Text: Jeff Lewis & Arturas Bakanauskas

 LEFT: Jeff Lewis and Rasa Mekuskaite studying one of Arturas’ African snails at a Vilnius cafe table.

RIGHT: Arturas Bakanauskas, the American-Lithuanian who breeds African snails in his bathroom. 

Your dream has come true; after years of hard work and struggle, you have become one of the leading members of your profession, earning big fees. And then you receive an offer you cannot refuse: to work as an independent consultant abroad. The deadlines are loose, there is plenty of free time; travel is part of the package, and you are your own boss. You will be working in the rarefied air of executives, CEOs, managers, etc., who all speak English, so learning a foreign language is not a requirement. What's not to like?

Well, the image of the ugly American is of an outsider who comes into a situation ignorant of the local methods and customs, but who goes around telling everyone what they are doing wrong and gets angry when they fail to do so. But as an independent consultant, that is precisely your job description: telling people how to do their job. Furthermore, a low fee will mean your clients may well fail to respect you, but a high fee means they definitely expect results.

At home, you knew all the variables inside out. Here, things are done differently, and while the current system mostly seems to work for them, they would not have hired you if they did not perceive a need to change. Furthermore, they speak a distantly related language which seems to have little in common with English, no matter what expert linguists appear to say. Thus there is no way to get to the bottom of the situation so you can provide truly effective recommendations.

This is exactly the situation Jeff Lewis, a Welshman, found himself two and a half years ago when he moved to Lithuania. Jeff, a well-qualified business development consultant who had successfully resolved the unemployment problem in several UK communities, was invited to repeat his successes in the Baltics, Poland, and Slovakia.

While driving through Poland to Lithuania during heavy rains in April 2008, a lorry slammed into Jeff’s car, sending it into the central barrier. The car was totalled, most of his personal and business possessions lost, and his collarbone fractured. When he called his colleague in Klaipeda, Antanas Bucys, to report that he was seriously considering cancelling his plans, Antanas's answer changed everything: ‘Jeff, my sodyba (home) is your sodyba, my jeep your jeep’. This hospitality not only convinced him to continue his journey, but to take up permanent residence in Lithuania.

The fruit of this collaboration in Klaipeda was the award-winning ethnographic farmstead, Sena Troba (www.senatroba.lt). Jeff helped the village of Lapiai to implement rural development projects, contributed six basketballs to the school’s special needs programme, and helped to develop a ‘Families at Risk’ strategy. He also donated a copy of the 2008 Encyclopaedia Britannica on DVD to his project’s Klaipeda education representatives. Whilst living and working in Klaipeda Jeff accepted the opportunity in September 2008 to take a trade mission to Amsterdam and Copenhagen to promote the Regions design, fashion and manufacturing facilities.

This success drew Jeff to Kaunas, where he helped to develop a business education partnership between the UK textile manufacturing company, Camira Fabrics Ltd, which has a manufacturing facility, Camira Fabrics, UAB in Ariogala (Lithuania), and the Kauno taikomosios dailės mokykla (Kaunas Applied Art School, http://www.tdm.kaunas.lm.lt/) and the Kaunas Division of Valakupiai Rehabilitation Centre (VRC, www.reabilitacija.lt). The hope is that Camira Fabrics, UAB will provide work experience and possibly employment opportunities for hearing impaired students and disabled VRC candidates. Camira UAB already donates surplus materials to the school while Jeff, in line with his commitment to social corporate responsibility, donated a 16-volume Encyclopaedia Britannica Science Library, now supplemented by a copy of the complete 2011 Encyclopaedia Britannica on DVD, to it.

This success led to his moving to Vilnius and its myriad opportunities. And so he ended up at a Friday evening meeting between a young man representing Lithuanians all across Canada and a local organisation trying to promote Lithuania and Lithuanians in the world. Opposite him at the table sat an unusual individual, Arturas Bakanauskas. Arturas was neither a well-dressed successful businessman nor a member of the media, but a experienced researcher and translator invited to attend in order to offer whatever insights he could. Although born in the US, he identifies with Lithuania and conversed with the waitress freely in Lithuanian. Arturas made several suggestions in the course of the evening, but there was little chance to talk until the walk home when they realised they both lived in the same direction, and had a lot more in common.

A couple of weeks later they were invited to join the same desk at VilNews and so started weekly planning meetings where they got to know each other much better. For example, it turned out that they both have exactly the same first and middle names: Jeffrey Arthur, the first time either had encountered such a person. Although they are worlds apart in respect to experience, it is very complimentary, just like their names.

Jeff has the business experience and the ear of people able to act on his recommendations, Arturas’s knowledge of the local situation that allows Jeff to make more relevant proposals and recommendations in such areas as rural development, vocational education, forestry, ecological foods, ethnographic arts, and international competition, e.g. the mixed choir 'Gabija’ of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University in 2008 took fourth place, the highest result among the European choirs, in the 62^nd International Music competition ‘EISTEDDFOD 2008‘ in Llangollen (North Wales). Jeff remembers this well as whilst attending the Eisteddfod he met Terry Waite CBE and discussed ethnic community developments. This was with the help of Lithuania’s Honorary Consul to Wales, Anthony Packer. This collaboration is contributing to the formulation of travel and tourism strategies such as for hosting of Klaipeda cruise ship passengers, promoting Lithuanian music festivals, etc.

A discussion at a recent Novotel Lithuanian brunch between the French Ambassador and Jeff on the subject of the success of the French rugby team and sports in general led to the idea of founding a sports division of the Vilnius International Club that would arrange the public showing of such international sports events as the Euroleague and European Cup basketball games, Lithuania’s national pastime, (in association with Darius Laskys, the well known national basketball supporter, coach, and senior player), football matches, which are gaining in popularity in Lithuania, the Six Nations Rugby Tournament, the World Rugby Cup later this year, and the 2012 London Olympics. The Shakespeare Hotel currently hopes to host it. These events will not only contribute the excitement of a crowd, but also be a great opportunity to network with other fans, to see games not widely available in Lithuanian homes, to learn about other sports, and raise money for charity.