Having visited then-Soviet and later Russian summer camps as a kid, and later having volunteered as a camp counselor in America, I have noticed the indescribable differences in attitude towards kids' safety in two countries. While the unregulated environment of Russian summer camps maybe provides for a better, wilder "summer adventure," American camps drill into camp counselors and children "safety first" and eventually provide it - the safety.
Yesterday's events in Yeysk (Krasnodar Krai) speak volumes about the degradation of Russian government and private institutions in their ensuring of children's safety. Seven camp counselors and 63 children (ages 8-16, all from Moscow), traveled by boat to a local island. Despite the signs "Swimming Strictly Prohibited" and absence of lifeguards or medical personnel, camp counselors allowed children to swim. In the meantime, counselors got drunk! While the counselors were drinking, six children disappeared. One counselor attempted to save the kids--who were being dragged into the open sea by strong currents--and died himself.
Government will cover all funeral expenses, and... that's basically it. Unlike the American Camping Association (ACA) there is no independent organization supervising summer camps' safety standards in Russia. Government officials who are supposed to fulfill the ACA's role are easily bribable, and most of them are using their 30-to-48-day vacations during summertime. An American family would see an opportunity to sue such a camp for millions of dollars. However, Russian camps do not have insurance to cover expenses associated with such legal cases, and the legal system itself does not allow for such law suits. I assume the parents of dead children can hope for about $5,000-$10,000 per child in government compensations from Moscow Mayor Luzhkov or Russian Federal government.
President Medvedev is (rightly) mad. However, instead of a system in place kicking in at the right moment and either preventing the tragedy from happening in the first place, or properly dealing with its consequences, the country's president himself is ordering the country-wide inspection of summer camps to ensure children's safety. Having a Russian law degree myself and knowing the summer camp business on both sides of the Atlantic, I can assure president Medvedev that it is absolutely impossible to ensure children's safety in one day, one week, or even one month; not just country-wide, but even at a single camp. Even if people came to the Tsar himself (just as in old Russian times) and the "Tsar" is demanding law and order, that's just not how it happens in the modern world.
Russian private institutions and government officials may want to learn from the Western experience how to ensure children's safety and protect kids from other unfortunate or criminal events (in the 1990-s Russian summer camps became, literally, a hotbed of world-wide child pornography). Camp counselors have to be properly screened for their moral values, professional responsibilities, and criminal background.
Before an adult can work with kids, he must go through a training process similar to one I went through at the YMCA: first aid classes, meetings with parents, lawyers, and insurance agents, hundred-page-long manuals, rigorous background checks, team building exercises, and trainings that teach a counselor to make the right decision at a tough moment. None of the above exists on the camp level in Russia, and there are no governmental regulations forcing summer camps to consider such training today. A simple desire and a valid ID are enough at most Russian camps for a college student to be hired as a camp counselor. Such "jobs" are often viewed as a great camping vacation filled with natural beauty, drinking, and sex. Supervision of children is viewed as an annoying add-on.
While the scared bureaucrats will be inspecting even more scared camp directors, maybe it is time for President Medvedev's office to do the same thing with summer camps that Peter the Great did with the fleet: take a look at how the West does it, learn, and do it in Russia.
Russia Blog mourns with the parents of deceased children, and hopes that their loss will move Russia to adopt new regulations and techniques to save more innocent lives in the future.
Photos of Yeysk:
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