This is a short text version of the ninth episode of the podcast “We’ll figure it out”, where we talk about people and projects that work for social change. In this episode, Lera Greyskop spoke with Roma Alexandrov, a theater teacher, director and art therapist, creator of the “Vse Dela” (“In any case”) project.
This project combines creative and educational initiatives for children, teenagers and even adults. The main goal of his work is to use art as a means of self-expression and transformation. In one of his projects, he and his team organized a summer camp on the territory of the Arkhangelsk juvenile colony, where the imprisoned teenagers had the opportunity to create and grow and once again feel like ordinary kids.
How it started
In February 2023, our team first visited the juvenile colony- we arrived for a week. Our idea was to introduce the boys to art. We wanted to show that art is a way of expressing oneself and there are different forms of art. We assembled a team, trying to include very different people: musicians, photographers, artists, people who play sports mafia professionally, and even weave bracelets. After all, weaving bracelets is not only fun, but is also something people traditionally do in regular summer camps. The kids tried it out and just couldn’t stop, they got super excited and constantly asked us to bring them more thread. They would sit and weave forever – during conversations, after meals, even while walking around. It was amazing!
All in all, it was something that happens in every camp. Usually it’s a communal gathering where we meet and get to know each other, learning something new about each other every day. We went for a walk or held workshops. Each group was led by a pair of professional facilitators who interacted with the participants in the context of the day’s topic.
You can’t just talk to these kids; you have to come up with some kind of motor activity that would provoke them to think or introduce them to some kind of experience. This is when they start reflecting. But just to come up and ask: “Guys, what is the meaning of life?” — that would be difficult.
How the boys reacted to Roma and his team
The administration of the Arkhangelsk penal colony does a lot to ensure that the guys have the opportunity to meet different people. These are not only those who work within the system, but also volunteers, lecturers who do some projects for them. They try to take the kids out, and people visit them as well: for example, volunteers from the North Arctic Federal University organize movie clubs and master classes. It is very important that teenagers see life on the outside.
The guys are, of course, very excited about new people, but they don’t necessarily show it right away. When we meet someone new, we take a closer look at them. This is the first and understandable reaction. They are not in a hurry to show emotion.
We don’t have the task of getting something out of the participants because we’ll leave and they’ll stay with it. Regular teens will simply return to their families, to their friends, to their familiar environment, and these guys in detention will stay in the colony. Of course, we have to be very careful here. We can’t just say, “Come on, tell us everything”.
So it was fundamental for me to create a project that would not be a one-off visit for a few hours, but a systematic experience for at least a week.
How working with children from a colony differs from working with children in a regular camp
Having worked both in a regular camp and in a camp in a colony, I caught myself thinking that I don’t see any differences. It is the same worries, the same doubts, the same fears, the same caution and perhaps detachment at first. I have observed and wondered, and realized that if there is a difference, it is due to the environment we grow up in, the people we are surrounded by, and maybe the place we are in. The kids in the colony are a little less open-minded, but they are still wonderful young people with a huge amount of energy.
If they stop seeing you as someone from the adult world who is potentially dangerous, you get a chance to encounter their amazing universes that are sometimes hidden behind the frown, the silence, the reluctance to speak. You just have to give it time.
It is clear why this is the case: these teenagers live within a system based on a strict schedule. No matter how hard the staff try, it is a rather poor environment, because it is quite literally limited by a fence that prevents you from leaving. And, of course, new experiences and impressions are very important for these children.
By the end of the shift we asked the kids to fill in questionnaires that included the following statement: “It is important to me that people from outside visit the colony because…”. Here are just some of the answers:
- “It creates a relaxing atmosphere, allows for variety, you learn a lot of new things, and time goes faster.”
- “It lifts up your spirits, allows you to forget you are in jain.”
- “It distracts me and helps me forget that I’m here even if for a while.”
- “I find it interesting to socialize with these people. They’re interesting and fun to be around.”
- “It’s easier to open up to these people. I have trust in them.”
- “I just enjoy being around them.”
- “It’s important because I don’t have Groundhog Day.”
- “Of course, it’s all repetitive. What we talked about is about limited opportunities within the system. They help to change the environment.”
- “It’s interesting to be around them. I want to learn new things. I get hope.”
- “I want you to come because I like it.”
Recidivism is not uncommon among the guys who end up in colonies. Are you worried about that?
In addition to being a theater teacher and director, I am also a hospital clown. It’s an amazing profession, an absolutely incredible and immensely interesting world. When hospital clown Kostya Sedov tutored me, he gave me an important gift. At the end of the educational program, which lasted more than a year, he said:
“The important thing is that we’re going to the hospital soon, trying to do this, testing ourselves, sorting out these exits. I want to tell you that it’s not easy. If all of a sudden you think you can save someone or change the world, guys, forget about it. You don’t have a magic pill that’s going to save everybody, and that’s the first thing that you have to understand. The second thing is that there never will be one. If you feel bad now, sad and dreary and you suddenly feel like quitting, do it now, feel sad, and then let’s deal with it somehow and move on.”
It’s important for me to remember because I sure wish it could happen all at once, I wish I could change the world, but it’s obvious that it doesn’t work like that. However, we can still do something small.
I am actually in a mutually directed process where the person I interact with affects me just as much. I’m definitely learning something new about myself.