New Russian Language Courses at Kitezh-Orion

If you want to concentrate on studying Russian, have a look at the Intensive Russian Language courses on offer at Kitezh-Orion from Summer 2008.

Volunteering at Kitezh Children's Community

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 www.kitezh.org/RUS 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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