Мы очень рады, что этим летом Червенский дом-интернат для особенных деток встречал новых друзей. Новые друзья - это всегда здорово. Своими впечатлениями о неделе, проведённой с детьми в Червене, делится с вами Килин Осалливан. А мы в свою очередь говорим спасибо за то чудесное время, которое девочки подарили детям, за их любовь и их помощь!

"Моя поездка в Червенский детский дом превзошла мои самые смелые ожидания. Каждая группа в интернате по-своему сложна, но время, проведённое с детьми, поистине бесценно.  Я долго планировала эту поездку и готовилась, но уже здесь поняла, что всё, что мне нужно было делать – это просто быть с детьми, играть и веселиться.

Больше всего мне нравилось проводить время с детьми из групп 5 и 6 в сенсорной комнате. Сначала, мы думали, что все дети прикованы к коляскам, но потом обнаружилось, что многие из них могут ходить. Поэтому мы старались как можно больше внимания уделять этим детям и по возможности больше гулять с ними. Ведь это так просто и здорово – играть с ними, быть рядом, любить их.

По вечерам мы в основном играли со старшими ребятами на улице. Мы рисовали мелом, танцевали, играли в теннис, футбол, фрисби, и без конца фотографировались! Очень здорово, что сразу можно было напечатать фотографии и раздать детям. Вечерами, когда шёл дождь, мы занимались с детьми прямо в группах – рисовали, играли, делали поделки. В один из дней мы организовали поход в кино и на дискотеку в местный кинотеатр. Это самый запоминающийся день из всей поездки. Ребята одели свои самые лучшие наряды, ведь для них это такое волнующее событие. Всего 10 минут ходьбы от интерната – а это уже другой мир. Всем ребятам мы купили угощения!

А ещё мы проводили много времени с девочками в группе №3! Им нравилось наводить красоту: красить ногти, подводить глаза. Но кроме этого, некоторые девочки настоящие мастерицы – видели бы вы их поделки! Неизгладимое впечатление на нас произвела группа №1, где большинство детей имеют очень тяжёлые заболевания и почти всё время проводят в постели. Но мы постарались уделить им немного внимания, поиграть, подуть мыльные пузыри и просто побыть рядом с ними. И хотя мы приехали только на неделю, мы смогли посетить почти все группы и познакомиться с большинством детей.

Наше время в Червене пролетело молниеносно. Иногда было невообразимо грустно, больно и трудно, но любовь преодолела всё. Я надеюсь в скорости снова приехать в Червень и провести там больше времени. Хочу сказать спасибо всем, кто был со мной в этой поездке, за вашу поддержку, за то, что мы смогли много сделать и организовать. Очень сложно описать все чувства и впечатления от поездки в Червень, но туда стоит съездить, чтобы понять насколько иной может быть жизнь."

A wonderful alchemical, magical thing happens when you visit the kids at the Gorodische Orphanage.

It's a slow burn kind of magic, that builds steady over the week and ends with feeling completely enriched for spending time with these amazing kids. And this time was no different, Martina Collins, Jo Quinlan and myself headed to the Gorodische Orphanage for a week over the end of July and first week of June.  We merged up with a fantastic group of University of Limerick students, and of course Laura Williams and Ruth Byrne -who are veteran volunteers.

Seeing the many improvements made at the orphanage since the last trip was fantastic - in particular the new verandas and the new airbeds for the bed-bound group.  Even meeting the new Mamas, who seemed genuinely happy to be with the kids, was just wonderful.

The week was fully jam packed with events. We were treated to a wonderful artistic performance by many of the children which was inspired by the colours of summer. And since the weather was so lovely, we had a volley ball game using water balloons.
A trip out to a small petting zoo brought many smiles and new experiences for both the kids and the volunteers, followed by a spin on some carnival rides, which created I'm sure many fond memories for the children.

Moments of sadness are always present on trips like these, especially when noticing the absence of those kids who passed away over the year, or spending time with children whose health seems to be going down hill - it's a horrible feeling not being able to take someone's pain or discomfort away. Despite the sad moments, love and laughter are never too far away. Simple things like blowing bubbles, colouring and playing ball bring so much joy to these kids, and that joy is absolutely infectious.

