ROOF’S INTERNATIONAL SUMMER CAMP 2009 IN THE BELSKOYE USTYE ORPHANAGE FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS Since 2000, ROOF’s International Summer Camp has been bringing young people from different cities in Russia, the U.K., the U.S., France, Italy and other countries to Belskoye Ustye, a small village in Pskov oblast (North-West Russia.) Here our visitors spend one month volunteering at the local orphanage for children with special needs. They play games, organise discos and festivals, go hiking with the children, design costumes and do other fun activities, making up for the lack of attention and individual support in these orphaned
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Russian Orphan Opportunity Fund (ROOF), www.roofnet.org Voznesensky per., 8, office 46, Moscow tel./fax: +7 (495) 629 51 00 roof@roofnet.org Alina Lobzina, project co-ordinator, +7 909 950 0330 alina@roofnet.org
Olga Tikhomirova, Country Director, +7 903 614 6221 olga@roofnet.org
WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT? At present there are 730 000 orphans living in Russia. Fortunately, due to the efforts made by the government and NGOs, more children find new families and have the chance to enjoy a successful life, instead of ending up in one of numerous Russian orphanages. However, not all children in need can benefit from these positive changes. Unfortunately nothing has changed for those children and teenagers who need extra attention and support to deal with their problems... There are 29 000 children with special needs in Russia who live in 151 closed, special-needs institutions. More than 5 000 children with developmental difficulties live in 251 baby-homes. If these children lived with a family, many of their problems would simply disappear. However, a negative public attitude towards handicapped people, along with the many challenges people with special needs face in Russia, makes it difficult to find foster parents for children with developmental problems. In order to develop essential life and social skills, handicapped children need extra support and attention, a specially designed curriculum, developmental training, the help of psychologists and speech-therapists, but the closed institutions where they live very often don!t meet any of their needs. Furthermore, if the children spend most of their time in a closed orphanage , it affects them in a negative way, making them totally incapable of adapting to life in society. Institutions for children with special needs don!t receive any state funding for educational or developmental training. Very often they are hard to reach as they are located on the outskirts of towns in small villages, which leads to isolation and makes social adaptation more complex. The lack of qualified specialists is another serious problem for such institutions. Over years of work, we!ve seen many examples of how time spent in closed, special needs institutions affects children. Even the most capable of them have no idea about independent living and need further institutionalisation when they reach 18. Adult institutions, in which they stay until the end of their days, do not offer anything to improve these young people!s professional or educational background. It!s not surprising that in most cases they can!t find a job and, as their only accessible form of "entertainment! is sedative pills and alcohol, they die early without having a chance to change anything.... We think that the existing system is unfair to children, who need much more attention and support due to their individual problems -hereditary or non-hereditary. As is the case with all children, they need social interaction, education, new impressions, and positive emotions, and it is our duty to provide everything they need for their personal development and offer them a real chance of true happiness.
WHO DO WE HELP? ROOF has been working with the Belskoye Ustye orphanage for children with special needs since 2000. When ROOF!s representatives first arrived and saw the orphanage and the life the children lead , they knew they had to help the orphanage administration.
Official name: Belsko-Ustyensky Psycho-Neurological Orphanage for children with special needs Governing body: Local Department of the Ministry of Social Protection Number of children: 87 Children!s age: 8 - 18 Diagnosis: mental deficiency, deviant behaviour, physical disabilities Director: Gennady Mikhailovich Filkin
Horrifying poverty, no educational or developmental classes in the orphanage schedule, the abusive behaviour of some carers, swearing, children running around without supervision and then the villagers, who used to hire "idiots! - that!s how they used to refer to the orphans - to work in their gardens paying them with cigarettes and alcohol. Having seen all that, we decided to take action immediately to change the situation. That year we organised ROOF!s first Summer Camp.
