehow related to the child, but did not have money to house, feed, or clothe the children for the entire year. The second year 18 families participated along with 25 children. The Women’s Union of Hope, paid each family $12.00 every week to ensure that relatives could stay together during the summer, and to help the families who only wanted to give a child a family setting, but did not have the monetary means. Both years the program consisted of taking the students to the movie theater, cafes, out for ice cream, and picnics in the park. The end of the year finale was held in the main park where the families, students, sponsors, and Union of Women played games and picnicked. Leaving the children looking forward to the next year when they would have another chance at living the life of a family.

As Sue was helping to launch the foster care program, I began to talk with BG Kazakhstan about a computer training program to help the students at Zhas Dauren.

Project Two: Orphanage Computer Training Program
Sponsored By: BG Kazakhstan
Implement By: IBC Group

The next project that we launched was a training program focused on helping orphanage kids ages 15-17. We developed a 10-month computer training program for students at the Zhas Dauren Orphanage in the West Kazakhstan Oblast in order to help the students learn valuable computer skills and prepare for the university. The students were transported from the Orphanage to our training facility two days each week for their lessons. The program allowed us to teach 40 students, hire a project manager, project administrator and three trainers.
The first year of our orphanage training program came to an end on May 20, 2005 during a graduation ceremony held at the IBC Group training center. All 36 orphanage kids that completed the BG computer training project attended the event. Three representatives from BG Kazakhstan joined us for the press conference and certificate ceremony. It was great to see how happy the kids were to receive the certificates. We were also able to offer fully paid, four year university scholarships for two of the kids. Additionally, we recognized 8 students who excelled in the program and on the final exam, and we selected one of the eight students for a summer internship at IBC Group. The event included interviews with the press, certificate and scholarship ceremony, performance carried out by the kids, and many speeches. I think it was great ending to a solid and impactful program.
I have pasted a note from one of the sponsor mothers of a student that participated in the class:

My name is Donna from New Jersey and I have a beautiful two year old daughter adopted from Almaty. I am also the Sponsor Mom to Sholpan who resides at the Zhas Dauren Orphanage and has taken the wonderful computer classes that you have been involved in arranging. Sholpan has told me that the classes have recently ended and I just wanted to write you a heartfelt thank you for this wonderful, wonderful program !! Sholpan has enjoyed every minute of the classes (she's always so excited to tell me about them) and is extremely grateful for everything that she has learned. Thanks to these classes, Sholpan e-mails me regularly which has been amazing for us because we are extremely close and love to communicate with one another. Sholpan was also so very excited to learn how to conduct herself during a job interview and how to write a resume. Thank you for teaching these precious children the skills that they will need in the world to survive on their own.

It was great to know that the class meant enough to the kids to share it with their sponsor families in the States.

Projects 3 and 4
Project Three: British Gas Orphanage Computer Training Program (Year 2)
Sponsored By: BG Kazakhstan
Implement By: IBC Group

Based on the results and positive feedback from the initial computer training project, BG Kazakhstan and IBC Group decided to expand the project for the 2005/2006 academic year.

The program was expanded as follows:

1.To include Kazakh and English language training in the program; The program was expanded from two to three days each week.

2.To provide scholarships to an institution of higher education for two graduates from the program

3.Provide internship opportunities to three graduates of the program (one at BG in Astana, one at IBC and one at Karachaganak Petroleum)

Our first orphanage programs, in partnership with BG and the Phillip Morris, were a catalyst for a series of programs designed to help the Zhas Dauren Orphanage. Soon after we launched these programs in the summer of 2004, Sue and I began meeting with American Adoption couples traveling to Uralsk. Typically these couples found Sue and I through my website (www.terryyoung.com) and would contact us via e-mail prior to their arrival. For several months, we met with couples almost every week and gave them tours, joined them for dinner and discussed the orphanage and Uralsk. We quickly realized we could not keep this up for two years but the couples truly needed this information and support, so we designed a program focused on helping the couples acclimate in Kazakhstan and learn as much about KZ culture as possible.

Project Four: American Adoption Family Project
Sponsored By: IBC Group
Implement By: IBC Group and World Partners

We had many local friends who also felt inclined to share their own culture with the American guests. Thus, they were willing to have Americans visit their homes and cook traditional food such as, bisparmack and manti. The more time that we spent with the Ameirican couples, the more we realized that this could be a fundraiser for the orphanage since the couples wanted to talk about life at Zhas Dauren and the baby houses. Therefore, through the funding of IBC Group and the execution by Sue the American Adoption Project was formed. The focus of this program was:
•To reduce the stress of being in a foreign country and increase the couples enjoyment while being in Kazakhstan.

•To create a sustainable fundraising program for projects at Zhas Dauren.

