Russia and Maria's Children Part. 1

My experience in Russia was among the most beautiful experiences, that I would struggle to put it into one post so I will break it down into two.  To begin to describe the Maria's Children Arts camp I wills start with the idea of it takes a village to raise a child, especially when those children have never had the parental love and support in the first place they so rightly deserve.  This camp is special in the fact that the child to adult ratio is about half to half (around 120 or so people depending on the day)  Also only half of the kids themselves were orphans, the other half were kids of volunteers and students from Beslan, Russia, a small ethnic minority in the Northern caucasus Region.  The community was tramatized in 2004 when the school there was attacked by Chechnya rebels, a hostage situation ensued and hundreds of people were killed, the majority being children, see Beslan school siege - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .

The adults were a wonderful mix of Maria's Children staff, Teachers, Russian and International volunteers, former Orphans (many of which are on the staff) and there families.  The camp took place at a beautiful resort outside Moscow with playgrounds and a lake for swimming, fishing and wind surfing. There were 8 houses rented, that were lived in by the camp and the camp was broken up into four families, the Elephants, Lions, Giraffes and Zebras. The houses were a mix of campers and volunteers with each house having a Mama and Papa of the house, two staff or volunteers.  These houses really did become big families, with moms and dads, aunts and uncles, cousins and a variety of languages spoken in each.  Each house would have breakfast together in the morning which started each day.

There was a rough group meeting around 10 where different teachers would announce their master classes, for anyone, kids or adults to take and those classes would ensue, a mix of art, dance, and theater (every day I taught a clown or theater game class) workshops, with a massage master class and other practicals as well.  The camp moved fluidly, with each class going as long as it wanted and the orphans had no obligation to participate in any of the classes, they could ride bikes around or just move from class to class, it was all very free flowing.  This would be followed by a lunch between 12 and 2, depending.  The afternoon would consist of a tea time/snack, nap times, more master classes, activities, lake time, dance party time, depending on the day until dinner which usually was between 8-9.  There would be a few more teas in there, and between 9-10 the day would end with more family time, in my house we would all watch cartoons together, then I had the joy of singing bed time songs to some of the kids in my house, which would become a daily tradition. We would around 11 have a staff/volunteer meeting, and then some would go to bed, others would stay up, have another tea time, play music, play games and talk till 2 or 3 in the morning.  There were also different event days, big water day, big theater day, big game day and final performance day. 

To most of my plan minded Americans this might seem like a pretty loose camp structure, and trust me it took time to get use to, but from day one I begin to see the purpose of such a free flow style camp, the effect it had on the kids, the kids seemed just plain happy.  I learned that the majority of the Orphan's live a regimented prison esque life.  Their lives are so tight, and planned that they rarely get the chance to just play and roam, which are pretty important parts of being a kid.  Also they get to do what makes them happy, another thing devoid from alot of their lives, such as take classes if they want, ride bikes when they want, just hang out and eat snacks when they want.  The second aspect of this is the fact that the camp is an absolute love fest.  Hugs everywhere, and most classes are an equal 1/1 kid adult ratio, with some classes having two adults to every kid. This meant that at any time these kids were getting  love from one to three adults, which is the epidemy of attention, another thing that these kids grow up with in major deficit.  At times a kid would run up and just hug you, hug you and walk with you, spend half of your morning hugging you, through the master class and into lunch, and this is all so encouraged, because another thing these kids have in deficit throughout the year is just the loving kind attention of family.  I began to realize this indeed, are these kids family.  They spend time throughout the year attending the studios that Maria and her staff run in Russia, and a variety of other events, a winter camp, weekend outing at Maria's Datcha (second home and studio) outside of Moscow, but this two weeks in the summer they dream about all year long. 

 Many of the state run orphanages truly resemble prisons, long rooms with the kids only have cots and trunks were they can hold the few things that belong to them in.  All the joys and pleasures we hold so dear to our child hoods, regardless of how mixed or difficult your childhoods were, chances are these kids did not have any of that.  Maria's children becomes the family for those without families, and you realize that you want to be a part of it.  I, who came from a loving regular old american middle class upbringing, wanted to be part of this family, to give these kids every ounce of my hear and experience.  Its the same for so much of the staff and volunteers, the other adult orphans that Maria invites into this fold. 

 I was moved to tears on a daily bases watching and participating in this process. I will tell of my personal experience in the next post, but i wanted to paint the picture of exactly what made this place so special, and unlike any other summer camp I have ever had the chance to work at.