The Colors of FLEX Initiative is a Eurasia wide effort during 2008-2009, in honor of the 15th Anniversary of the FLEX program. At present the initiative involves six program directions, based on FLEX program goals and priorities:

COLORS OF FLEX INITIATIVE

1. FLEX MOVIE. INTERNATIONAL EFFORT: Shamil Valiev - Orange

The "orange" section of the Colors of FLEX Project will involve collecting and compiling visual material (both videos and photos, edited or raw) from each hub of the hub's best alumni activities. These will then be loaded onto a collective online server. The Project Leader (Shamil) will then combine them into a complete film. Materials should be uploaded by a series of deadlines spaced every two months, and beginning on December 15.

2. TRAVELING FLAG: Samir Khalilov – Blue

A flag created by FLEX alumni from multiple hubs will be circulated in each Eurasian FLEX country between November 2008 and June 2009.The flag will be kept by each country for a period between nine days and two weeks, allowing for a week and two weekends. The flag has already traveled to Ukraine, Vladivostok, Novosibirsk, Volgograd and Kazan. A schedule for future destinations is being developed and alumni in each country are asked to organize one or more event to celebrate the 15th anniversary. The goal is for at least 20 people from each country to add their fingerprints to the flag. These prints will be symbols of the uniqueness of each alumnus/alumna, and at the same time serve as a token of cohesion within the alumni community.

3. GREEN ACTIVITIES FOR GYSD: Valeria Svart - Green

The "Green" segment of the project will involve raising environmental awareness through a series of integrated "green-thumb" events, to go along with Global Youth Service Day. Beginning with the viewing of the movie "An Inconvenient Truth", dubbed into local languages where possible, participants will move on to give their own seminars featuring the movie at schools and universities. Debates, best-idea contests, and volunteer recruitment will take place as part of the viewing session, to raise awareness of GYSD. Each hub will select and implement at least oneproject. Between April 24th and 26th volunteers and alumni will plant trees together.

4. A DROP CAN SAVE THE WORLD: Artem Sokolskyy - Red

A Drop Can Save the World is a blood drive timed to coincide with International AIDS Awareness Day-this past December 1. The event was composed of multiple components. First, alumni heightened public interest in the topic by distributing flyers about the blood drive on the street, and holding awareness sessions at local schools, universities, and American Corners in their respective regions. Afterward, alumni and community members made their way to their nearest blood donation center, and donated. In some cases, alumni held parties subsequent to the event. Because doctors recommend the donor eat sweet items after donating blood, many alumni decided to have celebrations with cookies and candy.

5. PEN FRIEND PROJECT: Kseniya Shilina - Yellow

The Pen Friend Project aims at building trans-national ties within the FLEX alumni community. It involves two parts. In the first, twelve alumni from one region will voluntarily select twelve from another country participating in the project, with the goal of establishing a long-term written correspondence. In the second phase of the project, the same framework will be applied to orphanages. Children from one orphanage per country will select children from an orphanage in another, to be a similar set of correspondence.

Goals for Alumni Pen-Friends include:

• Presenting an opportunity for FLEX alumni from different countries to exchange information about their cultures, thereby enriching their knowledge about their Eurasian neighbors through letters, pictures, and personal contact;
• Establishing a series of permanent ties between alumni from different regions, that will improve brainstorming for future common projects;
• Breaking stereotypes about other countries.

Goals for Orphanage Pen Friends include:

• Presenting an opportunity for orphans to have a "hands-on" experience with another culture;
• Allowing orphans to find new friends from a completely different country, who will nevertheless share a common background;
• Helping to establish long-lasting ties between countries.

6. AIMING HIGH FOR DISABLED: Aizat Jakybalieva - Purple

"Aiming High for Disabled" is a series of mini-projects that aim to promote awareness of disability, and underscore that disabled persons have equal rights. The project will focus particularly on removing stigmas about disability in groups of youth, and on helping disabled children feel more integrated into their
surrounding communities.

• December 3 was International Day of Disabled Persons. FLEX alumni assisted disabled children in participating in different games, such as basketball, involved them in tournaments, and had them watch music and dance performances.
• Disability Awareness Week. In the framework of this week alumni held seminars and discussions for high school and university students, on raising disability awareness among them.
• Charity Bazaar: In Kyrgyzstan alumni will organize a spring concert and exhibition of unique works of children from boarding schools, and other schools for disabled. Other hubs are also welcome to join this project!
• The FLEX program has had a long tradition of making the FLEX experience available to children with disabilities as well. English language classes and leadership seminars will be organized for them on a ongoing basis to increase their qualifications for the program. Each of the six initiatives is being led by an Alumni Coordinator. FLEX Communities across Eurasia have incorporating these initiatives into their activity calendars for 2008-2009.

For more details go to http://alumni.state.gov/news2/alumni-news/alumni-across-eurasia-gear-up