As always my favourite memories are those of spending time with the older children.  Discos, football, puzzles, making bracelets and putting on temporary tattoos are activities we do with them and even though we struggle to communicate with one another, they still have the uncanny ability to climb into your heart -  with in minutes!

I never fail to leave theses kids without a stronger awareness of everything I take for granted and  a greater sense of wonder and appreciation for their happy dispositions despite the challenges they face. They are like medicine for my soul and I'm grateful to each and every one of them.

-Olivia Bane

For quite a long time there were no volunteers to come to Cherven children's orphanage. But recently 2 sisters from Ireland came for a 4-week visit to the children.

There are a lot of impressions, but let's see what the girls say:

"With no previous experience of working with children with disabilities and qualified only in hugs and kisses we were extremely nervous about what was to come, but as always we took it in our stride and with big smiles on our faces we stepped into a place that we would soon come to love!

Unit 6, a palliative care unit where the children have severe mental and physical disabilities with some children fed through nasogastric tubes was the first unit we visited. Although the prognosis for most of the children is not good, a simple walk around the grounds, a trip to the multi-sensory room or balloons and bubbles can really brighten up their day and bring life back into the unit. The moment a child smiles at you or uncontrollably laughs when you tickle them with a feather gives you goose bumps. It really is the small things that make such a difference.

Another unit we worked in was Unit 5, made up of young children with mental and physical disabilities. Some can walk and some are confined to their wheelchairs. One particular boy Victor, has Downs syndrome and as a result, a heart defect. Just a couple of months ago, Pasha another boy with the same condition passed away as a result. Victor is the most intelligent little boy in Unit 5 and when you watch him the realisation that he is a ticking time bomb is extremely hard to swallow.  We spent our mornings bringing all the children on walks around the grounds and bringing groups to the multi-sensory room both of which they loved.

Unit 4, also known as the crazy walkers, are abled-bodied kids who have more severe mental disabilities. At the beginning we avoided this unit because the bad weather meant they were confined to their unit. However, once outside lots of the children enjoyed interacting. We spent time drawing with chalk, playing with balloons that kept bursting because of the heat, bubbles which wouldn’t work because they shook them and loud music for dancing. They loved it, we only wish we had had the opportunity to do it more often!

Unit 3 was hands down our favourite unit. It is made up of older girls 15-25 with physical or mental disabilities. One major issue is that this unit is located on the third floor where the lifts have been broken for over a year and although now fixed have not yet been certified. The girls had not been outside in a year and a half. One of our favourite days was our picnic in the garden where we brought fifteen of the girls outside and sat under the trees listening to music, painting nails, applying stick-on tattoos and eating sweets, chocolate, and crisps for hours. The happiness of finally leaving their unit was palpable and the effort of carrying the girls in wheelchairs down a flight of stairs rapidly disappeared. We spent hours upon hours colouring with the girls in their unit colouring over 300 pictures during our time there.

The ‘older boys and girls’ were another group that we loved to spend time with, they were Units 8, 9 and 11, able-bodied with slight mental disabilities. We spent hours and hours outside playing tennis, table-tennis, bubbles, chalk, Frisbee, and the cone game. One of the nicest things about this group was their ability to share and play with each other. We brought them to the cinema and had a disco for them, where there were games for them to play too. We soon realised that they may like dancing but there is nothing they love more than to play games where there are chocolate coins at stake. We were also able to do an arts and crafts session with the older girls where we made a poster of all their hand-prints not to mention the thousands of stickers then used to decorate their names that we had written out for them. We also had the opportunity to have tea and biscuits in Unit 8. As with most of the activities we pre-organised there was no water to actually make tea, although it did come back after an hour. As two Irish girls we were more than willing to drink tea allowing the boys to show us their photos albums, drawings and their prized possessions.

There are no words that can truly describe what it is like in Cherven orphanage. There are no words to describe the feeling when you interact with the kids. Such small things like bringing a child for a walk or playing music or buying ice-cream can really bring such happiness. Many hailed us a ‘brilliant’ ‘super’ and ‘amazing’ for giving up our time to volunteer in Cherven and yes it is emotionally draining, physically exhausting and at times heart wrenchingly sad, but every single second is worth it! The truth be told it is the most worthwhile, rewarding experience we have had yet!

Aoife & Rachel"

Check out the photos in the album below