A Truly Significant Holiday - Passport magazine

IWC Reaches Out
text and photo, John Harrison
This year marks the thirty first anniversary
since the first International Women’s’
Club meeting was convened in
Moscow. The IWC’s work in 2008 wound
up with a tremendously successful winter
Bazaar that raised more than the previous
year despite the fact that there were
fewer volunteers available to work the
stalls. The IWC, like the expat community
as a whole in Russia, has shrunk as families
have moved back home for work or
personal reasons. In 1998, membership
stood at 1,800; now it is down to 600,
plus the 150 ambassadors’ wives who
are IWC members by default. Be this as it
may, the club’s work; that of providing a
way for women to come together from
completely different backgrounds and
countries of origin, continues unabated.
Thousands of people have found friends
and inspiration from the club’s work. An
uncountable number of people have
benefited directly and indirectly from
charity work. Instead of winding down,
the club is reaching out to new sections of
the community.
Two current IWC co-presidents, Nubia
Pirone de Meyer, a judge from Uraguai
and Julieta Cervantes, wife of the Mexican
ambassador explained the current
situation:
What are the main activities of the IWC?
Nubia Pirone:
The main events are our winter bazaar
and the yearly Embassy Dinner & Ball,
but our major focus is on charity work.
We have about 70 charities now which
we support, which use the proceeds
from these two events. We work a year in
advance, so the money we make in the
ball this year will be used for charity in
2010. In this way we are sure that all the
projects we are supporting will not be cut
in the middle. This is something the IWC
has been doing in Russia for 22 years, crisis
or no crisis. Charities range from burn units
in hospitals, to orphanages, to cancer
support groups and animal protection
societies.
Apart from our charity work, probably
our most important activities are what we
call the “interest groups.” There is a huge
variety of groups available, from bible
study, to bridge and sport. Then there are
Two of three co-presidents of the IWC:
Nubia Pirone de Meyer a judge from Uruguay. Julieta Cervantes,
wife of the Mexican ambassador. Natalie Volkoff, Co-Chair Charities
the coffee mornings, which are becoming
increasingly popular.
How is the IWC changing in the face
of the crisis and the current situation in
Russia?
Julieta Cervantes:
Originally the IWC was run and geared
towards the wives of diplomats. When
the Soviet-Union collapsed, membership
increased since business with and
within Russia increased. Wives of business
expats became members too. Also
there are more working women with us
today. These people are not available to
attend IWC meetings during the week,
so we have coffee meetings on Saturday
mornings which are becoming very
popular. In some cases it is the women
who are working and the men not. We
would like to form an interest group
for mothers with children, if there are
enough people.
We have even received a few requests
for men to join the IWC. So we are
thinking about whether we should start
some club for men.
Nubia Pirone:
In Moscow it is not easy to find another
group of people who you can really
communicate with when you are an
expat.
Interview
Julieta Cervantes:
For women, it is a great opportunity
to meet people and ask all sorts of
questions. It is a lot easier when you are
in a country where you can speak the
language. When you arrive here, you
need help to simply buy things, let alone
make friends. It is very important to have
an open door and an open mind for all
these people. Everyone, everywhere in
the world is going through an economic
crisis. But people still need to keep going,
to get together, doing things, creating
things, and helping people. In spite
of all these issues, people don’t want to
just sit down at home and watch, they
want to participate.
Nubia Pirone:
We used to have a 5% stop on Russians,
that restriction was lifted about three
years ago. There are a lot of Russians who
left in the beginning of the nineties, who
are coming back. They have learned to
move about in international circles, and
want to continue this back in Russia. This
is all balanced by the fact that diplomatic
traditions in the IWC are still strong. We
have the ambassadors’ wives hosting
coffee mornings and participating in
organizational work. In all, the IWC is
maintaining its core mission, but no
longer only reaching out to just one part
of the expat community. P
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