Volunteers' support

Saint Petersburg charity organization “Shag Navstrechu” thanks you for supporting children with disabilities living in Pavlovsk orphanage No. 4.

From December 43 volunteers took part in the project which included 7 staff volunteers and 36 non-staff volunteers.

A volunteer who visits the children at the orphanage does not only share his love with a child and surrounds that child with care, but he also fills the child’s world with interesting and colorful moments. He helps a child to master the necessary self-service skills, to get familiar with the world around us and also broadens a child’s horizon. A volunteer accompanies a child from the assigned group to the various walks and trips outside the orphanage. During these walks and visits to the museums, theatres and other places a volunteer tries to provide a child with as many information about the world around as possible since it is very hard for children from the closed state establishments to comprehend the real environment where ordinary people live.

Arrangement of trips to the theatres, museums, workshops, etc. is done by the volunteer department. Over this period the children managed to visit 12 interesting locations such as trampoline center, library, Mariinsky theatre, the “Bronze horseman” performance, Seaquarium, etc.

 In order for such trips to work out a volunteer and a child need to trust each other. This is not the kind of goal that can be achieved in one day, but those who visit children often try very hard and succeed.

Here is how volunteer Natalia describes her impressions in her report:

 “It was a trip to the seaquarium with Nastya T. At first I was worried how Nastya would feel in a new place full of other people. When we arrived she cried for a while but she eventually calmed down and we walked along the whole seaquarium from the beginning to the end. Nastya watched the fishes attentively and we both observed the feeding of cramp fishes with excitement, she was also very impressed by the waterfall. But what Nastya liked the most was observing the seals through the thick glass. We spent almost 15 minutes watching them. Nastya mostly walked by herself and asked me to pick her up in my arms only a few times».

It takes time to understand how well a volunteer a child communicate with each other. Volunteer Anastasia shares her impressions in her report:

“With Svyatozar we also tried to catch the first warm sunrays and walked outside as much as we could. Everything we worked on in January was a success – music, drawing, handicrafts. Svyatozar started to behave more freely and independently. He shows his intentions more clearly and tugs me when he needs to go somewhere or take something (I mark this as a positive change). I don’t have to set his mind on something for a long time since he usually understands what we are going to do. When I ask him to go for a walk he always repeats quietly “walk?” this is very funny and quite right at the same time and I take it as a wonderful sign that he hears me”. 

 Very often attention, emotional warmth and tenderness become more important for a child’s intellectual development than any other types of activity and education. This is why volunteers who are ready to give a part of themselves to children living at the orphanage are so essential