July 2000
Ivan Vukvukai
(President of the Anadyr Society for Sobriety, "Doverie", of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug)
Our organisation - the Anadyr Society for Sobriety, "Doverie" - was registered by the department of law of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug on the 19th of January 1995. The movement for the sobriety of the indigenous peoples of Chukotka, however, has existed for over five years. During this time concerned individuals have organised and carried out courses for 47 groups. Such groups were formed in the town of Anadyr, in the villages of Tavaivaam, Lorino, Neshkan, Uelen, Lavrentiya, Novoe Chaplino, Amguema, Vankarem, Konergino, and Rypkaipii, and in the small settlements of Mys Shmidta and Provedeniya. The overall count of individuals involved is approximately 260 people.
"Doverie" Society has the following action plan:
1. Founding a center for information and education about the dangers of alcohol abuse in the Okrug.
2. Training qualified personnel for conducting preventive courses and lectures in places densely populated by indigenous peoples.
3. Demarcating sobriety-zones in indigenous villages in Chukotka.
4. Organising societies for sobriety in villages.
5. Acquiring special literature, visual aids, films and videos showing scientific information about the problem of alcoholism.
6. Conducting polls in Chukotka to assess the impact of alcohol on families.
7. Propagation of a healthy way of life on the radio, TV and in the press.
Methods and stages of the project: A method to induce sobriety by the St. Petersburg scientist Gennadiy Andreevich Shichko is applied.
First stage: 10 day courses, during which the participants receive detailed information about alcohol and tobacco, write diaries with an analysis of their past, in which they abused alcohol, compare the past with the present, non-alcoholic state, and write a plan for a future without alcohol and tobacco.
Second stage: independent consolidation of the attitude which has been produced in the first stage.
Third stage: establishment of a sobriety-zone with-in the family, with friends and other indigenous people.
The number of members of "Doverie" is growing continuously. The society had acute problems with getting accommodation with a telephone and copy machine. We needed a place to give courses and consult people, as well as to keep our literature, visual aids and statistical information about our activities. The regional administration helped us solve these and other problems by giving us the means to buy literature and cover the costs of the special education for four active members at the "Academy of Social Techniques G.A. Shichko" in St. Petersburg. Currently the acquired accommodation is being renovated and we are buying furniture and accessories (organisational technology).
The number of people who have finished our courses and are on a sober path in life is increasing. Many of them are excellent specialists in their fields of activity, good workers who have lost their jobs due to alcoholism. The situation on the Chukotka job market is harsh; many of our co-activists have problems finding the means for living for their families with children and elderly parents. We therefore react with much interest to job offers made by foreign companies.
Besides these problems, the work of our society is hindered by other factors. All work done is based purely on the free time and enthusiasm of active members. However, to ensure the long-term effectiveness of the society, members should be competent in leadership skills, accounting and, of course, have economic livelihoods.
The peoples living in Chukotka are interested in sober-minded people, in a healthy gene pool. This is why we ask for the help of anyone who can help us to turn their attention towards the first buds of a sobriety movement on Chukotka and support our activity in any possible way.
Money can be transferred to 686710 Chukotskiy AO, Anadyr, Otke street 32, appt. 2, tel. (427) 22 2 45 14, or account nr. 40703810750230100010 in the Chukotka OSB of the Primorsk bank SB, corresponding account nr. 30101810800000000604, INN 8709006977, BIK 04771960388*.
* It is not recommended to transfer money to Russian bank accounts because of the unusually high taxes subtracted from the transferred amount. The ANSIPRA Secretariat will assist potential sponsors in finding other ways of transferring money to the society.
--The Editor.
To the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation
Chairman of the Parliament of the Russian Federation
Governor of the Kamchatka Oblast
Head public prosecutor of the Russian Federation
Chairman of the Oblast-Counsil of national representatives of the Kamchatka Oblast
Leaders of international ecological and law-protecting organisations