Recently the Artek International Children’s Center welcomed the first group of 300 children from Beslan, the North Ossetian town that was shattered by the recent school hostage crisis. Ukraine’s President Kuchma and presidential chief of staff Viktor Medvedchuk are slated to visit the Beslan children at Artek. In the following interview Artek director Viktor Tsoklan shares his first impressions and speaks about the camp’s rehabilitation program.
“How does the recreation program for Beslan children differ from Artek’s traditional program?”
“There is practically no difference. I don’t think this is necessary, and our guests will traditionally receive full recreation service. Of course, we are prepared in case some of the little ones feel sad remembering what they have been through. We expect that many may need the help of a psychologist. In principle, psychological counseling is available to all children staying at Artek, but we invited additional specialists before receiving the guests from Beslan. Today our staff of psychologists is five times its usual number. By the way, the children arrived in a normal psychological state. Yesterday we spent the whole evening talking to them and getting them settled, and I didn’t notice anything that would make me concerned. The children are in a good mood. They spent a long time preparing for this trip and came to Artek in the hope of having a good rest.”
“In what way is fall/winter recreation at Artek different from the spring and summer season?”
“The weather makes it different, as the children do not sunbathe or swim. Instead they familiarize themselves with the Crimean region and study its history, literature, and geography. On the whole, they receive a goodly amount of information and education, which we professionally combine with recreation.”
“Who proposed the idea to host children from Beslan at Artek?”
“The Ukrainian president did. He personally attended to the refurbishment of Artek and visited us four times this year. When the tragedy happened, he analyzed the situation in Artek and invited Russia’s president to send the affected children to the Crimea.”
“What kinds of problems is your recreational center facing today?”
“As you know, renovations are underway at Artek, and we must strike a balance between construction work and children’s recreation. This is rather difficult, but we are coping. During the past summer season there was not a single emergency involving children, nor were there any complaints about Artek personnel. I think we had a good season, during which we provided recreation services to 12,000 children.”
“Is it difficult to remain the leading recreation center?”
“It is an honor. Many famous people came for the festival that we hosted. One of the guests, lead singer of Liube group Nikolay Rastorguyev, said during discussions of the Star Factory project: ‘It’s not that easy being a star, even if you became one owing to the Star Factory. You always have to reaffirm your star status.’ We put in as much work as it takes to remain in the lead-every season, every session, every month.”
“How much has Artek changed during the years of independence?”
“Very much. These are absolutely new buildings and living conditions. There’s no more drilling and regimentation. Pedagogues are changing in the same way our society is. We are now hosting children from wealthy families. In the past their parents wouldn’t send them here, because they were leery of restrictions of freedom and the imposition of dubious values. Music and word games have lost the ideological undercurrent. This season we introduced an absolutely different, very modern, safari-colored uniform. Shorts have pockets for cell phones. However, this is the summer uniform. The fall uniform consists of jackets and long pants. Beslan children will also be wearing them.”
