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Oleg Vasilyevich Romenskiy's warm personality and zany sense of humor comes through loud and clear even through a translator.

The laughter rang out as he helped arrange his fellow delegates for a group photo and mugged for the camera Tuesday during the Russian group's second day visiting Minot.

Romenskiy is director of Yugra Social Register in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, and works with vulnerable populations, youth and children, and helping to improve living standards for youth. He mentioned they are working to make social welfare programs accessible to citizens using a card, similar to the way food stamp recipients can use a debit card at the grocery store.

Other members of the group who are interested in learning more about American programs that serve vulnerable populations include Svetlana Aleksandrovna Karpova, deputy head of the Center for Leisure and Education in Moscow; Irina Anatolyevna Plakhova, chief specialist for the Ministry of Social Policy of Nizhniy Novgorod Oblast in Russia; Yuliya Vladimorovna Silantyeva, head of the Research and Information Department of the Sergievsky Municipal District Administration in Sergievsky; and Yelena Stanislavovna Sunyukova, head of the public relations department for the Russian Federation's Social Insurance Fund in Moscow. The group is sponsored by the Open World Leadership Center and has been welcomed by the Minot Area Council for International Visitors, which periodically hosts groups from foreign countries visiting to learn more about the United States.

"They're brilliant," said facilitator Liliya Leonidovna Timofeyeva, who said that the card for social welfare programs mentioned by Romenskiy is particularly innovative. She commented on how accomplished this group of visitors are and how nice they are to work with.

On Monday the group visited the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch and the Burdick Job Corps Center, and visited with different

representatives at Minot State University on Tuesday. Later in the week the group will visit the Minot Head Start program, the North Central Human Service Center in Minot, and the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

The group's members are staying with host families in Minot. Romenskiy said they appreciate having the opportunity to stay with host families and to talk with American families. He's impressed by how clean Minot is and he likes the single-family residences. He said his home town has a lot of skyscrapers and is not in as good a condition. It is hard for him to find a place to play basketball with his three children.

Having three or more children, as Romenskiy does, is a bit unusual in Russia these days, said Plakhova, who said parents with a number of children can receive awards that translate as "Hero Mom." She said one of the programs she works with also provides awards for gifted children with disabilities.

Romenskiy comes from Siberia, which he said has more trees than North Dakota but has similarly cold temperatures, well below zero at certain times of the year. The area he serves also has an autonomous population called the Khanty-Mansi, known collectively as the Ob Ugric people. He is interested in visiting the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation because he sees some similarities with the minority group in his region and the Three Affiliated Tribes. Romenskiy said his home region also produces a lot of oil, much like North Dakota these days.

The members of the group seem to be enjoying themselves and learning a lot, though they are kept on a busy schedule during their visit.