YOUTH ENGLISH SECTION

Kitezh – a Place Where Happiness Reigns

We live in a world where each of us bumps into different problems, which interrupt our daily life. In such situations many of us just go home to those who are ready to help us whatever happens. These people are our relatives.

Unfortunately, sometimes life is unjust and some people are left alone in the whole world, without a loving family and without any help. Such situations bring down so much sufferings, that some people even lose all their faith in life. And it is a real cross especially for children, as they are extremely vulnerable and they have no possibilities to maintain themselves alone.

Luckily, there are some people in our world, who are ready to devote themselves to others, to bring them back to life in such dramatic situations. A bright example of such devotion is a small village in the Kalujsky region called “Kitezh”.

The name Kitezh comes from a legend: a city went under the water to protect itself from enemies. “Kitezh” is a peculiar village, where people live in wooden houses, looking like fairy tale “teremki”. The entire atmosphere here is mysterious: there are no fences, no guard posts – only nature divides the village from the territory. But the most fabulous feature of this place is that here children find happiness and families.

When we (some of the members of YES Club) came to this place, the first thing we felt was amicability. For example, the first person we met there was a boy Vasya, who came up to us to get acquainted with a smile on his face. I think that a smile can show that a person is looking forward to something good. And it was really delightful to see the optimism and purposefulness that came from all the Kitezh children.

This attitude to life made me realize that these kids know how to value life and each moment. Many people in our world start grumbling when they face small problems. Here life is different – the young “kitezhane” went through such tough problems in their life that now they look on the world from a different perspective – they are brought up to face all types of problems with courage and an aspiration to change things for the better by themselves.

For example, it was a real surprise for me to see the boys breakdance at a “kitezh” disco. The quality of dancing was on such a high level, that I thought they had had some dancing classes with a specialist. But I couldn’t even imagine that they learnt to dance so well on their own, just by watching films. That was absolutely adorable!

This is just a simple example of how these children set goals and achieve them step by step with patience. Speaking about some long-lasting (or even lifelong) goals; I was surprised how the life in Kitezh has changed outlooks of some children. One girl, Kristina, told me that some time ago she wanted to work at McDonalds as a cashier, but after a period of living in Kitezh she understood that she wants to do more for society and especially for the children who go through hardships in their lives. So now her goal is to become a child psychologist.

And, you know, I must mention a special tendency among these kids: most of them are willing to become such specialists, someone who would be able to help people and the society. Many of them want to get special education and to come back to Kitezh to help other kids who had a difficult life situation, similar to theirs. Many of them want to become psychologists, as it’s a kind of a profession that is really essential to people who have problems. A boy Andrew told me that he wants to become a lawyer, as the knowledge of the rights of a person is very useful. He explained his choice with a strong argument: very often when people get in difficult situations, they don’t know what to do, what they can do and what they can’t do; and a lawyer knows all these details and is able to help others.

Such a strong and ambitious approach to life is a result of numerous hours spent in different studies and meetings. “Community meetings” are regularly held in Kitezh, where children discuss their problems, act in their own theatre, play some special group games. All these activities make the children learn to trust, to communicate and to make friends. Also, the older children organize a “small council”, where they manage all the concerts and arrangements, and discuss what and how they would like to improve in their life in “Kitezh”.

As you can see, life is lived to the full here: everybody is always busy with something. But a striking fact at this place is that here you won’t find a person who’ll be roaming the street alone without any purpose: everyone has his own charge. And kitezhane like this style of life. According to the debates that we organized on the topic: “Where is it better to live: in the countryside or in a city?”, the majority values the peculiarities of their lifestyle very much. The arguments that were given for this type of living were: being close to people, as the relations are more warm and close; being close to nature, that helps you to overcome all your troubles; and the freedom of the schedule, as you’re the leader of your life. But the opposite side showed also some strong advantages of living in a city: the development of communication, the choice of places to go, and the possibility to meet all types of people.

In the long term, I understood that the place of residence isn’t the main thing to decide in their lives. They value such essential humane features as relationship and understanding much more. Such an attitude to life is worthy of respect and imitation!