Web site helps Russians stay connected

Spokane’s 20,000 Russian-speaking residents have worked hard at helping one another navigate through a strange new culture. They’ve helped one another find jobs, build social and business networks and deal with problems.

What they haven’t had, until now, is an online Russian-language guide to surviving and thriving in Spokane.

But a trio of visiting Russian college students has spent the past five weeks developing RussianSpokane.org – the area’s first online information clearinghouse directed toward the Russian-speaking population.

The three students were hosted by Tincan, a Spokane nonprofit that promotes technology education and literacy. Tincan took advantage of a program offered by IREX, a Washington, D.C., group that promotes volunteer ventures between Americans and Russians.

IREX covered the travel and living costs of the three Russian students.

Modeled after similar sites in cities like Seattle, RussianSpokane.org offers a quick overview of business opportunities, social services and programs that could be useful to Russian-speaking residents. It has guidelines for families needing counseling, information for job seekers, a directory of Russian churches and tips for accessing public transportation and medical facilities.

“We would like to have more information about entertainment and things for young people. Museums and places for them to go,” said 19-year-old Lubya Matuynina, one of the students who developed the site.

Tatyana Bistrevsky, a coordinator of programs offered through Washington State University’s Cooperative Extension office here, said the Web site will help address the “many problems the Russian people here face. Many people go through depression and culture shock. Then there are the problems of students being labeled in school,” she said. “The words ‘Russian student’ follows them, and it doesn’t do good for them.”

She welcomes the new Web site “because it gives a good summary of what services we have here, in Russian,” she said.

It will also help showcase a variety of Russian social activities for the rest of the community, said Lori Kinnear, Tincan’s director of community relations.

“The Russian community here is invisible. But we hope that this site helps change that perception,” Kinnear said.

Besides Matuynina, the other two students who compiled information and designed the Web site are Alexey Venediktov and Andrey Aizvert, both 22. They lived together as guests of Spokane teacher Timothy Diko.

One of their first visits was to Bistrevsky, who teaches classes and coordinates programs for the area’s Russian community. She set up a few meetings with Russian-speaking business owners and church leaders.

Their first few interviews started stiffly and cautiously.

“When we first would come to them, people here in Spokane didn’t seem interested,” said Matuynina, who is studying journalism at a school in Kaliningrad.

“But once we started talking to them in Russian, they relaxed and helped us a lot,” she said.

The three students had never visited this country before. They’ll leave Spokane this week, spend a few days in Washington, D.C., then fly back to Russia to resume their studies.

They all said RussianSpokane.org is a work in progress. Since they haven’t had time to translate most of the content into English, the Russian-text version is more complete and useful for now, said Karen Michaelson, Tincan’s executive director.

But the students say they think it will help. “It can show you how to start a business, how to find a house, how to get food,” said Aizvert, who is studying languages at a college in the city of Vladikavkaz.

Once the students leave, Michaelson and Bistrevsky said they will find a group of volunteers to keep the Web site up-to-date. One goal is to create an online chat area or a possible online forum where residents can post questions and get answers in Russian.

Bistrevsky said area Russians run the gamut in terms of computer access.

“Those who have been here for five or more years have computers and use them,” she said. Others can get Internet access through community centers and public libraries. In addition, the extension program teaches computer classes in Russian at her office at 222 N. Havana.

Michaelson also hopes to develop a lively Web portal that gives the Russian-speaking community an online version of a community chronicle. It now tries to list most of the area businesses owned by Russian-speaking residents.

“I’d like to do more outreach, and show more of the personality of those business owners,” she said.