•Educate couples about Uralsk and the country of Kazkahstan where they would be able to later share their knowledge with their adopted children.
Through these programs, Sue began to make regular visits to Zhas Dauren and meet with the teachers, Director and students. She began to teach English to the students at her office and invited several of them into the city for special outings and visiting her house. At the same time she was befriending the students, she was also being introduced to their sponsor families in America through email. Many Americans found comfort in having a fellow American working with their children acting as a correspondent of information. One of the major connections Sue made through being a facilitator was Donna Tagliaferro, one of the kids sponsor mom.

Projects 5 - 8
Project Five: Zhas Dauren Online Gazette
Sponsored By: Phillip Morris
Implement By: Union of Women, Hope

As many of these sponsor families had questions about Zhas Dauren, this spawned an idea of taking the Russian Zhas Daren Newspaper and converting it to an electronic English version which Americans who sponsor students or who have adopted from Kazakhstan could read. Using a contact made through email, the Director of World Partners used his mass email list of 280 people, to distribute the newsletter himself.

As Sue earned the trust and close friendship of Miss Tagliaferro, she became inspired by all our efforts and decided to raise money in the US to help build a Zhas Dauren Website. Over several months she raised $500 for the development of the site.

Project Six: Zhas Dauren Website (www.zhasdauren.kz)
Sponsored By: Donna Tagliaferro
Implement By: IBC Group

The website projected was created at IBC by pairing an experienced designer and US Peace Corps Volunteer Becky Long with four kids from the Zhas Dauren Orphanage. The kids spent two weeks in intensive training to prepare for the site development then the team designed, developed and launched the new site in two languages. Now, we are outlining the next phase of the website that will include a content management system, poll and several other new features.

Based on the success of our programs with BG and in response to the strong partnership developed between IBC Group, BG and US Peace Corps Volunteers, BG invited me to speak at a conference on Corporate Social Responsibility. This conference was attended by all of the main donor organizations and corporations across Kazakhstan. I presented our successful programs that had been developed for the Kids of Zhas Dauren and sponsored by BG.

Project Seven: BG Sponsored Corporate Responsibility Conference
Sponsored By: BG Kazakhstan
Implement By: IBC Group

Fortunately, I had the opportunity to speak on a panel with some extremely interesting presenters. One presenter discussed a project where she helped orphanage graduates by placing them in a workshop and teaching them technical skills. As soon as I heard the case study, I knew we could offer a similar program by placing the graduates in our business incubator at IBC. I put the idea in my back pocket for the time being while I thought through how to turn it into a reality.

Luckily our relationship with BG continued to flourish and they decided that the President of BG Kazakhstan would visit IBC and meet the kids. First of all, I think it is unusual to have your sponsor at your facility three times in two month and have the President taking a vested interest in social programs but I must say, it was a pleasant surprise. This visit and passion from the kids inspired the President of BG Kazakhstan, Larry Andersen, and he asked us to prepare a new program to help the graduates of the orphanage. He realized the kids that were graduating from the orphanage did not have a well developed support group and this was a time when the kids got involved in high risk behaviors. Obviously this was the catalyst for introducing a new program focused on placing Zhas Dauren Orphange graduates in our business incubator for technical training.

Project Eight: Business Incubator Orphanage Graduates Project
Sponsored By: BG Kazakhstan
Implement By: IBC Group

We knew the skills the students gained in the computer training programs were beneficial, specifically for students that plan to pursue a university education. However, in recent years only about 15% of Zhas Dauren graduates had integrated well into their new community and many lacked the technical and professional experience required to be competitive in the labor market. Difficulties often arose since the new graduates no longer lived in the supportive environment of the Zhas Dauren family -- 15-20% had difficulties finding permanent residence and 60-65% got involved in activities that resulted in trouble with the law. IBC Group and the director of Zhas Dauren orphanage noticed that graduates who do not attend a university upon graduation have an especially difficult time finding suitable work. Given that only about 40% of Zhas Dauren graduates attend a 4-year university, there was great need to provide assistance to the remaining 60% of the graduates. Based on this information, we created a new program to help these graduates. The program worked as follows:

•Provides 10 participants with 6-month training internships (two 6-month intervals with 5 participants each)

•Provides these 10 participants with business and life skills training 1 day per week

•Provides a small computer training facility for participants to use during weekly trainings

•Assists participants with job placement after completion of program

The program began in September 2005 and will finish at the end of October 2006. The program will focus on three main goals:

•Provide orphanage graduates, who are not pursuing a university education, with the required technical trade, business and specific computer skills necessary to succeed in finding employment in the West Kazakhstan Oblast

•Provide IBC Group’s incubator clients with additional skilled employees upon completion of the program

•Encourage spirit of entrepreneurialism by supporting small businesses and creating jobs in the WKO

While developing the incubator program with BG, Becky, another U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer working at IBC, and I had contacted other companies that were doing similar programs. During those discussions, we talked with Phillip Morris and realized that they might be willing to sponsor a similar internship program in Uralsk. Sue decided to pursue this program and immediately began negotiating an additional program for three Zhas Dauren graduates to develop skills and find employment in Uralsk.