Volunteering at Kitezh Children's Community
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Read Honi Pern's account of her experience volunteering at Kitezh by
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volunteering
at Kitezh
Kitezh Children’s Community consists
of two villages, Kitezh and Orion. The two communities are the
beginning of the vision for a network of Therapeutic Communities
for orphan children all over Russia. Volunteering at Kitezh or
Orion is a great opportunity as the communities are inspirational
and unique, and you will feel well rewarded by the experience.
Kitezh Children’s Community is growing fast, and there is
plenty to be done - with the children, gardening, cooking, and
building. Whatever your talents or expertise, you can contribute
to this innovative approach to family-based, rural community care
and education for orphan children. Orion is the second children’s
village to be built on the Kitezh model, and although much smaller
at this stage, is also open to volunteers.
Kitezh can appeal to volunteers of all ages who are interested
in working with children, seeking to improve their Russian language,
looking for an interesting travel experience and an opportunity
to be of service to others at the same time. However, living in
a remote rural Russian community in very close proximity to others
is also a challenge. It requires a commitment on the part of each
individual to be a responsible adult example for the children
and to do whatever is needed at any time, whether it is teaching
English to children, cooking in the communal dining room, chopping
wood or cleaning the Banya.
Volunteering at Kitezh or Orion is not only an interesting way
to improve your Russian language. Although it is not essential
to speak fluent Russian, it is important to be able to communicate.
It is also a safe way to visit Russia for the first time as the
community is very supportive and will give you the confidence
(and the language ability) to travel on your own later.
Kitezh is a stark contrast to many
gloomy messages about Russia sent to the west via the media. It
is a place of joyful refuge for Russian children who have been
abandoned or orphaned. The Kitezh way of fostering and educating
children has already proved to be a real alternative to the State
system of orphanages and childcare institutions. Therapeutic Education
is the main focus.
The people at Kitezh and Orion are happy to welcome visitors and
volunteers all year round. Summer is warm, but mosquitoes abound.
Spring and Autumn weather is lovely, and these are busy times
in the gardens, planting and harvesting. Winter is snowy, cold,
and fresh, warm inside, wrap up well outside. Less outdoor work,
more time with children and creativity. Most volunteers have found
that two to six months is the optimum time to settle in at Kitezh
and become part of the family and the working life there, and
many come away speaking fluent Russian. To plan to stay a full
year requires a bigger commitment, and requires an agreement with
the Kitezh Council to extend your stay after you have been there
for two months. Volunteers should buy an open return air ticket
that allows for flexibility.
Kitezh is situated 300km south of Moscow, in
Kaluga region. The nearest town is Baryatino. Kitezh is a non-commercial
partnership of foster families living as a community on common
land, started in 1992 by Dmitry Morozov, a Moscow radio journalist
and historian. Kitezh owns 100 hectares of land, some forested
and some agricultural, with a pond for summer swimming and winter
skating. They have built 14 houses, a schoolhouse and a church
and grow some of their own food. They aim to live as ecologically
as possible, gradually incorporating as many alternative forms
of energy production as finances allow. Each family has their
own home, built by the members of the community, with adopted
orphan children in addition to their own. The community as a whole
is responsible for all the children, and they run their own school
where most of the adults are teachers as well as workers in the
community. At Kitezh there are ten families living together, with
approximately 25 children of all ages (at last count!). About
20 Kitezh ‘graduates’ now live and work elsewhere,
or are at university or college. Some of them intend to return
to Kitezh later, and still regard it as their home. Some single
people and Russian volunteers also live in Kitezh.
Orion: Kitezh started to build Orion in 2005.
It is also in Kaluga Region, closer to Moscow. Dmitry Morozov,
founder of Kitezh, is spearheading the new sister community with
Masha Shibaeva, who grew up in Kitezh. It is an exciting project,
still in the development stage, with four houses already built
with the help of the Kitezh students from Moscow who spend their
summers there. A few people from Kitezh have moved to live at
Orion, and all year round there is a steady flow of groups of
children and adults from Kitezh to Orion. Some of the children
who grew up in Kitezh plan to move there after they complete their
university studies. 6 adults live permanently in Orion with 8
children. Orion started to accept volunteers in 2007 so if you
are interested in volunteering in a new, expanding community as
part of a small dedicated group, mention it on your Introduction
Questionnaire.
