Istanbul/Constantinople...and then Greece.

From life at the Monastery to life on the coast, needless to say we were thankful for some diversity in our diet when we arrived in Istanbul...We were also thankful to see absolutely no snow for the first time in three and a half months! 

Turkey was beautiful so we will let the photos speak for themselves.

A city of 16 million people takes up a lot of space...

Outside the Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia

The Blue Mosque

Epic interior of the Blue Mosque

From the Grand Bazaar to the Spice Bazaar...

Testing some Turkish Tea...

He asked for the photo!

One of our most memorable culinary experiences in Turkey, by far,  was grabbing a fresh fish sandwich off of one of the boats stationed underneath the Galata Bridge...

As we are on a pretty tight budget, we enjoyed many sandwiches during our stay...

Tavuk Doner #36

We happened upon a Kitty Hostel.

Their leader...

For Kelly's birthday we took a ferry up the Bosphorus (the river that divides the European and Asian sides of Istanbul) to the mouth of the Black Sea...

The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge connecting Asia and Europe.

Dolphins!

Our ferry took us to the fishing village of Anadolu Kavagi...

Backwards "K" is for Kelly!

After celebrating Kelly's birthday, we headed south to the town of Kucukkuyu on the Eastern Coast of the Aegean Sea.  We reached Kucukkuyu and found our way to the Dedetepe Community, an ecovillage in the hills outside of the city organized by a family dedicated to preserving the ecological integrity of the region. Before we even arrived, we noticed the plethora of solar panels and solar hot water systems being used in the city and were not shocked when we learned that, as a whole, Kucukkuyu and the surrounding hills attract many ecologically minded people. In fact, as legend has it, a spiritual leader is buried on one of the foothills known as Dedetepe (meaning "grandfather hill" in Turkish).   His burial attracts environmentally conscious people to the region, gradually building a people-powered movement.

The spectacular outdoor kitchen at Dedetepe...

A small retaining wall we built to protect an artichoke and some other edible weeds....

We were quick to join the Dedetepe futbol league....

But even quicker to join the revelry by the fire...

When it comes to taking in stray dogs in the area, Dedetepe is incredibly generous with its limited resources ...Meet Pupita, AKA Mangey Marge. Pupita was saved from certain death and treated for a serious case of mange - hence the affectionate nickname. 

A blind pup named Luna is also grateful for the generosity of Dedetepe.

Not all of Dedetepe's community members are pleased about the puppy surplus...

Meet Princess Rhea.

Dedetepe's primary form of income is playing host to groups from around the world who come for workshops or general relaxation...After 3 months in areas of the world not often frequented by westerners (especially in the dead of winter) we were greeted at Dedetepe by an awesome group of students from Westmont College in Santa Barbara. Three of the students were from Colorado and one of them has family in Castle Rock! If we have learned one universal truth during our little adventure it is without a doubt that the world is very small - and that when in doubt and confronted with a language or cultural barrier, Michael Jackson heals all tension. 

Sending our students off to continue their journey through Jordan, Israel, and Palestine. 

They left behind a very generous offering...

One of Dedetepe's longterm volunteers, Ashlei, reading what we are certain is the most thoughtful and well written thank you note ever.

After the students left we went to work preparing for summer planting...

Above is a photo of one of the gardens pre-weeding.

several days later....

Although the work was hard, it was made easier by our introduction to Tahini Pecmez. How we had survived our 26 years without this delicacy is nothing short of an injustice. 

Saying goodbye to Luke (another long term volunteer) before he headed to his next farm in Morocco.

The work at the farm was hard, but we found time for relaxation....

