Ecologia launches book about Kitezh community

I’m very happy to announce that Ecologia Youth Trust is officially launching in the UK the self-published book ‘Kitezh, A Community Approach to Raising Children in Russia’, written by the founder of the community Dimitry Morozov. In this inspiring account of the birth and development of Kitezh, Morozov describes how a group of families living together devote themselves to the care and rehabilitation of orphaned children.

Apart from London and Edinburgh, Dimitry Morozov will come to Findhorn for a short visit in April, and will share with us the challenges and joys of his journey developing the first therapeutic community for foster children and families in rural Russia. You are all very welcome to come – Sunday Slot, April.5th @ 12.30pm in the Upper CC.

Dimitry Morozov is a former radio broadcaster who, during perestroika, left Moscow and retreated to the countryside to build his visionary community for foster families and orphans. Sixteen years later he is the driving force behind two flourishing community villages for children, with plans to create more. The families take children out of orphanages and raise and educate them together in a supportive rural community environment. Today there are 10 families and 35 children living at Kitezh. A second village, Orion, started in 2004, is already the home of 4 families and 9 children.

Morozov says: “However unusual conditions in Russia, and especially in Kitezh, may be, we have been able to develop methods and procedures for working with difficult children that can help not only professionals working in children’s institutions or foster parents, but also parents of ‘normal’, non-dysfunctional families. This book deals with how a child’s consciousness is formed and how we, as parents, can love our children in the right way: by preparing them for life in the real world.”

Central to Morozov’s philosophy is the concept of a child’s ‘image of the world’ as the lens through which all experience is filtered. A negative image of the world must be changed before the child can change and grow. At Kitezh this is done through love, education, support, discipline and honest feedback.

‘Kitezh, A Community Approach to Raising Children in Russia’ can be purchased through Ecologia (www.ecologia.org.uk, t. 690995) or at the Phoenix Shop.

Happy reading! With love,

Liza Hollingshead
February 2009