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Kechi hosts Russian journalists
By Matt Heilman
Last Updated: July 01, 2010

They came with questions about community government and American life. They spent time with local community leaders, politicians and media outlets and soaked it all in, more than 5,000 miles from home.

A group of 10 Russian journalists recently returned home after spending one week in the area as part of an exchange program with the Wichita branch of Friendship Force International, a cultural exchange program established in 1977.

The journalists, consisting of writers, editors, television producers and publishers, made the cross-globe trip through the Open World Leadership Center, an independent agency of the U.S. Congress, essentially aimed at allowing Eurasian and American delegates to get to know and understand each other.

While in Wichita, the journalists stayed with host families. As a member of Friendship Force International, Kechi Mayor Bob Jackson had the opportunity to host one of the delegates and join the group on its local tours.

Staying with Jackson and his wife, Victoria, was Sergey Blinovskyh, a website reporter who covers business and the economy in Chelyabinsk, a central Russian city of about 1.1 million people.

Through a translator, Blinovskyh discussed his city's heavy machinery industry, the impact of an economic crisis and the challenge of small businesses to “get through bureaucratic obstacles."

While the journalists were open to discuss their views and experiences, the majority of their communication in Wichita was in the form of questions.

On June 24, the group met with community leaders at Kechi City Hall for a question-and-answer session. On the panel fielding questions through a pair of translators was Jackson, Park City Mayor Emil Bergquist, Sedgwick County commissioner Dave Unruh, Kechi City Council member Dave McConnaughay and new Kechi Police Officer Jonathon Kasparek.

Among a plethora of questions asked by the group included how government leaders are appointed at different levels, how different political offices are structured and an overall inquiry into what the local representatives thought about the federal government.

The journalists said that Russians don't take part in politics as much as Americans and that governors appoint mayors as part of the government control on the massive country's political system.

Bergquist asked the journalists if they'd like to see a Democracy in their country.

“We'd like a Democracy, but we are in the minority," one of them answered through a translator.

Jackson said the Wichita organization of Friendship Force has also hosted delegates from China, Australia, Germany and Australia. He said the Chinese delegation was a group of educators and the Germans and Australians “were just kind of here to have a little bit of fun."

“I would say the Russians were unique in that they asked a tremendous number of questions," Jackson said. “I loved it that they asked so many questions. They could not get enough information."





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