There is no need to prove that the concern for the spiritual and moral condition of our society, especially the younger generation, is the most important task both for society in general and the Church in particular. Clearly, in meeting this challenge the priority should be given to the education and formation of children and youth and to the development of their world outlook according to lofty spiritual and moral values.

This is exactly the task undertaken by Ladya, a program for preventing HIV infection and risk behaviour among teenagers. It was developed by the Russian Orthodox Church in cooperation with secular specialists. Conceptually it is different from the popular information-training approach that does not address the fundamental causes of risk behaviour which leads to contracting socially dangerous illnesses. Its originality and novelty lies in the fact that it aims at inculcating in teenagers the system of spiritual and moral guidelines which, realized in behaviour, reduce to minimum the risk of contracting infection. A more detailed information is given at our website http://www.rondtb.msk.ru/newslet/ru/79_1_ru.htm and in the January 2009 issue of our Newsletter.

At present the program is used in several regions in Russia. It has stood the test in 8 schools in Bryansk and its region and it is taught now in colleges in Kaliningrad, Surgut, Ivanovo, St. Petersburg and Bryansk.

In late 2009, the Ladya training was received by teachers and psychologists in Nizhniy Novgorod and Rostov-na-Donu.

In Nizhniy Novgorod, 25 school psychologists, social educators and secondary school teachers and vocational schools were trained to work with this program. The training was organized by the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Nizhniy Novgorod (its education department) and the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations together with the medical and educational institutions in the region. Lectures were given by experienced educators from Blago, a church-public organization in Bryansk.

On 2 December 2009, a round-table conference was held in Nizhniy Novgorod to present the Ladya program to the public. It was attended by representatives of the Nizhniy Novgorod diocese, regional education departments, regional medical institutions, regional AIDS Center, rehabilitation centers and a number of public organizations.

The speakers stated a unanimous opinion that special attention in the efforts to improve public health should be given to prevention since ‘it is easier to prevent an illness then to treat it’. They also pointed out that teenagers make up a special risk group which needs priority attention.

Ms. Irina Kotina, deputy director of the Nizhniy Novgorod diocesan education department expressed the opinion that ‘this program will become an excellent addition to the Istoki (Sources) Program carried out in many schools in the diocese’. It is planned to launch the Ladya program in several schools and colleges in the Nizhniy Novgorod Region already in January 2010 and later in other educational institutions.

On 15 December 2009, another round-table conference was held in Rostov-na-Donu on the theme ‘The program for preventing HIV infection and destructive behaviour among youth and its implementation in educational institutions’. It was attended by representatives of the Federal Drug Control, AIDS Center, Public Health and Educations Departments as well as teaching method specialists from the city’s creative work clubs and prevention centers.

The round-table conference was planned to coincide with a training of psychologists and social educators for work with the Ladya prevention program. It was organized by the Wellbeing of Generations, a private organization for the support of social initiatives, in cooperation with the city youth department and with the support of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations and the Blago church-public organization in Bryansk.

The participants discussed the alarming spread of alcoholic and narcological dependences and socially dangerous illnesses among the youth in the region and gave unanimous support to the idea of introducing the Ladya prevention program in schools and colleges. The training course students who participated in the round-table conference stated they would start introducing the program in their educational establishments in the beginning of 2010.

Here are some responses that came from the Ladya training course students to the organizers of the conference:

‘I believe Ladya is an excellent program which will really work helping not only teenagers but perhaps also grown-ups. I am going to use the Ladya program in my work and I am almost one hundred percent sure that it will have a positive effect and that teenagers will really start thinking about their values. Participating in this program, I felt it impact on my own self. Ladya really makes one think about many of one’s values’.

‘In my view, it is an excellent program… I believe Ladya will work well in the teenagers’ milieu as it is created in an intelligible language. It is important that it addresses the moral side, morality, human values and the meaning of life. One can receive from it many answers to one’s questions and come to think: who am I? What am I for? The most important thing is that it will help teenagers to find the right way in life, to come out of a difficult situation, to be the judges of their own selves’.

‘Ladya has given me a great experience of training work because it uses many ways of work with a group, tests, tasks, warm-ups. The program encourages one to think about one’s life, aims, values, resources. I believe the program can help teenagers to choose a course of life, a profession, etc. It makes one to think whether some improper things are worth doing and what consequences they can lead to. The program has enriched my knowledge about HIV and AIDS and about their dangers. It is built on a very solid ethical basis we are lacking so much today. I believe the program should be used in the work with teenagers not only in risk groups but also with ordinary ones’.

‘How fortunate it is that Ladya has come to Rostov-na-Donu despite the winter frost, penetrating wind, snow and ice. Just as Noah’s Arch, by the Lord’s will, saved life for life’s sake, Ladya helps to preserve the most precious things in us. Anyway, this program gives a chance to think about what we are in this world, what we live for and what our mission is and about our rights, duties and the meaning of our life on earth. The beauty of the program is that it gives a person of any age and faith an opportunity to go deep into his or her own soul, to come in touch with the open hearts of others, to travel an exciting and valuable road towards self-knowledge and self-fulfilment in harmony with the world and in the spirit of constructive and trustful interaction and to look forward with the desire to act’.