One afternoon, en route to pick up that day's bread, we came across a cow and had the unfortunate experience of learning how livestock is maintained in the region.   We learned that a rope is tied from the cow's neck to one of its front feet to keep its head down (to force it to eat) and to prevent it from running. Because that is such a story, we will lighten the mood by sharing a story with a bit more levity...While the students were in town, one of them asked about a small structure near the perimeter of the farm that appeared to hold a large animal. Ruben (a longtime volunteer from Barcelona) responded to the inquiry by saying - what to our American English tuned ears sounded like: "That is the whore house.   We used to have a one-eyed whore, but she chewed through her ropes and ran away." After some wide eyes and confused looks someone eventually said, "um....., what??" We were told that  Dedetepe not only rescues dogs, but also once took in a horse that was missing an eye and showed visible signs of physical trauma. Unfortunately, still fearing people, the horse became agitated one day, chewed through her rope and escaped. Fortunately, during our last few days at the farm, she reappeared! 

One afternoon we took a trip to the village of Adatepe and the Temple of Zeus. The path to the temple is lined with trees which we are pretty sure awaken every night to dance  - only to freeze again at dawn in various positions.

The Temple of Zeus.

Wishes tied to the surrounding trees....

Adatepe is a small village that dates back several hundred years.  Now it is occupied by only a couple dozen families. The village is incredibly special because it still maintains its original architectural integrity and design. In order to build in this village you must renovate a current structure and maintain all of the original design.

A turkey in Turkey...priceless.   We are quite certain that, like the village,  he is also several hundred years old.

We entered Turkey just as the spring temperatures were starting to rise...With the other volunteers, we  began a special tradition of venturing to the Shalalle 

in the afternoon to jump off the 30 ft cliff....

In addition to our farming related work, Chris took on teaching Nehir how to read...Educational opportunities in the village are pretty limited, especially for a bilingual child trying to learn to read and write in both Turkish and English.   So Chris designed a lesson plan....

A lesson plan that  - upon our departure, was taken over by Ruben!

From Dedetepe, we hitchhiked South to Ayvalik for a couple days of camping on the beach to celebrate Chris's birthday!

fun with camera effects and puppy models...

Together with the many lessons in organic gardening and collective leadership communities 

we learned how to knit!

To celebrate Chris's birthday as well as Easter, we took a ferry over to 

the island of Lesvos in Greece!

We were hosted by the beautiful Nefili  (and her krewe of dancing, singing, ouzo drinking and good food eating friends)  in her home town of Mytiline. 

This is not, in fact,  the motel scene from Scarface,  but actually Easter Dinner preparations 

at Nefeli's parents' house....

The Greek inspiration for Red Rocks?

Urban development in Greece proves very difficult  with the risk of uncovering ancient ruins every time some dirt is turned over. This was supposed to be the site of the new town hall. 

duh?

double duh?

On Good Friday we toured an olive oil factory once used to fund the school system for the surrounding community. The factory had a long and interesting history dedicated to preserving organic olive oil production as well as collective management and profit sharing.

Yes, we are seriously missing our dog, Elbert. 

Hamam - AKA Turkish Bath.

Dried octopus tentacles. 

On Good Friday evening we took a trip into the mountains to a small village that annually plays host to a candle light procession commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus. All of the lights in the town are shut off and hundreds of people and musicians with candles take to the streets, marching to the cemetery where a bed of flowers is laid. 

We were not the only ones who thought it sounded a lot like a Second Line! Along the way we met a guy from Texas who had just moved to Athens.

From Greece we returned to Istanbul where we had assumed we would be taking a train to Hungary for some purely touristy days in Budapest. While trying to buy our tickets, we learned that the train route we were planning on taking had been canceled...After a few panicked moments, we also learned that our only routes out of Istanbul and further into Europe (that fit our budget) would take us further into the Balkans and through the former Yugoslavia.   We realized that this was quite a welcome adjustment for us.

For the last couple of weeks we have been traveling through Kosovo and Bosnia. As people who have only known these countries as war torn, we were amazed by what we witnessed. More on that later...

Abuse in the Ranks: Dedovshchina in the Russian Armed Services

Russia has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and respects this convention by keeping youthful offenders in juvenile court/facilities with sentences that do not exceed 10 years.

