St Gregory’s has funded Anna Cîșlaru, lead therapist at Rain Kids, Chișinău, Moldova, to strengthen her professional skills. She co-ordinates the therapy for children with autism and other developmental conditions. She explains how these sessions vary with the age of the children.
With children like Alex, who is nearly two years old, the focus is on stimulating his development across a range of areas including physical co-ordination. He needs help to learn to focus and concentrate, and Anna is laying down a foundation for communication and independence. All this is done through guided play in a way which is enjoyable for them both.
Meanwhile, with five years old Iulian she is helping develop some of the essential skills he will need for school. Together they are strengthening his communication, his ability to manage his emotions, and learning to follow instructions.
In both cases, their progress will be closely monitored so that an individual programme can be adjusted to their particular needs. Both Alex and Iulian and doing well!
Mihai is 6 years old and lives with his parents in Chisinau. He is a gentle boy, attentive to details, with a remarkable memory and a special curiosity for colors, shapes, and neatly arranged objects. He loves building, sorting his toys by size, and watching his favorite cartoon over and over again. However, from an early age, his parents noticed that his development was different from that of other children his age. He didn’t respond when his name was called, avoided eye contact, and preferred to play alone in silence.
After several consultations with specialists, the family received the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It was a difficult moment, full of emotions and questions, but the parents did not let themselves be overwhelmed. They began searching for solutions, support programs, and centers that could help Mihai develop and gradually connect with the world around him.
For just two months Mihai has been attending the Rain Kids Center for Children with Rare Diseases and Autism in Chisinau. He is only at the beginning of his therapeutic journey, but small changes can already be seen. He attends daily sessions of behavioral therapy and adapted educational activities. At first, he cried often, refused to enter the room, and did not tolerate being touched, but gradually he started getting used to the therapists and even looking forward to some activities.
Today, Mihai can follow simple instructions, wait for his turn during games, and communicate through gestures or sounds. Although he does not speak yet, he expresses his wishes through looks, and his shy smile brings great joy to everyone who works with him. His greatest achievement so far is that he has started to seek his mother’s gaze and take her hand when he wants something; a small but essential step on the road to communication.
Mihai’s parents are deeply involved and eager to learn how to support him at home as well. His mother says that every new gesture, every look, and every calm moment is a victory. However, both the family and the specialists believe that Mihai needs more intensive and consistent therapy in order to make faster and more stable progress.
Mihai is a child with tremendous potential. He enjoys activities that involve order and repetition — puzzles, building blocks, drawing, and coloring. Loud noises frighten him, and sudden changes upset him, but in the safe environment of the center, surrounded by his therapists, he feels increasingly confident.
Even though his journey has just begun, every step Mihai takes is a sign of courage and hope. With the right support, he can learn to communicate, to express himself, and to discover the world at his own pace. You are helping us provide quality therapy to children like Mihai, by helping us build the skills of our team.
We are delighted that Serge Malaison, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Moldova in Quebec, has agreed to be an Ambassador for St Gregory’s Foundation. He has already visited our partners, Rain Kids, who support children with special needs in the capital Chişinău. They have sent this warm letter of thanks for his visit.
Dear Partners,
On behalf of the entire team at the Copiii Ploii Center, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for the visit of Mr. Serge and Mr. Matthieu, as well as for the time, interest, and openness with which they listened to us. Their presence in our center meant far more than a simple trip — it was a gesture of solidarity, respect, and compassion toward the children and families we support every day. We felt them as true friends of our community. They looked beyond statistics, spoke with the children, observed the therapists’ work, listened to the parents’ stories, and understood the reality faced by families of children with special educational needs. For us, this is the most valuable gift: an open heart and a genuine desire to do good. We are deeply grateful for their willingness to support us through fundraising campaigns. The support you intend to offer together is not only financial — it represents real opportunities for our children: opportunities for consistent therapy, opportunities for recovery, opportunities for inclusion, opportunities for a better life. We hope that this beginning of cooperation will grow into a stable partnership filled with meaningful and positive results. We remain open to ongoing communication, experience-sharing, joint projects, and everything that can bring more light into the lives of our children. Once again, we thank you all for your empathy, energy, kindness, and willingness to be part of our story.
With gratitude and respect, The Copiii Ploii Center Team
This photo represents a touching moment in the life of Sunflower’s summer camp. Six families: mothers who grew up in children’s homes, one grandad who is raising his grandaughter, and their young children went away for six days to work on their parenting skills. This vital work helps prevent the next generation suffering from their parent’s childhood trauma.
