Vova is thriving with Sunny Corner

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

St Gregory’s is proud to sponsor Sunny Corner, a charity based in rural Moldova. They provide an accepting community that helps people with learning disabilities or autism to socialise and develop their skills. Vova (Vladimir), 43, is pictured with a violin. He lives with his mother, a pensioner. Vova is a talented artist who plays instruments, dances, and draws. He is neat and meticulous. 

Vova attended a regular school, but ‘deviations’ appeared in the 9th grade, and he was later diagnosed with autism. This diagnosis was made at a mental hospital Kodru, in Chisinau, when Vova was 14-15 years old. Due to his progressive condition, Vova left school after the 9th grade and was forced to stay at home, which hindered his further development of communication. Vova had been depressed for a long time, and it was very difficult to help him overcome it. 

Lyudmila Shishkina worked in the “Planet of Care” program before “Sunny Corner.” During that time, Vova was involved in sewing, carpentry, and drew a lot. Gradually, the black color in his drawings was replaced by bright colors, as she describes it.  Nowadays, Vova actively participates in “Sunny Corner’s” activities. 

80 Moldovan families receive food parcels

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

St Gregory’s supports Rain Kids, a charity in Chişinău, Moldova, providing therapy for children with developmental disabilities. Disability often goes hand in hand with poverty in Moldova, not least because one parent often has to give up work to care full time. With inflation of 8.8%, making ends meet this year has become particularly difficult.

With St Gregory’s funding, Rain Kids has stepped in to provide food parcels for 80 of their families. Food parcels include essentials like rice, buckwheat, wheat and corn flour, canned fish, sunflower oil and more. There are also some treats—wafers, buns, and biscuits—to bring a little joy to the kids. Domestic cleaning products are included, helping families create a healthier space for their children. The thank you letters from parents show just how much this has meant to them.

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Charity Ball in Chişinău

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

Our very active partners at Sunny Corner in Moldova are putting together another wonderful event to promote inclusion for people with learning disabilities.

On June 8th, they’re hosting a charity ball at the Chișinău Arena. The venue is fully adapted for people with disabilities, and Sunny Corner has invited more than 120 participants, including people with special needs and their peers aged 8 to 45, as well as parents, carers, teachers, and more from across Moldova, Ukraine, and Romania.

Participants’ performances will be accompanied by the State Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Moldova. Local and national authorities will be attending too. Additionally, for the first time, an auction will be held to raise funds for their “Dream Manor,” which provides training programmes to enhance the quality of life for individuals with special needs.

St. Gregory’s is proud to be contributing to this memorable event.

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Autism Acceptance Month

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

April is World Autism Acceptance Month. In the UK we have made a shift from the usual awareness month to an acceptance month, and that is important. Of course autistic people around the world want other people to be aware of autism, but they also want to be accepted as part of the community, and as who they are.

However, in many parts of the world a great deal of work still needs to be done on awareness and the most basic rights for autistic people. In Eastern Europe, autism is still a new diagnosis and support within the community can be very patchy. In Moldova autistic children are often not able to attend school. There is little or no understanding of their needs, so if they do attend they find school very tough. We work with two organisations that are filling the gap, providing therapy and education for children who would otherwise be unsupported. They can also advocate for children with local schools so that they can attend, albeit sometimes part-time or with their mother acting as an unpaid classroom assistant.

In Russia we work with Communication Space to raise awareness of alternative communication methods that can work with non-verbal autistic children and young people. Those who attend their own centre are a wonderful advert for this approach. They are learning to express their wishes, to follow instructions, and to communicate out in the world, in shops and cafes. Online training sessions spread the approach to parents and professionals across the Russian-speaking world. Alongside this practical work, Communication Space also runs counselling sessions for parents. For them, acceptance is the first step towards a more positive outlook on life.

We hope that these small steps towards greater awareness, understanding and support will in time lead to greater acceptance in the communities we work in and beyond.

Călărași project in Moldova helps Samuel

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

Thanks to generous donations from our supporters, we have been able to employ a speech therapist to provide vital support to children with special needs in the Călărași region of Moldova.  Samuel is one of the children who we have been able to help.  Seeing him thriving and making progress, we are very grateful to everyone who helps us keep these services going.

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Our colleagues from the Wish centre tell us:

Samuel, a 9-year-old boy with Down syndrome, from Calarasi, is absolutely full of energy and curiosity. He is a cheerful, affectionate and curious child. He loves horses and could spend hours looking at pictures of them or listening to stories about horse adventures. We can see that he has leadership skills: he communicates with the other students with gestures or sounds, and he wants to be understood and appreciated. During games, he likes to be listened to, and when he feels that someone is paying attention to him, he gets even more excited. 

Due to his disability, Samuel experiences challenges in communication and social interaction. To develop his skills, he needs speech therapy, educational activities and behavioral support, which fortunately we have been able to provide for him since 2020.  In 2022, he started school in the 1st grade, which represented an important step in his development. At the center and at school, he learns to communicate more effectively, express his emotions, needs, preferences and interact with other children. 

Samuel’s progress is visible: he has learned to use more words and gestures to express his wishes, he is more attentive and involved in activities. His family is proud of him and supports him every step of the way.  The teacher and specialists from the “Wish” center are impressed by his effort and desire to learn. His fellow students have learned that Samuel is a special child and very kind.  They all get on very well with him.  

Training benefits children straight away

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

We are delighted that, with your help, the lead therapist at our Moldovan partner, Rain Kids, has been able to start her studies to develop her skills in working with autistic children.  A particular focus of Ana’s traininng has been early intervention with young children aged between 12 and 48 months.  We all know how vital these early years are for child development.  Providing early support can make a great difference to an autistic child’s communication skills, their behaviour and relationships in the family.  Rain Kids are finding that more families are coming to them with their concerns at this early stage, so it is very positive that our colleagues now feel better equipped to help them.

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Winter newsletter out now

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

Our winter newsletter is out now. You can read how your generous response to our summer appeal allowed us to rebuild the dining room of the Sunflower summer camp after it was destroyed by fire.

Many of the stories in this issue are about the difference your donations are making to disabled young people. We have Ilya, who is suprising his mother by making great progress even at the age of 27. We have news from Rain Kids in Chişinău, Moldova, who are benefitting from training for a key member of staff.

Our Christmas appeal this year is to help Adelina and other children who like her have special needs in Calarasi, Moldova. Can you help us raise £5,000 to fund a speech therapist and a special needs teacher for one year?

Finally, if you download the PDF version of the newsletter, you will find extra stories and details of our Christmas cards and gifts, which didn’t fit in the blog.

Read the newsletter’s first story

Adelina’s story

Posted on By Sarah.SGF
Adelina on the left with her friend Ana

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.

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News from Moldova: Rain Kids

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

Five-year-old Alex lives in Chişinău with his family. The family turned to the Rain Kids Centre when it became clear that Alex was developmentally delayed. Their ambitions are simple, and ones most of the parents share: “I wanted Alex to start talking, eat independently, dress and undress by himself, to be more autonomous, to socialize.”

The staff at Rain Kids are very motivated to help the children in their care reach these goals. Last year, we helped them by providing supervision from an experienced practitioner from Romania. Now, we are funding Rain Kids’ lead therapist, Ana Cislaru, to raise her qualifications so she can offer training and supervision to her 8 colleagues.

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The value of a good supervisor

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

Since we started working together, The Rain Kids Centre’s goal has been to improve the quality of the therapy they are able to offer children with developmental disabilities, such as autism. St Gregory’s has been funding supervision by an experienced therapist from Romania. She has visited to observe the work of the centre and provide training sessions.

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