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The New Generation of Jewish NGO Professionals in Russia
Ksenia confidently defines herself as an example of the new generation of Jewish professionals in Russia. She and her peers live Jewish lives, observing the tenet of tikkun olam, by working in the public and private sector to help both Jews and non-Jews.
A one-time employee of JDC, Ksenia now works with JDC in a different capacity, as the manager of a program in partnership between JDC and the non-denominational charity, the Center for Curative Pedagogics (CCP). Ksenia and her peers feel that "if a Jew is not directly working for the Jewish community but rather deals with problems of the society he lives in … he actually is working for the Jewish community." Judaism has played a defining role throughout Ksenia's life. Raised during the demise of communism, she was taught to be cautious in telling others that she was a Jew. Her memories of the Iron Curtain collapsing are tied with those of watching her mother weep as she said goodbye to life-long friends who were making aliyah and seeking a new life in Israel. Later, in high school, Ksenia was accepted into a public charter school — a school that was coincidentally created and managed by a group of Jewish teachers. Far removed from the totalitarian-type educational philosophy of the typical Russian high school, Ksenia's school encouraged creativity and fostered an environment of understanding rather than the anti-Semitic tones that ran rampant in the mainstream system. While admittance into the charter school was based on merit, Ksenia noticed that many of her schoolmates were also Jewish. Beyond Jewish students and teachers, the school offered some Jewish classes. Inspired by these nurturing Jewish surroundings, Ksenia wrote a paper on Jewish identity, focusing on the perseverance of the Jewish people to survive throughout the ages in exile. It was this educational experience that inspired Ksenia to choose psychology as her major at University. Shortly after graduating from University with a degree in adolescent psychology, Ksenia began working for the JDC. Ksenia had prior volunteer experience working with a charity that helped children with cancer, and at an organization that advocated for the education of refugee children from Chechnya. These experiences made her role working on JDC's children's initiative programming a perfect fit. One of the programs Ksenia worked with was the Deitsky- (Russian for children) SOS (DSOS) program — a program that JDC runs through the FSU to meet children's short-term emergency needs and urgent medical assistance for the needy. This program opened Ksenia's eyes to the JDC. As Ksenia explains, "I was really impressed with the scope and scale of the JDC aid in the FSU". While Ksenia no longer works at the JDC, the organization still plays a large role in her professional life. Today she works at the CCP, whose mission is to provide rehabilitation and education services for physically and mentally handicapped children. Difficult for the western world to believe, disabled children in Russia are labeled "non-educationable" and are not given the right to attend school or receive rehabilitation. Ksenia runs a program at CCP in partnership with JDC to integrate special needs Jewish children into existing educational programs in Moscow. A ground breaking project that Ksenia hopes will "provide an important model example for other Moscow schools" and eventually "change the overall situation". Tikkun Olam drives Ksenia's work, everyday. "I am a psychologist; I live in Russia, a land of many ethnicities and also of much suffering. A kid in need for help, disabled or sick, is a kid in need for help, and for me under such conditions, he does not have ethnicity." She and her Jewish peers feel strongly that, "this is a very Jewish attitude." Furthering her goal as an ambassador of her community and people, Ksenia is currently attending the Moscow School for NGO Management and Leadership, a JDC initiated program in partnership with the UJA Federation of New York Commission for Jewish Identity and Renewal: Russian Speaking Task Force (COJIR). JDC and COJIR's goal for this prestigious, one-of-a-kind program in Russia is to produce highly-qualified Jewish community professionals and volunteers who will assume leadership positions in Moscow's Jewish community organizations. Individuals who are proud of their Jewish heritage and are motivated to ensure the thriving continuity of Jewish life in Moscow and beyond. Knesia explains how the school furthers her goals, "JDC and the COJIR-JDC Moscow School for NGO Management and Leadership deliver a Jewish impact on civil society development in Russia." The program serves as an "opportunity to learn new things, get new skills, new experience, new knowledge" and ultimately "to do my job better, help more children and finally express myself as a Jew in modern Russian society." February 2007 |