Now life in the orphanage is not as desperate as it once was. There are extracurricular activities sponsored by various NGOs, some children are allowed to go on excursions, and the staff!s attitude towards the children has changed significantly there are also specialists working with the children. Furthermore, one of the NGOs working in the orphanage has started a project aiming to create a children!s village where the children could live in foster families. It will be the first children!s village in Russia to help children with disabilities find a new loving family. Another significant change that happened recently was the opening of a school at the orphanage in September 2008, fully funded by the government! As a pioneering organisation in the help we provide to the Belskoye Ustye orphanage we are happy to see the difference we!ve made so far. However, werealise that it is only the beginning and that there is still plenty of work to do! 2
Since 2000 ROOF has implemented the following projects in the Belskoye Ustye orphanage: -“Social Hotel”, and later “ROOF!s Abilitation Centre” - postorphanage social-adaptation projects for Belskoye Ustye graduates, providing them with an opportunity to start living independently with the help of ROOF!s teachers and carers; -“Weekend fostering” project (2001-02) when the children from the orphanage visited families from the nearby town of Porkhov. After the project ended in 2002, four families kept in touch with the children; -Project «Baranovo» (2005-06) that provided educational support for the children. Within the framework of this project we created a special centre with a wide range of materials for work with these children; -«ROOF!s Summer Camp», that became ROOF!s first project in the orphanage, is still running, helping to make children!s lives more interesting and fun and providing them with an opportunity to develop their communication and social-interaction skills.
The children still face the problems of isolation and lack of social interaction, extremely limited contact with the outside world, poor communication and social skills development, in addition to those they suffer from insufficient life experience. At present ROOF!s Summer Camp is the only project striving to improve the situation.
ROOF’S INTERNATIONAL SUMMER CAMP When we started working in Belskoye Ustye we didn!t expect our Summer Camp to become so important to the children of the orphanage. Although our work has acted as a springboard for a variety of projects aimed to improve children!s level of education, the development of personal and life skills, Summer Camp is still the only chance for the children to have a glimpse of life outside the orphanage and the village and feel a part of it... The Summer Camp project has two main goals: - to help the children overcome the isolation they suffer from after being put in a closed institution like Beskoye Ustye orphanage Like most orphans in Russia the vast majority of the Belskoye Ustye orphans come from dysfunctional families. Many of them have experienced abuse, violence and neglect. Many of them ended up in Belskoye Ustye after being transferred from one orphanage to another. Such negative experience affects a child!s ability to make contact and build relationships with others. Very often children can!t make friends or embark on any other relationships with their peers in the same institution. “Summer Camp is an exciting event for the children of the Belskoye Ustye orphanage. The kids are happy to see Negative attitude towards people with intellectual and volunteers coming to the orphanage, as they lack normal developmental problems is very common in present-day communication and social interaction skills. That is why the Russian society. Most of the village children in main goal of the Summer Camp project is not taking Belskoye Ustye have plenty of prejudices towards presents to them, but widening children!s horizons and their peers from the orphanage and don!t want to become developing interests, giving them the opportunity to meet new friends and to interact with new people. This is the most their friends or participate in any interaction with them, important for them�. which leaves the orphans without any chance of - Lyubov Fedotova (Pskov), Summer Camp volunteer
becoming a part of the real world. Isolation makes it impossible for the children to learn different ways of communication with other people and complicates their further social integration.
3
During Summer Camp the children spend most of their time with volunteers who were raised and used to live in a completely different environment. By interacting with young people from different countries,and seeing how volunteers communicate within the group, the children get the chance to learn about healthy young social role-models and become part of this process of interaction. - to make the lives of the children from the orphanage more interesting and full of new and exciting experiences Children living in closed institutions like the one in Belskoye Ustye can!t leave their orphanages for long time, some of them are not allowed to leave the orphanage longer than a few hours. In Belskoye Ustye the children spend 99% of their time in the same place with the same people, very often doing all same things because there is no one who could show or teach them anything new. Many volunteers said their first impression was that the children are extremely bored with their lives as they have no stimulation or new experiences. Unusual experiences, new emotions and
“From the minute the volunteers arrived to the moment they left, the kids at the Belskoye Uste orphanage were fascinated
meeting people stimulate a child to develop
and stimulated by the different experiences and viewpoints that we brought. As an English volunteer one incident
further and want to explore the world around
particularly sticks in my mind - the surprise that was
them, providing extra motivation and making
generated when I explained that most people in the world including me - do not have patronymics (otchestva)! In small
children happy. At Summer Camp we aim to give every child the opportunity for personal development and growth, helping him or her develop
ways like this as well as through games, conversations, plays and other activities, the kids learnt all sorts of new and interesting things about the outside world�." - Howard Amos (London), Summer Camp volunteer
self-confidence and self-respect. Summer Camp volunteers devote individual attention to each child, supporting, commending and helping when necessary. It!s amazing how responsive the children are to the new environment that Summer Camp brings to the orphanage. At Camp we!ve seen how the most "hopeless! children turned out to be talented artists and craftsmen, or showed interest in learning for the first time. This new experience has a positive impact not only on the children. Seeing the children acting, dancing, doing crafts, learning, and playing, the orphanage staff and locals have a often change their mind and develop a positive attitude towards them.
