News

Kondopoga Parish welcomes disabled children

Posted on 8th December 20218th December 2021 By Sarah.SGF

Group of children, volunteers, parents and the very popular dog.

Last summer was a very special one for the Parish of Kondopoga, Karelia. An easing of restrictions allowed the summer activities to go ahead and the Parish invited ten disabled children and their parents to join the summer programme for children from disadvantaged families. As the weather was warm and sunny, most lessons and games were held outdoors and children learned new skills and made new friends.

“What a wonderful summer! We all enjoyed meetings, friends, laughter and a wonderful atmosphere at the parish. A huge thank you for this support dur- ing the hard time of covid. We also received food, shoes and school uniforms. We are looking forward as a family to growing more with the parish and cannot wait for next summer.”

Food parcels and books and school uniform for the new school year were also distributed by the parish to local families living in poverty.

Outreach to care-leavers in troubled suburb

Posted on 8th December 20218th December 2021 By Sarah.SGF

Lensovietsky is a new suburb of St Petersburg, which has become a “settlement of orphanage-leavers”. Its crime-rate and anti-social behaviour make it notorious. There is loud music, conflicts, fights, etc round the clock. Police raids and visits by social services have become the norm district. Understandable, orphanage-leavers are not popular with other residents. Quite apart from their antisocial lifestyle, they have run up debts for heating and water supply, and residents have complained about the disconnection of such necessary services. The infrastructure – medical, educational, social institutions – in the residential district is still underdeveloped. For leavers, this has become one of the main obstacles to their integration into society.

This is the context for a new class our partners, Sunflower, have set up this year for families in crisis with children under 5.

HRH Prince Michael visits charity for orphanage-leavers in St Petersburg

Posted on 8th December 20218th December 2021 By Sarah.SGF

HRH Prince Michael meets staff at the Sunflower centre

We are delighted that on 13th October our Patron, His Royal Highness, Prince Michael of Kent, visited the Sunflower Centre in St Petersburg to find out about their flagship programmes at first hand. The Sunflower Centre focuses on providing psychological support for parents who grew up in orphanages and for teenagers leaving orphanages in St. Petersburg.

6 Ways to Help Russian Orphans

Posted on 17th November 202117th November 2021 By Sarah.SGF

1 – Stop calling them orphans

Almost all the children growing up in Russian children’s homes have living parents. The are sometimes called “social orphans”, but they are not orphans in the true sense. Their parents have been judged unfit to look after them, and they have been taken away from them for their own protection. If we think about them as “children in care”, then we can be more clear-sighted about how to help them. Let’s support organisations that really make a difference instead of giving to the “orphanages” that are part of the problem.

Alternative Communication helps Vladik

Posted on 27th August 202127th August 2021 By Sarah.SGF

The world can be a confusing and frightening place for Vladik, aged 5. Sudden movements or sounds can scare him. Vladik has moderate learning difficulties, restricted mobility and delayed speech. Fortunately, our partners Communication Space in Moscow, have been supporting Vladik for more than a year. He is extraordinarily lucky to have such skilled, patient and compassionate people working with him. They are able to spot all the small things that Vladik can do, and have the knowledge and experience to be able to build on this.

Helping deaf children’s development

Posted on 13th July 202113th July 2021 By Sarah.SGF

Milana painting at our Club for deaf children

Milana is two and a half and she started coming to the Club for hearing impaired toddlers that we sponsor a few months ago. She’s a good example of how this club helps deaf children in their whole development. Families and children with deaf children often find it difficult to take part in mainstream children’s activities, so it’s vital we look at the child’s needs as a whole, and don’t just focus on their hearing.

Vadim’s story

Posted on 25th June 202125th June 2021 By Sarah.SGF

Our colleagues at Sunflower in St Petersburg have a fantastic record working with young people who have grown up in children’s homes. With their support, the young people learn to understand and manage their emotions, to plan and take responsible decisions, and to develop healthy, trusting relationships. This takes time. The young people have complex needs having experienced a life-time of trauma. Several have run away from their chidren’s home before. Several are addicted to solvent abuse or have criminal records. Many of them have physical and/ or mental health problems. Vadim, aged 19, is one of the newcomers to Sunflower’s support programme. He has yet to fully trust the staff and his peers, but this lad who others were unable to help, is engaged and motivated to change.

Summer newsletter – out now

Posted on 14th June 202114th June 2021 By Sarah.SGF

Our newsletter is out now with stories from Moscow, St Petersburg, Kondopoga and Tbilisi. To celebrate our 30th anniversary we look back and appreciate how far we’ve come. We take stock of the extraordinary present day and look ahead to future plans. Dive in, and join our efforts to create a brighter future for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people in our regions.

Read our summer newsletter

The Olympic spirit comes to St Petersburg

Posted on 8th June 20218th June 2021 By Sarah.SGF

Recently, our colleagues in St Petersburg held a wonderful sports day for children with complex disabilities. Everyone was able to take part, whether they were standing on their head, or bashing the punchbag. The physios running the day were using a framework set up by the Special Olympics, which allows everyone to learn new skills and enjoy sport, even if they find it difficult to compete in a specific sport.

Life at Mkurnali’s homeless shelter – Tbilisi

Posted on 8th June 20218th June 2021 By Sarah.SGF

The pandemic noticeably worsened the working conditions in Georgia, as it did in the whole world. The majority of companies started working from home and now they don’t use many printers – we lost a lot of orders for fixing or changing cartridges. Our other small business – a car repair shop – continues to work, but only with a limited capacity: the prices of fuel have drastically increased and there-fore people are driving less. Many young people lost their jobs. Regular work remained only for those who worked at grocery stores and supermarkets and perhaps as street cleaners.