“Kitezh – a little piece of paradise on earth”      According to an ancient Russian legend, the mystical city of Kitezh, symbol of the indestructible Russian soul, lies hidden beneath the water of a great lake. It is foretold that in Russia’s darkest hour, Kitezh will rise again to herald the dawn of a new age. Dmitri Morozov believes that for many children their darkest hour has come, and his Kitezh aims to give some of these children a new beginning. Morozov, a Doctor of History and former successful radio journalist in Moscow, founded Kitezh Children’s Community in 1992. His inspired vision has brought together a group of committed, ambitious people who have each contributed their own particular skills to building a peaceful, harmonious and loving environment for some of Russia’s orphaned children.    The 90hectares of agricultural land given to Morozov by the Ministry of Education in 1992 could not have been more apt a setting for Kitezh to reappear. Surrounded by forests and fields in the heart of the Kaluga region 300km south of Moscow the natural beauty described in the libretto of Rimski-Korsakov’s opera “Kitezh” is unmistakable. In just nine years and in the face of harsh economic circumstances Morozov has led the transformation of this once wild land into a vibrant, revolutionary eco-village, providing homes and education for 31children within 12 families. Morozov and all those living in Kitezh have built themselves 14 houses, a school, a community centre, a church and an organic farm with livestock, poultry, bees and organic vegetable gardens.    There is, however, much more to Kitezh than just statistics. I spent two months in the village as a volunteer and I could not help but to be deeply impressed by what is being achieved in Kitezh, and to feel a tremendous admiration for not only the adults who have put all their energies into making one man’s vision a reality, but also for the children who, in spite of everything they have suffered, and many of their stories make for harrowing reading, are positive, contented and looking forward to the life ahead of them with incredible anticipation.    Orphaned or abandoned children have come to Kitezh from as far away as the Ukraine, though the majority come from local orphanages. These children, victims of abuse and neglect at the hands of either parents or in orphanages, arrive in Kitezh demoralized, psychologically damaged and with little or no education. Kitezh not only provides these children with a loving and stable family life, it also prides itself on being an innovative pedagogical institution offering its children a broad education that will allow them to leave Kitezh having had the same, if not better, opportunities than those children with more fortunate backgrounds. So far 45 children have been through or are going through the Kitezh system and their progress itself is a justification of Kitezh’s existence and a testament to its success.         Kitezh lives by three main principles: self value, a collective form of living, and the importance of education. These three principles are present in every aspect of Kitezh life and together they work to strengthen the children in character and mind as well as body.    Many children arrive with little or no self value, and understandably so, thus the recognition of self value within a family and within the community is greatly encouraged. By making each child aware of their talents and aspirations and providing the opportunity to develop these to the best of their ability, the hope is that the children will develop a self confidence that will enable them to pursue their lives in whichever direction they choose after they leave Kitezh and to successfully cope with the inevitable problems to be found along the way.    Regarding education, Kitezh is very definite in its intention to provide its children with wide experience through both its formal and informal education programmes. The Kitezh School is now fully recognised by the State up until Year11 (17yrs old) and the children are taught in all academic subjects. They are encouraged to read widely, indeed they are not only instructed in works from their own rich literary history, but also in English and French classic literature. Children as young as 8 study English, ensuring a high standard of the language before they leave the school, and all work with computers.    As well as academic subjects children are taught many other skills; the girls learn to sew amongst other craftwork, while the boys are taught carpentry. All have the opportunity to draw and paint under the guidance of Sasha Lukianov, a professional artist and icon painter. Morozov trains the children in the art of Kung Fu and all are taught to dance everything from the Waltz to the Lambada. Every year as part of New Year celebrations the children take part in a drama production. Last year they performed a version of Mikhail Bulgakov’s great novel “Master and Margarita”, the year before they performed Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” and plans are afoot this year for a performance of “Romeo and Juliet”.    All children take part in whatever work needs doing within the community, be it the planting or harvesting of vegetables, the weeding of lawns or the medicinal herb garden, the cleaning of the kitchen and dining hall, or providing general labour for the on-going building projects. Working together in harmony is an important aspect of life in Kitezh and adults and children work side by side to look after the world around them. Morozov believes that this is a very influential part of the therapeutic healing process for the children. He believes that by asking the children to help build and take care of Kitezh they will not only learn the importance of responsibility, an essential life skill, but will perhaps more importantly for the time being begin to feel a real sense of belonging to this new world that is offering them a previously unknown stability and opportunity to put down roots. Morozov’s sentiments are not lost on the children, as one 15year old boy wrote for an article on the Kitezh website “we are creating Kitezh and Kitezh is creating us”.    