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The Kaliningrad Youth Group (Indian Club 'Speaking Water') consists of students between 10 and 18 years of age and is chaired by Ms. Nika Samoshko, who was trained in American Indian folklore. The Youth Group focuses on eco-ethical education for children by incorporating traditional values of Native American People and other world indigenous people.

The aim of 'Speaking Water' is to foster environmental awareness by combining native values, modern natural science and community involvement. The relationship between human societies and nature constitutes an important aspect of our lives, ranging from resource management to everyday life.

Although many indigenous populations have been more or less absorbed by modern civilisation, others have not abandoned their traditional ideas of environmental conservation. It is the teaching of these ideals that offers children a different perception of their relationship with nature. We attempt to develop such relations early in the children's lives so as to attempt to modify human behavior and human impacts on Earth. Traditional educational curricula simply attempt to alert children to environmental problems and then to develop solutions or ways to correct these problems. Native American People are among the last people of today who cherish traditional ways of life in harmony with nature.

'Speaking Water' Club, founded in 1995, is the only known children's club in Russia organized on the basis of native values. Thirty children and teenagers are now involved in club activities. The club program is a winner of the All-Russian Contest of environmental educational programs (1997); it is published by ISAR-Moscow as a winner of ISAR contest of environmental education programs (1998). Project leader Nika Samoshko, a biology teacher, studied Native American life in the USA (1996, 1998). Club members are the winners of three regional contests of environmental research and regional art contests, and they participated in summer international ecological camps. The Club program includes the following activities:

• Variety of Native American cultures in comparison with Slavonic cultures
• Traditional crafts and arts (beadwork, feather work, clothing, housing, accessories)
• Native spiritual world (music, dances, storytelling, the way of life in a tepee)
• Ecological connections and interdependence on nature, environmental actions & outdoor experience
• Unity of native knowledge and natural sciences

Partnerships: Denmark: Esrum Mollegaard Environment School

This page was last updated on 25 June 2003.