Visiting Kineshma and Peshma

Today we left Ivanova together with a group of Rotarians to visit the villages Kineshma and Peshma, about 1,5 hours of car ride from Ivanova. The plan was to visit a center for rehabilitation of drug addicts, have a dinner in Peshma in one of the Rotarians houses and then spend the nigth in Peshma.

The rehab center was a fantastic experience. Seven years ago the owner (if now owner is the right word since it is a collective with only volunteers) Andrej moved from St Petersburg to a small piece of land with only a house ruin outside of Peshma. Andrej himself had a drug abuse background and he was determined to piece by piece build up a rehab center with only his faith and devotian. His idea of treatment is fairly simple; he applies ten basic rules for everyon in the center (such as ”Don’t steal”, ”Don’t lie”. ”Don’t drink” etc) and then he step by step teaches the ”clients” basic tasks such as growing their own food, taking car of the animals of the center, cooking, re-construction work etc. The main purpose is to re-build the clients self-esteem and make them feel useful, valued and wanted.

The center also applies a simple buddy-system, where rehabilitated clients take care of the new-comers and helps them through the first hard days of drug abscense.

The center receives no funding from the government but depends only on private donors, such as for example the Rotary Club of Ivanova. The center tries to be self-sufficient as much as possible, and the majority of the food is grown on the own land. The re-concstruction of the previous ruins have been made using second-hand construction material.

In this way, step-by-step, the center has been built from ruins into a kind of colletive farm where approximately 20 drug addicts get treatment. Some of the previous clients have remained at the center and are now working as volunteers, helping other drug addicts.

The center also has a number of sun-shine stories, such as for example the story of Andrej and his wife Anja. She came to the center as a severe drug addict with 13 years of abbuse. No treatment had been effective and her only purpose to come to the center was to have a place to die. Today she is fully rehabilitated, drug-free and although all the doctors told her that she couldn’t possibly get a child after whe she had done to her body she and Andrej today has a healty and beautiful son.

All the members of our group where impressed and humbled of what Andrej and the volunteers had achieved with so small resources. Personally I also really agree to the basic ideas of Andrej’s treatment. Get people connected with nature, submit them to physical work and teach them how to use their body and hands, give them a meaningful task and the sence of being able to contribute and make sure that they feel loved in a community. I think that beats any medical treatment in the world.

After the visit to the center we went to the house of one of the Rotarians in Peshma. We had a very nice dinner, a beautiful stroll along the Volga river and of course the mandatory Banja (sauna).

One or two shots of Vodka might also have been included in the concept.

Since we were in a small Russian village we were staying in the rather funky village houses, which has a standard of living a bit challenging for spoiled Swedes. Oscar didn’t have the best sleep of his life in the minimalistic couch/bed he was offered.

Best Regards,

Anders