Kitezh Newsletter: Important Spring Events

Hello dear friends of Kitezh! We are again happy to share with you the events of our lives. Spring has already bravely stepped into summer and we are in a hurry to tell you what has happened over the past couple of months.

Event: On April 22, Orion had a visit from the Governor of the Kaluga State, A.D. Artamonov. The visit was part of a series of visits in the Zhukovsky Region. Mr. Artamonov spent time with our foster families. He promised to support the social initiative of Orion. We might remember that thanks to his personal participation and interest, a paved road was laid in Orion last year.
In London in early April, a presentation was held about the English language version of Dmitri Morozov’s book called “Kitezh”. Our friends and volunteers came to the meeting as well as members of the therapeutic association of Great Britain who are specialists in the area of work with children in crisis and orphans. They highly praised the educational experience of “Kitezh”. At the presentation a number of books were sold and we are very glad, as the main idea was to share Kitezh’s approach to raising children.

Training: In the beginning of May our consultant from Great Britain, David Dean, came to Kitezh. This was a continuation of a relationship over many years in which David has helped us become professionally known as a therapeutic community. This work allows us to measure the success of our educational systems as well as to determine how to further develop and refine them. This year we focused on the process of developing strong values in a group of children. Additionally, we created a system for evaluating dynamics in foster families which allows us to support both the adults and children when and if difficulties arise. This work with David, as usual,  was very rich and fruitful. After leaving Kitezh, David continued this work in our second community, Orion.

Farm: In the beginning of spring, members of the Kitezh community began restorations to the farm. We made the decision to get several cows so that the children can drink fresh milk, cheese and cream. Tamara Pichugin’s son, Volodya Pichugin, has taken it upon himself to organize this process. Volodya has come from Siberia to live with us in Kitezh. All members of the Kitezh community, children and adults, are helping on a daily basis to prepare the farm area: it is necessary to clear the fields where the cow will graze and fix up the building that houses their stalls. Our friend Andrey Davidov, who is a well known farmer in the Kaluga Region, has been a very helpful consultant in this endeavor. He will be supplying us with our cows. We hope that within a couple of months we will already be drinking Kitezh-produced milk!

Our children now have a new joy in life – a new playground with rings, a jungle gym, swings, a volleyball net and a basketball hoop. This great gift was given to us by the charitable fund “Open Hearts”. We are very grateful to them. The children have already discovered all of the wonderful attributes of this gift while playing and exercising on this wonderful playground.
This year the Kitezh School will send three graduates into the big world: Roma Azamatov, Leelya Lagachyova, and Zhenya Sinko. The are currently taking their exams in history, physics and social studies in order to give the results to universities. Leelya is planning to apply to the Kaluga Educational University, Roma to the Moscow Industrial University and Zhenya to the Moscow University of Printing.
According to tradition, the remaining children choose one exam to take in the subject of their choice. This year Marin Sinko and Sasha Eryomin achieved excellence in history and Christina Kananyenko in Russian.
Slava Klimov decided to work in Moscow this summer. For the month of June he will work in the firm run by friends of Kitezh called “Scancode” and will study in the animation studio of Nikolai Kazlov at the psychological center “Sinton”. After exams, Roma Azamatov will join Slava. Thank you again to our friends for the support of these initiatives!

Birth: On the 3rd of March, Misha and Masha Schurov had a beautiful baby boy. Now Misha and Masha will be raising 4 boys. They are surely to be congratulated for this!
We have big plans for building and as always, not enough money for materials. We would be most grateful for your donations and financial assistance!

Upcoming Summer Events
We are hearing many interesting details about the upcoming Role Games to take place this summer in Kitezh and Orion.
In Kitezh there will be 2 Role Games: July 6-19 and August 3-16. We are continuing to take reservations. For imformation please call: 8 960 523 86 88 and speak with Maria Schurov.
In Orion, several programs are available right away: Building Camp for teenagers, A Role Game and Development School and Craft Studio for children between 10-14 years old. Spaces are still available. Contact Maria Shebieva  in Orion at 8 960 523 86 93.

Participation in our programs are always full of meaningful and fund experiences that will be useful in difficult situations and help young people become self-sufficient. Don’t miss this opportunity!

And one more special announcement: On the 12th of June there will be a Jubilee Celebration for the founder of Kitezh and Orion, Dmitri Morozov. He is now less involved in practical matters and is writing a book. Though he continues to teach history classes to the older students and continued to consult with our foster families. We are accepting gifts and congratulatory wishes!

We wish you energy, joy and productivity in all that you do!

Discoveries from the Children

In Kitezh, every week there is a meeting in which our children share their new awarenesses or personal discoveries. We publish a few of these so that you can imagine the lives of our children, both those who live here and who come from Moscow and Kaluga to study at the Kitezh School.

Sultan, student in the 7th Class: “ I’ve changed. In Kitezh, people tell you about your mistakes. I get embarrassed. Sometimes I get offended, but later I calm down and realize that I wasn’t right. In a year I have changed my behavior and have begun to understand people better.”

Mikail, Student in the 10th Class: “I’m in my second year in Kitezh and I recognize that I want to take more and more from this experience. I intend to study in Kitezh next year too. My development is ongoing and I see that the speed of my development depends largely on my surroundings. And what’s more I’ve never been in a more favourable environment for development than Kitezh. In Kitezh there are constantly varying points of view which give the possibility for development, training your will and supports the ability to get along with others. Interaction with different personalities and world views widens our awareness. I began to plan the future. To think about what I am going to do for the summer. I am getting ready to work this summer and after that I will help my grandmother in the village. It’s a grandson’s responsibility. I’m going to study my lessons. I hope that I have enough will. These are my current goals.”

Andrey, student in the 7th class: “I realized that I need to study. It’s boring, but I understand that I don’t know a lot of what I was taught in school. I began to change. In there months I have changed my view of life and the world.”

Seraphima, student in the 8th class: “ I understand that the impossible is possible. I looked at the problems on my chemistry exam and knew that I could not solve them. But I solved them. You taught me to deal with life. I wanted to go home to Kaluga. I missed my parents. But here it is better, calmer. I began to sort things out within myself. The first ‘virus’ that I found in myself was not to predict negative outcomes. Instead I need to control myself and not do stupid things.”

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