Volunteers and visitors from Russia and abroad are seen as a valuable asset to Kitezh and constitute another dimension of the education programme. Morozov attaches great importance to all visitors who “bring new blood, new ideas, new skills and keep Kitezh open to the rest of the world”. Most foreign volunteers come from the UK, the USA, or Australia and so the greatest gift they can give the children is the opportunity to speak English with a native speaker. At the other end of the spectrum, Kitezh hosts several talented young Russian scientists for a month every summer who come to take part in a course run by Professor Zagorskii of Moscow State University. The Kitezh children join the students living in tents and join in experiments during the day and intellectual discussions around the campfire at night.    Opportunities there are indeed plenty for these children, but it is in the context of Kitezh, the place, that makes them truly unique. This small village of aspen wood buildings is surrounded by forests of birch and oak trees, rolling fields of long, wild grass whose greenery is interrupted only by the golden glow of random buttercups and the bright purple clusters of lupines. Tranquility reigns, the only sounds are the wind in the trees and in the grass, the song of the swallow and the cuckoo, the croaking of frogs, the creaking of the old, wooden swing, the laughter of children, and in the evenings the inevitable sound of the strumming of a guitar fills the air. “A little piece of paradise on earth” is how Sasha Filipenka, a 17year old girl refers to Kitezh and it is difficult to contest such a statement when you consider this beautiful place that radiates love and warmth to all around, and where people are cheerful, positive and forward-looking.     Morozov’s desire has always been to show his children a beautiful, harmonious world in complete contrast to what they have known before. Education within this context is in keeping with the ideas of Nikolai Roerich (1874-1947), the great Russian artist and scholar, to whose philosophy Morozov subscribes, a very lively man of great wisdom, intelligence and character, subscribes to the philosophy of and followed in his footsteps spending much of his youth living and traveling in India. In fact, Morozov studied this philosophy under Sviatoslav Roerich, Nikolai’s son. In India he saw a world very different to that of the Soviet Union in which he had grown up. He learnt to speak Tamil and Hindi, became a master in the arts of Kung Fu and yoga.     Little by little, Morozov’s vision of Kitezh is being realized as this community continues to grow and improve itself as time and money allows. Two years ago Kitezh received an ecological grant from the Institute for Sustainable Communities, USA to install drainage and indoor plumbing to all the houses which has made an incredible difference to the lives of all those living in Kitezh. In the two months I spent in the village I saw tiled paths and beautifully carved wooden bridges replace the wooden planks that had served as paths when I first arrived. A proper farmhouse is in the process of being built, as is a small Guest House for future visitors. Soon it will be time to harvest 2000 tonnes of potatoes as the commercial potato project Kitezh-Agro completes its second year. This initiative of Andrei Stepanov, Kitezh’s financial director, is expected within a couple of years to provide the community with a solid financial base and with that the ability to become self-reliant.    The future certainly looks bright for Kitezh and the goal to provide for 50families with 200children does not seem quite the impossible dream it once did.        VOLUNTEERING IN KITEZH: Foreign visitors are welcomed with open arms by everyone in Kitezh, but particularly by Dmitri Morozov who attaches great importance to all visitors who “bring new blood, new ideas, new skills and keep Kitezh open to the rest of the world”. No words can really do justice to my experience in Kitezh and needless to say I would recommend it to anyone. Without doubt it can be hard work, it can be at times challenging, but it is always a pleasure and one thing I very quickly learnt is that what you give Kitezh, Kitezh will give you back tenfold. In two months I did everything from teaching English to milking cows, from giving aerobics classes to taking Kung Fu classes, from planting cabbages to giving a fifteen minute interview to a TV crew from ORT! There is never a dull moment in Kitezh and there are surprises in store every day. However, the most important gift I received from Kitezh was the love and friendship of so many people there and I cannot wait to see them all again on my next visit!      ECOLOGIA TRUST organizes travel for volunteers of all ages and for any length of time. For more information on volunteering in Kitezh contact: Liza Hollingshead Ecologia Trust The Park, Forres Moray IV36 3TZ SCOTLAND Tel: +44-(0)1309-690995 Fax: +44-(0)1309-691009 Email: Kitezh@ecologia.org.uk Kitezh’s own Russian language web site can be accessed at:                      www.kitezh.org/        Back to Volunteering at Kitezh Children's Community