At the Plast camp Novyi Sokil, located just outside of Buffalo, N.Y., the mood is bittersweet.
On one hand, the campgrounds are stirring with new life. Against the backdrop of a late-to-arrive spring, the sound of power tools could be heard. Workers were putting the final touches on new barracks that would be used to house “novatstvo” (cub scouts) during the annual summer camps. There was a quiet sense of urgency in the air, as the first occupants of the new building – attendees of the counselor training camp – would arrive in mere days.