At the start there was some tension. Everyone was getting used to the new conditions, and the weather meant they were all cooped up indoors. The children didn’t listen to their parents, and also didn’t turn to them when they needed help. They preferred to play on their own and would argue or run off when they were brought together. Yet, by the end of the summer camp, they shared this impromptu moment of togetherness. Tolya had found a ‘treasure’ and his friends were all eager to see what it was.
To get to this point took a lot of work, work which started right at the start of this year when the parents articulated what they wanted to get out of it. They all expressed the difficulty they had in getting their children to listen. During the six days of the camp, a key goal was to help the parents observe their children more closely, to read the signs that show what they need physically and emotionally. One mother said at the end, ‘I have begun to notice where I put pressure on my child. For now it’s difficult to do differently, but the main thing is that I notice those moments.’ Through play therapy and creative activities, the parents were helped to understand why their children refused to play with them, or got angry. Rather than mirroring their children’s behaviour, they learned ways to gently draw their children into the game.
Meanwhile, in the children’s group, the children were also encouraged to recognise and name their emotions. They began to take turns and even tried to resolve their own conflicts. When the group met up back in St Petersburg, they could all look back on many happy and creative moments. All are working hard to carry what they learned into their daily lives.
If you missed our September AGM, you can still read the presentation from Ana Gorea, co-founder of Rain Kids, a small charity that works with children with special needs. She lays out how St Gregory’s grants to provide training for their staff are helping to raise standards of care.
On April 20, volunteers from “Sunflower” headed to Dolbeniki and got to work cleaning up the site, including the kitchen, fire pit, and bathhouse. While there, they ran into a big problem: the small pond that had always provided water for showers, the bathhouse, and dishwashing had dried up. Drinking water was always brought in from a nearby village, but without the pond, there’s no way to get enough water for a group—especially families. Talks are ongoing with the site owners to figure out solutions. One idea is drilling a well, but it’s tricky because water layers are deep in the Valdai Hills, and finding a reliable source could mean multiple expensive attempts.
Valentina Balobanova, who runs the Deaf Club we sponsor in St Petersburg, was doing her shopping recently when a woman stopped her. This was Nina, who used to go to the Deaf Club with her son Nikita. He is now twenty, but his mama still remembers Valentina and the Deaf Club. The meeting prompted her to write a thank you letter to Valentina, the other staff at the Early Intervention Institute, and to you, the donors who keep the Club running.
“I would like to thank the Early Intervention Institute and Valentina Balobanova for the great help they gave me and my son son. A few words about us. My name is Nina Nikitina and my son Nikita was born in 2004. A year later, I found out that he could not hear and he was diagnosed with hedrocephalic syndrome (which was cured). Well, it would be an understatment to say that it was a tragedy for me. My world simply collapsed. I was raising him alone, and I had absolutely no idea what documents needed to be completed, or what to do with all this. Somehow, by chance, while sitting in the hallway of the audiology center, one of the mothers told me about the Early Intervention Institute. She told mme that they have an excellent diagnostic service there, and run classes. After some time, I realized this meeting was an incredible grace of God. Having come to the center, our family found care and friends with the same difficulties. I found out where to go, what documents to fill out, what benefits I was entitled to, and where to get his hearing aid serviced. Basically, I learned everything I needed here. I have never met such warm people before. We didn’t miss a single class or event that took place at the institute. This became our second home. I want to thank the sponsors who make this possible from the bottom of my heart. You do an incredible miracle for us, such families, children.”
Adelina (on the left in the picture) is 9 years old and has Down Syndrome. She struggles with language and communication, but these difficulties don’t stop her from being eager to express herself and trying to make herself understood. She loves music and will arrange the other children in a circle while she pretends to play the guitar or claps along with her favourite songs. The children watch her and even applaud at the end of the song.
This year our Christmas appeal aims to raise £5,000 to pay for a speech therapist and a special needs teacher to support children like Adelina. Read on and you will find out how the team at The Wish Centre are helping Adelina flourish.
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:
Each year our partners at Sunflower take two small groups away on summer camp. Six young adults who have just left their children’s home, and five families with young children took part this year. Although the beautiful rural surroundings are a wonderful escape from the city, this is not just a holiday. Everyone who takes part has been selected because they are prepared to work intensively on improving their relationships, on making responsible choices and on becoming more resilient.
