Quality recognised
Our partners Sunflower have come a long way since we helped them get started 17 years ago. For some years we have been helping fund them to run training courses for social workers and psychologists. Now the quality of these courses has been recognised. They have received a licence as a training organisation and are able to issue certificates for the courses they offer on effectively supporting orphanage-leavers and foster or adoptive families. Their teaching is helping to raise the level of care across St Petersburg, the Leningrad region and beyond.
Summer camps revived
Thank you to everyone who contributed to our appeal to restore the Sunflower summer camp. Their dining area is now usable again after being destroyed by fire in 2023. The summer camps are held in a very special place and Sunflower use their surroundings well. A walk through the forest to the local sand quarry is a highlight of both summer camps, for young families and for the teenagers.
Our colleagues say this about the children’s experience this year:
“It was important for each child to reach the quarry, and to collect beautiful gifts of the forest for the evening workshop (flowers, pebbles, cones). These actions helped to expand their sensory experience – the smells and sounds of the forest and field, sliding down a sand hill, getting to know insects, new visual images, and gaining experience in overcoming obstacles.”
For the teenagers the walk to the quarry is an opportunity to practice making decisions together: they plan the outing together and negotiate which route to take.
On the way, they collected leaves. These were rolled into “shoots” and charged with good wishes for each other – to be brave, to believe in themselves. Together they then planted the “shoots” in the ground. This simple ritual helped affirm their wishes to develop themselves as individuals. After five days together, the group went home with a renewed understanding of their own story, and greater confidence in the future.
St Gregory’s plans to support Sunflower’s summer camps in 2025.