OS for House Service in Siberia

[Elena A. Marchuk]

Hi dear OS-list members!

I started to write down a letter to my dearest friend Jan Secor in Seattle
who is waiting our Report of FSC "Women-Leaders of Siberia: Strategies for
Collaboration" with OS on the 3-rd day, which worked perfectly well as I've
already write you - and closing session which I translate now in English,
probably will be interesting for you as well,

but

meanwhile, being all out of life with great influenza around, we still had
to work on our annual workshop for House Communal Service in the city of
Novosibirsk (1,5 mln people), where we for the first time (during last 5
years) decided to try OS method. Marina Tyasto and me had different groups
of 30 and 40 people with different topics: Planning and financing of HCS and
working with Territorial Counsils of selfregulation - that's mine topic. and
Marina's was close to my last direction - working with people in the
district, whose questions were - parking cars in the yards and streets (as
people has no special places for parkings - it was not planned in Soviet
time) and problems of dogs - who have no special places to go out....but
also some others, which I'm not much (sorry) listened....in the other day
report.

I was much interested in a process which we discussed with Marina at the end
of the first day, when we had 3 hours of working with our groups. Her group
refused to follow OS at once, and said that they prepared reports, when
Marina asked how many of them wanted to make reports, there were 5 people
with the reports, so Marina decided, that it will be honest to give them 3-5
minutes for their topics, and asked meanwhile the others to think of their
questions, which they want to discuss... so there were several groups
working - THOUGH SOME ASKED, IF THEY HAVE ALTERNATIVES TO OS? AS there WERE
NO ALTERNATIVES, they somehow managed to work on the topics and made some
ideas ready

my group did not want to write topics, (and I have a collegue, which
proposed to write for them on a blackboard, and whom I adked to let me let
people to write them down themselves with their names on it...)

they did not want to stand up and write down their names on topics which
they choose to discuss, as they say they are interested in all topics and
they don't want to be devided in groups. so it was not easy to move them on,

So below is an extract of my letter to Jan Secor, probably it will be
interesting for you as well.
I'm not sure that it is the best for OS, but as I've already spoke with
Birgitt, that we need to start with the democratic styles of working.
Espesially, when there is a "socialist" type of industry inside the
marketing developing economy, as I would say to do the same as to start to
embed the rightdriving system on the road little by little having leftside
driving like on many islands as Great Britain and Australia and so on. It is
impossible to do gradually, we need to do at once, but there are a lot of
surcumstances like low incomes of a half of population...... and
autoritarian  system in Housing Service.... so they are not in a market and
a mayor is saing =

YES, YOU DON'T HAVE SALARY PAID IN TIME and at all during some monthes...AND
YOU ARE FINANCED only 70% BUT YOU NEED TO DO all 100% OF SERVICE AND .... TO
SMILE TO YOUR CLIENTS....


THAT WOULD BE ENOUGH TO START AND SAY - NO OS IS POSSIBLE, NO MOTIVATION, NO
VOLUNTEERLY COMING... AND SO ON...

BUT PEOPLE NEED TO START TALKING AND DO IT IN A DEMOCRATIC WAY.

THE SPEAKER I HAD IN A GROUP - NOBODY OF THE AUTHORITIES KNEW. THEY ASKED
ME - WHERE THIS WOMEN IS WORKING? AND SHE MADE A GREAT SPEACH, THOUGH TRYIED
TO ESCAPE AND FELT HERSELF IN SOME OTHERS PLATE, BUT ONLY AT THE BEGINNING,

SO


It was - 30 C outside ( that was our Tuesday) and the whole this week - and
the same prognose for the weekend) People were cold and did not want to
move....

and that was the first day of every-year House-comunal Service Workshop we
worked with Marina every year, so she was brave enough to come (still
struggling with her influenza) and provide 3 hours OS - as we decided to
do - in her group, and me - in mine... my group was working OK, though it
was not easy for me to move them to write down the topic, as I worked in
pair with one of the SAPA (Siberian Academy for Public Administration)
professors - Soloviev, so he proposed just to write down the questions, they
want to descuss. I asked him to help me and to let me move people to write
down topics them selves and their names ! with them, so very slow they did
it, and on my asking to put the others names on topics they want to
discuss.... they did not like the idea to be devided into groups, to put
their names, and when I asked them - How should I think about them: they
don't want to work? or they are afraid of responsibility, - they say - Yes,
you've heard, what a mayor (major) of the Novosibirsk said on the
initiative.... just do it. no matter that there is no  financiang!....And
that is true.... and still we have to do something to stop lying, to start
discussing, to start moving forward and not letting as it is in Vladivostok
area now, that people stay in a house with no water, no electricity, no
heating.... and they have just
0 C - and they are crying of couse, .... and what it could be in Siberia as
we have our fuel supply for only one week every week?
sorry
that is our business
just the way we work with housing service system

So Marina could not came to the Report Session as she went to doctor, but
her group was OK, though there were 5 people who wanted to make report first
and some asked: do they have alternative to what is proposed, and if they
don't want any OS? so it was 5 reports first and other people worked on some
important for them topics as Parking in the yards and streets and dogs
problems but still that was there choice which was not probably the first
level problems to House Service System. But the Report was OK. as one of the
responsible persons from the side of house service system took it....

So everything is fine, and we are working on a Report of Women-Leaders of
Siberia.

and the results are great, as we got a good team of women-leaders, really
leaders, doing much work, and they were surprised, that women-leaders can
work together, concretly and in love....to each other....

let me put all this in words and in something more constructive, so I could
do the sort of an article and hope Marina will write her words too. I gave
her some time limits - to move her... as there really will be Happy New Year
celebrations soon. She has too many things to do at once , but hope, we can
do it soon.

Best wishes to all of you who care for my writing and to those who is not,

Elena Marchuk
Ph.D. Director of the Regional Development Center "Ceres"

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