Background: As part of the Education and Social Justice Project, in July 2012 undergraduate student Masha Goncharova interviewed Anastassia Didour, Poline Tchoubar, and Basile Nicolsky, all university students and camp leaders (rukovaditeli) of the Russian Students Christian Organization (Action Chrétienne des Etudiants Russess—Mouvement de Jeunesse Orthodoxe, ACER-MJO). In this interview they discuss the activities offered at ACER's camps, the organization's decision to allow campers to speak in both Russian and French, and the role of Orthodox faith as a unifying element for campers from different cultures.
Tell me about the work you do here.
Anastassia Didour: We are preparing the camp before it starts. We are trying to prepare the activities and the program of what we will do with the children during the camp.
What kind of activities are you planning?
Basile Nicolsky: Football [soccer], a lot of football.
Poline Tchoubar: We are preparing songs, putting together the culture lessons, and the outdoor games that we will play with the kids.
Will you be singing in Russian?
Tchoubar: In Russian and in French. There are many religious songs, a lot of campfire songs as well.
Didour: There are a lot of activities that try to give off a good message to the kids, a religious message as well.
Nicolsky: And there is also a lot of football.
Were you campers when you were little?
Nicolsky: Yes, effectively, we were.
Tchoubar: Almost all of the camp leaders went here when they were little.
Didour: It transmits, from camper to leader.
Nicolsky: The campers are essentially us, but younger.
What is your goal for this camp? What would you like to transmit to the children?
Nicolsky: It is just that we transmit to the kids that which we were taught when we were younger here. I don't know exactly what to say. It's the spirit of fun; it's the process of becoming a true community after a month together. It's really something very profound.
Tchoubar: In one sense the goal is to preserve Russian culture, but I think that this is just an advantage. There is no obligation to be Russian or to speak Russian. It really has become something else. We have grown up together; we have become the people we are today through the camp. Here we ask questions, and that is very important.
Didour: Yes, I agree with everything they have said. But I also think that going to the camp it is necessary to see and be exposed to the Russian culture. I think that is something we should address. Most of all, we try to transmit Orthodoxy, because it's not only Russians here. Recently there have been more and more children from different cultures. So for us it's not about saying you have to do this, this, and that ritual. It's more a state of being—of love and solidarity within fundamental values that we try to transmit. It's not to butter the cream, but just for the purpose of reflection about one another. And after the camp it's up to the campers, their free choice, of what to believe; it is our duty to welcome them and let them know about this Orthodox universe here and its values.
Why don't you speak Russian in this camp?
Tchoubar: There are other camps, the Vitizei camp for example, where they speak Russian. They obligate them to speak in Russian there. Of course, that has its positive sides, but for a population here of immigrants who came many generations ago, I personally think it's not as necessary to force the children to speak Russian. It's not a language that they have been exposed to or are accustomed to. There are many aspects of the Russian culture accessible to the children not necessarily through the language. Even if Russian language is a plus, it shouldn't be obligatory.
But your “state of being” in this camp—is it fundamentally Russian, Russian Orthodox?
Nicolsky: Well, yeah, like Poline said, it is the culture. But in fact, we are French, and we do have Russian roots, but we also have French roots. And the fact of the matter is today not everyone still speaks Russian, and it’s not forced that even the parents speak Russian. And if we are French, we will speak French.
Tchoubar: If we compare ourselves to young people who grew up in Russia, we would be radically different, even among those of us here who do speak Russian.