4
The results of the Summer Camp programme “I!ve noticed numerous changes in the children since I first met them two years ago. While volunteers were working
cannot be described in numbers, as children!s
in Belskoye Ustye the children became more sociable, more interested in the world around them, they started
However,there are pictures taken at Camp
joy cannot be reflected by percentages.
asking questions. It could be seen not only in children!s
where you can see many smiling, excited,
interaction with volunteers, but also in a way they started to talk to each other and the orphanage staff. Seeing
puzzled, laughing, astonished, amused, and
them changing for the better proves to us that we don!t work in vain and our efforts have visible results, and that
gives us a clear understanding of the
makes me happy�. - Anna Iskakova (St. Petersburg), Summer Camp volunteer
further action.
Please visit the Summer Camp!s page on our website – www.roofnet.org/summer and the photo-gallery www.roofnet.org/gallery2 to see the reports and pictures from the previous year!s camps.
happy children!s faces. One glimpse at those importance of Summer Camp and inspires us to
Summer Camp team 2009
In 2009 our Summer Camp team members are from Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Pskov, as well as from the U.K. and Ireland. They will start working in the Belskoye Ustye orphanage on June 6th after a short preparatory seminar session (June 3rd-5th). Summer Camp volunteers work 6 days a week, 5 hours a day, and spend most of their free time preparing classes and festivals. Volunteers choose what and how to teach to their groups themselves, taking into consideration children!s interests and their own creativity. Very often volunteers play developmental games, do crafts, put up plays, create costumes, go hiking and just have fun with the children. Twice a week volunteers organise theme days - Pirate Day, when all the children go treasure hunting, Nationalities Day , when every group does a presentation on traditions of a country they!ve chose, Merry Fair when everyone is trying to earn some #money! to spend them in a Magic Shop.
5
Every week we also hold a disco for both orphans and villagers where they dance and have a great time together. These discos are not just fun but also an important step towards inclusion of the orphanage children in the life of the local community.
HOW CAN YOU BECOME OUR PARTNER? We would be most grateful if you can in any way to help us meet this year!s Summer Camp expenses. Reports on Summer Camp will be provided the sponsors by October 2009. Please, consider the Camp sponsorship according to one of the programmes listed below: - PLATINUM SPONSORSHIP (365 000 RUR donation) - GOLDEN SPONSORSHIP (100 000+ RUR donation) - SILVER SPONSORSHIP (50 000+ RUR donation) If you have any questions or need more information on the project, please don!t hesitate to contact the Summer Camp co-ordinator Alina Lobzina or ROOF!s Country director Olga Tikhomirova.
LET!S HELP TOGETHER! THANK YOU! Our contacts:
6
Russian Orphan Opportunity Fund (ROOF),
Alina Lobzina,
Olga Tikhomirova
Voznesensky per. 8, office 46, Moscow
Project co-ordinator,
Country Director,
www.roofnet.org
email: alina@roofnet.org
email: olga@roofnet.org
tel./fax +7 (495) 629 51 00
mobile +7 909 950 0330
mobile +7 903 614 6221
APPENDIX I:
ROOF’s SUMMER CAMP 2009 ( July 3rd- August 2nd)
RUR
currency rate 34,00 SECTION А: SALARY List of participants 1 Alina Lobzina 2 Nadezhda Guzenko 3 Oksana Orlova 4 Sergey Andreev 5 Vladimir Spigul 6 Applications currently being reviewed 7 Gennady Filkin 8 Orphanage workers 9 Social tax
USD TOTAL 365 614,34руб. 10 753,36US$
Position Programme manager Camp director Psychologist Supplies manager Cook Cook’s helper Legal support PE and music teachers all above
SECTION B: TRANSPORT Train tickets 1: Moscow-Porkhov-Moscow Price (р.) 1
Camp participants 20 Train tickets 2: Pskov-Porkhov-Pskov
2 000,00руб. Price (р.)
