German delinquents cured in Siberia
Published 22 January, 2008, 06:36
Some German parents think the best way to tackle the problem of delinquency among their teenage children is to send them to Siberia – thousands of miles away.
German Frank Kerner came up with the idea of sending problem teenagers from Germany to Siberia more than 10 years ago. He called the project “Siberia – Road to Life”.
The programme’s organisers say it acts like a kind of shock therapy for young adults with behaviour problems. And it usually works, putting them on the right path and changing their outlook on life.
Florian is the 43rd German teen who has come to the Siberian village in the Omsk region where there are extreme conditions, minus 30 in winter, and swarms of mosquitoes in summer. The goal is to instil discipline and in his time here he has to study, chop firewood and construct a wooden fence.
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