Children and Therapeutic Education are the primary
focus at Kitezh and Orion, and the entire community revolves around
the children. ‘Kids Priority’ is the catchword. Because
many of the children have come from orphanages, some off the streets,
most of the adults’ attention goes into their rehabilitation.
Volunteers need to understand at the outset that working with
psychologically damaged children is demanding. Before you commit
yourself to volunteering, you also need to understand that in
such an environment, some people may be confronted with their
own childhood issues, which they must be prepared to deal with
in a way that does not distract the attention of the other adults
in the community, who are primarily concentrated on the problems
of the children. If you have a personal history of abuse or neglect,
please do consider carefully whether Kitezh is the right place
for you.
Kitezh is also a training ground for Social Workers in which specialists
from the United Kingdom have participated, teaching a practical
approach to all the psychological and social issues presenting
in children who come from severely disadvantaged backgrounds.
Please go to the Kitezh website
and familiarise yourself with as much information about the philosophy
of Kitezh as you can, and in particular read the article written
by Maxim Anikeev on the principles of therapeutic education at
Kitezh.
Your Experience: You will live in one of the
homes, in a traditional wooden log house, and you will most likely
share a room with other volunteers or with older children. All
the houses have hot and cold water, showers and toilets. Twice
a week in Kitezh the communal sauna (Banya) is heated, a special
Russian treat not to be missed. Food is simple and nutritious
but nothing like what you are used to. There will be a lot of
new things you will need to adapt to – living conditions,
food, culture, language. However, you will find good company,
great pioneering spirit, wonderful kids, and a lot of fun as well
as work. By the end of your stay you will have the satisfaction
of knowing that you have made a personal contribution to a very
worthwhile community. You will also have learned some Russian,
and have an inside view of what makes Russians tick. Remember,
Kitezh and Orion have a simple, healthy, rural life style, with
few luxuries that westerners are used to! The Russian culture
is different from our western one in many ways, and we encourage
you to go there with an open mind, to learn about the culture
of Kitezh and Russia rather than to change it. There is a Chinese
saying that he who goes with an empty cup, may have it filled.
He who goes with a full cup (of expectations or opinions) leaves
no room for new experience.
Work: As an English speaker, your main contribution
will be to teach English to the children and to some of the adults
who are keen to learn. This will be challenging, especially if
you have not taught children before. For this you need to be resourceful
and creative, thinking up games, songs and topics for conversation,
to keep interest alive. Many of the children have learning difficulties
because of their hard start in life, so English lessons need to
be engaging and fun. There is a set curriculum for English lessons
with a reasonable amount of resource material. In addition, because
Kitezh and Orion are working communities you will be assigned
to help in the kitchen, the garden or with whatever building work
is going on. It is not at all glamorous. Are you willing to wash
floors, paint houses, collect coal, peel potatoes, wash pots and
pans (even without rubber gloves)? Are you willing to dig in the
garden? Chop wood? If you go with an attitude of willingness to
pitch in and do whatever is most needed at any moment, then you
will easily become part of community life.
A special privilege and responsibility at Kitezh
is to live in a foster family home with Tamara Pichugina, foster
mother to eight children. Those who choose this option need to
be especially willing to co-parent with the house mother, to support
her and follow her standards. It is extremely rewarding and also
hard work, with less free time than is afforded to other volunteers
who live with families who have not as many children.
Summer Programme: School is closed in June, July
and August so there are no formal English lessons during these
months. There is much less structure at Kitezh during the summer
and volunteers are usually more involved in work activities such
as gardening, cooking and building. However, there is a lot of
building work in summer, and they really need help. Summer volunteers
need to speak reasonably good Russian in order to integrate into
the community, and they should come prepared to do all sorts of
different activities, not only those connected with the children.
Kitezh runs 2-week long summer camps for their own children and
others from orphanages in July and August for up to 60 children.
Summer is also the time when families go away on holiday and groups
of children are taken off on holiday trips. This can be disappointing
for volunteers, as they may not have the chance to interact as
closely with the children and to get to know them as well as at
other times of year. If you want to be in Kitezh over the summer,
you need to plan to arrive in May so that you know the ropes and
are fairly self-sufficient. However, in Orion volunteers are especially
welcome in summer as there is always a lot of building with Russian
volunteers and they are keen for their children to have English
lessons all year round.
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