John Kirk '87
Leaving the "Big A" Behind
John Kirk's coal stove was on the fritz. Not a good development in this, the coldest winter that Kazakhstan had seen in fifty years. And not the kind of problem that he ever had to solve in his previous life as a portfolio manager.
Kirk's dramatic life-change grew out of reflection inspired by public trauma-the terrorist attacks of 2001. At the time, he was traveling to New York every month from Philadelphia, where he worked for Prudential Financial. "The 9/11 tragedy was intense in the financial community," he recalls.
He found himself wrestling with his identity as an American, and with thoughts about the image of the United States elsewhere in the world. A chance conversation with a former Peace Corps volunteer proved decisive. "I wanted to share what I felt it was to be an American, not just some caricature of what some think it is," Kirk says. "The Peace Corps resonated strongly with me, like a kind of fate. This was a chance to do something significant by living abroad, to show folks that there was another side. I applied and was accepted
the same day."
Kirk, an English major who graduated from Kenyon in 1987, had gone on to earn an MBA from Boston College. While of little use with coal stoves, the business degree and his financial experience have helped him immeasurably in his work as a consultant to the Taldykorgan Business Center in southeast Kazakhstan, about ninety minutes from the Chinese border.
Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, scores of nonprofit organizations sprang up in former satellite states like Kazakhstan to help deliver services the government no longer provided. Adept at securing financing from global institutions like the World Bank, these groups nevertheless had problems with program sustainability and long-range planning. The Business Center offers free needs assessments, organizational planning, marketing tips, and strategies for teaching English to area businesses and organizations.
In addition to forging relationships with his local professional colleagues, Kirk is coordinating staffing for a children's summer camp and working with an orphanage. He's also teaching training sessions for the next Peace Corps cadre and helping to establish guidelines
for them.
"You really have to modify your expectations," says Kirk. "You have to learn how to rethink. You have to begin to appreciate not just what you have but what you need to let go of in order to have an impact on your community. You may not finish one project, but as long as you keep trying to transfer skills you can make a difference."
Approximately four times the size of Texas, Kazakhstan is witnessing fast if imbalanced development thanks to the single largest oil find anywhere in the last few years. If western Kazakhstan is rich in natural resources, the infrastructure in Taldykorgan remains decidedly low tech. Street lights are shut off at midnight to save energy. Telephone service often goes down for days at a time. Residents attach grips to their boots in order to walk the streets and sidewalks, which are not cleared of snow or ice.
"Children are still pulled by grandparents in sleds," Kirk says. "Walking down the street, you'll see a horse, a second-hand car from Germany, and 300 sheep coming right through the middle of town."
If living conditions are often challenging-the menu in winter revolves around horse meat, and indoor plumbing is rare-the openness of the people makes the hardships worthwhile. "There is such a sincerity to get to know you that it's overwhelming," says Kirk. "If you leave the big "D" [in democracy] and the big "A" [in America] behind, people will embrace you, and want to share their country with you."
As for Kirk's stove, once he thawed the interior pipes with a blowtorch and mopped up the flood created by melting ice that had leaked from the roof, things warmed up.
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