2
Camp participants 10 Local transport (Porkov-Belskoye Ustye)
150,00руб. Number of deliveries
3
Petrol for the car of the supplies manager
Price (р.) n/a
35 441,38руб. Total (RUR) 28 735,63руб. 13 793,10руб. 3 448,28руб. 6 896,55руб. 10 344,83руб. 3 448,28руб. 3 448,28руб. 3 448,28руб. 4 406,90руб.
1 042,39US$ Total ($) 845,17US$ 405,68US$ 101,42US$ 202,84US$ 304,26US$ 101,42US$ 101,42US$ 101,42US$ 129,61US$
49 500,00руб. Total (RUR)
1 455,88US$ Total ($)
40 000,00руб.
1 176,47US$
Total (RUR)
Total ($)
1 500,00руб.
44,12US$
Total (RUR) 8 000,00руб.
Total ($) 235,29US$
SECTION C: FOOD
Number of participants
Number of days
30
192 000,00руб. Total (RUR)
5 647,06US$ Total ($)
Expenses for a per. per day 32 200,00руб. 192 000,00руб.
5 647,06US$
14 000,00руб. Total (RUR)
411,76US$ Total ($)
10 000,00руб. 2 000,00руб. 2 000,00руб.
5,88US$ 58,82US$ 58,82US$
35 500,00руб. Total (RUR) 30 000,00руб. 4 000,00руб. 1 500,00руб.
1 044,12US$ Total ($) 882,35US$ 117,65US$ 44,12US$
39 172,97руб.
1 152,15US$
SECTION D: SUPPLIES
1 2 3
Stationary, teaching materials, developmental games etc. Medical supplies Sport equipment
SECTION E: OTHER EXPENSES Number 1 2 3
Medical certificates Public utilities Mobile communications
SECTION F: ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES (12%)
30 n/a n/a
Price (р.) 1000,00руб. 4 000,00руб. 1 500,00руб.
APPENDIX II:
ROOF’s SUMMER CAMP 2009: job responsibilities
Project staff: Project Manager: Alina Lobzina
Summer Camp Director: Nadezhda Guzenko
Key responsibilities:
Key responsibilities:
• working with volunteers:
•
- recruiting volunteers in Russia and abroad;
co-ordinating the Campʼs supplies manager, cook and cookʼs helper;
•
co-ordinating food provision;
•
co-ordinating supplies;
- providing essential information about Summer Camp;
•
maintaining contacts with the orphanage administration;
• maintaining contacts with the local department of the Ministry of Social
•
reporting on Summer Campʼs finance;
•
participation in the Student Council1 .
-interviewing volunteers;
Protection; • developing Summer Campʼs programme; • developing partnerships with other NGOs working in the same field;
Psychologist: Oksana Orlova
• participation in fundraising for the project; • report writing.
Key responsibilities:
•
training volunteers;
•
providing instructional support services to volunteers to help their work ;
•
participation in the Student Council;
•
solving internal problems and conflicts when necessary.
1 The Student Council has four members, elected by a vote from volunteers. The Student Council co-ordinates volunteerʼs work, organises Summer Campʼs schedules, helps prepare theme days, and deals with internal Campʼs problems when required.
Supplies Manager: Sergey Andreyev
Legal Support: Gennady Filkin
Key responsibilities:
Key responsibilities:
•
implementing Campʼs director tasks;
•
buying food and supplies (co-ordinated by the Director);
•
buying train tickets for volunteers;
•
organising repairs of the Baranovo house when needed;
•
preparing the house for the project.
• representing Summer Campʼs interests when contacting local authorities • registering volunteers
Summer Campʼs Cook: Vladimir Spigul Key responsibilities: • cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner for volunteers and Campʼs staff; • co-ordinating the cookʼs helper.
Orphanage staff: PA and music teachers Key responsibilities: • helping organise activities, e.g. discos, hikes, festivals and events that are not listed in the orphanageʼs timetable.
Cookʼs helper: prospective candidates are currently being interviewed Key responsibilities: • helping the cook, supplies manager and Campʼs director with everyday duties and carrying out repairs when needed.