However, Russia does face crisis in its armed services – a group whose members' human rights are all too often ignored or it is assumed that the group is immune. Conscription laws in Russia require that all men between the ages of 18 – 27 to serve at least 1 year in the armed services. Conscription laws are not rare and are seen in several countries around the world according to numerous human rights organizations.  However, annually Russia's policy leads to several hundred suicides, several thousand men engaging in illegal bribes, self harm and illegal emigration to avoid The Service.  This desperation is caused largely by the illegal hazing practice known in Russia as Dedovshchina (roughly translated as Grandfathering).

Dedovshchina is internal military violence that is based on rank – with the youngest troops as the primary victims. Annually, hundreds of deaths are attributed directly to this violence. Fear of  this abuse has lead to rapid decline in enlistment with only 10% of those required to serve actually complying with the law. This decline has not only weakened the Russian Armed Services, it has severely harmed the Russian family unit – due to those who engage in illegal means to avoid conscription and those who fall victim to its abuses and are left with little support from their Government.  Although the situation is dire and many site the Government's lack of attention to the problem as the root cause, one organization (composed entirely of women) has turned this misery into a source of action, fighting to directly support men and their families in The Service and to reform this ailing institution.

"In Russia Kids are Kids...We Want to Be Known as a Humane State"

There are currently 1,766 people serving life sentences in Russia. None of these people entered as youth. In the United States there are 140,610 people serving life sentences. It is estimated that over 2,000 of these people were sentenced for crimes committed before their 18^th birthday. 

Russia is second to the United States for the proportion of people incarcerated in the respective country.  Incarceration is all too often the final resort used by the Courts in each country; however,  withregard to youth, five years ago the High Court in Russia took steps to mandate that incarceration of youthful offenders be used only in extreme circumstances. Even prior to implementing this policy there was no adult transfer in Russia and in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, no child could be held in prison for more than 10 years. Additionally, even if a child were given the most extreme sentence, the child would typically be held in juvenile colonies until at least the age of 21.  In contrast to the United States where prisons continue to be constructed and capacity of current facilities increased, in Russia the Ministry of Justice has said that it aims to reduce the capacity of Russian Penal Institutions to 676,936 (down by 156,690) by 2020 . This reduction will  be the result of several reforms most relevant to our research:  further commitment to using incarceration as a method of last resort for youthful offenders; raising the transfer age from 21 to 24 allowing more youth to serve their full terms in juvenile colonies (aka juvenile prisons). This reeducation/reform is already occurring as is evidenced by the fact that as of 2011 there were 62 juvenile colonies in Russia. The population of youthful offenders is estimated at 3,500.  This number is down 488 since 2010.

Although Russia is seeking progressive and innovative reform of its penal system, the strategy behind this reform has received criticism by human rights activists who believe, like activists in the United States, that the root causes of incarceration are being ignored.  Specifically, these root causes are (for both juveniles and adults) a lack of rehabilitative programming in prison and limited support of re-entry upon release. Although half a world away, the crises of reform in Russia are nearly identical to those faced in the United States.  Perhaps the larger crisis is the lack of dialogue to learn from each others mistakes. 

During our time in Moscow we met with Valery Sergeev at the Moscow Center for Prison Reform (MCPR). Founded by a formerly incarcerated person, the MCPR focuses on eight main areas to reform juvenile incarceration: 1) A weekly radio program broadcast into prisons; 2) Social assistance to juveniles in prison and during re-entry; 3) Art rehabilitation programs in the Juvenile Colonies (aka Prisons); 4) Disseminating information on the civil rights of prisoners through brochures; 5) Maintaining a website; 6) Corresponding with prisoners; 7) Humanitarian aid (i.e. food, books); and 8) Public oversight of prisons and places of detention. Below are photos taken by MCPR and published in various brochures and reports...

