from Stephen Lapeyrouse
Hello Friends and Participants of ELE,
I am writing to you personally about one of the regular speakers to ELE, the very popular, David Wansbrough, who lives in Australia.
As of May 2010 ELE has held more than 150 evenings since 1998, with more than 130 different speakers. Anybody who has participated more than a few times in ELE knows that there are a wide variety of speakers and topics, personalities and speaking styles.
Having observed these evenings, I can honestly say that the evenings with David Wansbrough have been among the most lively, even unpredictable, ELEs. Stimulating – even if you must “suspend disbelief” (see Passport Magazine article on one of David’s lectures) to understand, to experience David’s talks – actually they are more like events, or performances…his evenings have been amongst those ELEs from which people left not only with new ideas or “information”, but even new impulses and thoughts and emotions to see the world, to think about the world and themselves in it, in new ways.
In an incredible incident some years ago now, David (now age 61) lost the regular, dependable income on which he had counted for his and his family’s future, and which had allowed him to do that for which he is gifted and which ELE has been fortunate to be able to experience (among his many varied activities in Moscow) in his "talks". This work allowed him to come to Moscow regularly. (He once paid the entrance fee, to his own lecture in the Lenin Library, for about 40 students!)
I have never made a direct appeal for money, but David needs some help. He needs help to be able to come back to Russia to do his varied talks in Moscow, and he recently had a serious medical operation (consequences of an assault in Moscow some years ago near Metro Shchyolkovska), all for which his has little monetary means!
If you can, please contribute to a fund set up for David – established by his Moscow friend, translator and “representative” Katherine Vikrova.
You can express your appreciation to David for his presentations, his guided walks in Moscow, his consultations, his efforts to help enliven and inspire Russian culture…by making a donation to:
Sberbank account:
Ïîëó÷àòåëü ïëàòåæà: Âèõðîâà Åêàòåðèíà Íèêîëàåâíà
Hoìåð ñ÷åòà ïîëó÷àòåëÿ: 42306.810.4.3805.0028720
(Be sure to take your passport.)
If you can not afford to give, say, 3000 rubles, then consider 1500r, or 1000r, or 500r or 300r even! Or just think to give David one or two hours of your time (the amount of money you earn in one or two hours of work)!
David needs help... to come to Russia, and for his medical and life expenses.
Please, if you have gained from all that David gives when he comes to Russia, then please give him something back!
Sincerely,
Stephen Lapeyrouse
Founder and Host English Language Evenings