A visit from Vladimir

It’s a long way from Russia to Indiana.
But a delegation from Vladimir State University hasn’t had any time to be homesick.
The delegation — participants in the Open World Leadership program — has seen a whirlwind of activities this week thanks to its host, Berne Rotary Club.
Since arriving Sunday, the delegates — Ivan Klimov, Yekaterina Kulagina, Anton Martsev, Ilya Mazirov and Aleksey Podolets — have toured a Cooper Farms turkey operation, an Amish swine operation and a high-tech dairy farm, and attended a Fort Wayne TinCaps baseball game. The group, accompanied by facilitator Nataliya Verkhorubova of St. Petersburg, Russia, and an interpreter, has also met with faculty at Huntington University and visited South Adams High School.
Wednesday brought the group to Portland Rotary Club’s weekly meeting, followed by tours of POET Biorefining-Portland and IOM Grain.
All of the delegates are affiliated in various capacities as faculty or PhD candidates at Vladimir State University. Vladimir is located east of Moscow in central Russia.
The Open World Leadership Center was created by Congress in 1999 to enhance understanding and build cooperation between the U.S. and the countries of Eurasia, primarily the former Soviet Union. The goal is to build a network of regional leaders with significant, first-hand exposure to this country’s government and free-market economic system.
Rotary International was awarded a grant this year to administer the exchange program.
“We believe the cultural, relational, and academic experience will be a blessing for everyone involved,” said Berne Rotary president Jeff Gaskill, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Berne.
Since its founding, the Open World program has brought about 18,000 Eurasian leaders to the U.S. Currently, it operates exchanges for leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.