The existence of an organization such as MCPR suggests that the juvenile prison system in Russia is in desperate need of reform; however, despite its failings, Russia still respects the human rights of youth by sentencing them to a maximum of 10 years in prison. When asked why he believes the Russian government would respect this human right, Mr. Sergeev (a long time prison reform activist) responded simply, "In Russia kids are kids...We want to be known as a humane state." It is important to note this difference between the United States and Russia when it comes to this particular human right.  Again, our two countries share a crisis in the areas of rehabilitation and re-entry. The problems in these areas are comprised of micro and macro level deficiencies in both countries.

On the macro level, problems include the fact that colonies/juvenile prisons are located hundreds of miles/kilometers away from a youth's family, which heavily strains relationships and, ultimately, the prospect for reconciliation post release. Additionally, rehabilitative programming inside the colonies/juvenile prisons  fails to meet youths' needs for success on the outside, i.e. job training in relevant fields as opposed to mopping floors; mental health treatment for both trauma (a common root cause of criminal behavior) and mental illness; continuing education to enable a youth to re-enter at the age-appropriate grade level upon release; proper hiring/training of staff to facilitate abilities beyond maintaining security. Further, assessment tools used to measure rehabilitation fail to account for variances between youth, i.e. family structure, mental illness, gender, sexuality. Too often, these assessment tools will award youth who are successful in school, who - without persuasion -  accept counseling, who are active in the church, who seek relationships with their family and/or seek marriage.  The same assessment tools punish those who do not exhibit the same performance and or tendencies without consideration for learning disabilities, being from abusive homes, religious differences, or LGBT identified youth.

On the micro level problems include colonies/juvenile prisons failing to provide proper resources for hygiene, eye glasses for youth with vision problems, identification cards/passports, seasonally appropriate clothing, and basic cleanliness and safety of facilities.

Currently in Russia the MCPR is largely responsible for rehabilitative programming in, and re-entry from, juvenile colonies. In addition to providing humanitarian support in the form of money, food, clothing, hygienic means, obtaining identification, providing legal assistance and advocacy, and locating family, MCPR employees instruct an art therapy program for young prisoners. In years past this program has paired professional artists with youth to produce calendars and art exhibits intended to both raise awareness about the crisis of juvenile incarceration and provide an outlet for expression for the youth. Below are photos of past projects...

Although the problems are vast and seemingly imbedded into the foundations of our penal systems, there are models around the world to which we can look for inspiration and reform. Norway is often regarded as famous for its "progressive prison system." Although upon first glance Norway's most notorious "Bastoy Prison" evokes images of one of America's most infamous institutions, this island colony bears nothing in common with the United States' historic and now abandoned Alcatraz. At Bastoy there are no walls or bars, no razor wire, no crowded cell blocks and there are no armed guards. Prisoners live in small cabins and receive job training relevant to one day returning to free society.  Since the longest sentence available in Norway is 21 years, returning to free society will almost always be the case. 

Slovenia's prison system is also regarded as one of the more "human rights friendly" systems in the world. Prisoners in the Slovenian system are able to engage in job training and employment outside of prison walls, allowing for continued employment upon release. Additionally, prisoners pay taxes, are enrolled in pension programs, are covered by medical insurance, are eligible to vote and even run for elected office! Re-entry plans for prisoners are prepared while the person is still under secure supervision and plans are outsourced to regional social work centers. Although Slovenia's current economy has limited funds for these agencies, the structure remains.

Of particular note to those interested in problems arising from racial/ethnic group conflict in prison, Slovenia has somehow managed to construct a system where Serbians, Croatians and Albanians (three ethnic groups with a long history of conflict) serve in an integrated environment without incident.

In the next several weeks we will be visiting Ljubljana, Slovenia to learn more about this incredibly progressive and innovative system.

In the meantime, we are happy to report that USAID with the help of the American Bar Association has recently funded a list serv and blog to promote dialogue between lawyers and advocates working for prison reform in The United States and Russia. For more information please feel free to contact us.