The Children of the Svirstroy Orphanage

Summer 2004

I lived on the fourth floor of the orphanage during July and August of 2004, along with two other American volunteers (Tomas, a 20 year old college student from California, and Miriam, a 22 year old college student from Massachusetts).  I had never traveled alone, I had never worked for a charity, and I did not speak Russian.  The three volunteers had never met each other, and we had little idea what we were in for at the orphanage.

The director of the volunteer program sent me the following email which helped me better understand what we were expected to do:

"The overall goal is to give the kids our best, to show them that someone completely unrelated cares, likes them, can have fun with them.  And ALL of our interaction is incredibly important to their future because it shows them that they are valued as individuals, they can trust people (but need to discriminate!), and life is not a series of trials and failure but a series of opportunities."

So, we set out to make a difference in the lives of some forgotten kids, even if only for a few weeks.

Arts and Crafts

Since it was summer, and the staff wanted the children outside as much as possible, we only had three organized activities--arts and crafts, computers, and English / Spanish.

Since the orphanage never has enough funds to meet even the basic needs of the children, there is never money available for the staff to buy art supplies.  So, we brought lots of markers, colored pencils, paints, paper, and beads.  Each day, the kids would crowd into our little workroom to make beaded necklaces and bracelets, to draw, and to paint.  It was amazing how talented they were since they had only limited practice due to the lack of supplies.

Computers

I brought five laptop computers with me to the orphanage.  Although there were two computers there already, they didn't work, and there was no one to fix them.  The software in Russia is mostly pirated, and it often corrupts the computer's operating system, making the computer useless.  The kids learned to type, played some games, and tried out some of the computer programs.

We also had movie nights using my laptop's DVD.  It was amazing seeing 30 kids watch a movie on a 13 inch screen, and most of them had to stand the whole time because there were only a few chairs in the room.  They loved American movies.  Jim Carrey dubbed in Russian was hilarious, even if I didn't know exactly what he was saying!

Foreign Language

Tomas taught English and Spanish each day.  It was interesting watching the kids ask how to say things in English, then trying to repeat them later in the day.

I tried to teach one little boy, Sergei (8), how to greet people.  We experimented with Miriam.  Sergei would say, "Hello, Miriam" or "How are you, Miriam?"  Unfortunately, he thought you always added Miriam to the end of the sentence, even when he wasn't talking to Miriam!  Fortunately, Tomas was a bit more successful than I was.

Raising Money

Ten of the kids came down to the docks in town to help us sell twenty handmade dolls (made by children at another orphanage) and to get donations.  While we were trying to decide how to use the money we raised, the orphanage's assistant director told us that the kids did not have anything in which to carry their books to and from school.  It is over a half mile walk from the orphanage, and the temperature gets down below zero for most of the winter.  So, we went to the nearby town and literally bought every backpack we could find.  Our friend/interpreter, Timur, dazzled us with his negotiation skills.  When they ran out of backpacks, we bought most of the gym bags in town.  We put them all in one of the rooms on our floor and brought the kids in two or three at a time to choose any bag they wanted.  You should have seen the look on their faces!  These are kids who have no personal possessions, not even their clothing, so they couldn't believe they would get to keep the bag for themselves.  When we told them to pick any bag they wanted, they just stood there in awe, like a kid in the world's biggest candy store.

The best was when Artyom picked his bag.  Unlike the other kids, who brought their bags back to their floor and gave them to their floor mother to put away until school in the fall, Artyom refused to let anyone take his bag.  The next day, I walked outside in the morning to see him hanging off the swing set with the bag still slung over his shoulder!  He finally agreed to take it off after we wrote his name on it in permanent marker.

Spending the Day with the Kids

Most of our day was spent outdoors simply being with the kids.  We would go with them down to the river to swim, fly kites (although there was no wind, it didn't stop them), blow up balloons or make bubbles, pick the wild berries that grew throughout the forest, and even play the card game, Uno (which is how I learned my colors in Russian!).  Mostly, we just wanted to show them that we cared about them, something they haven't experienced much in their lives.

I'm sure it must have been strange for them to have a group of Americans come to live with them, with our odd language, clothing, and habits.  But to me, they were just like any other kids--inquisitive, full of energy, and starving for attention.

What Every Child Wants

As I walked down to the river to swim with the kids one day, Sergei and Andrei were fighting over who would get to ride on my shoulders.  We would take turns with one on my shoulders and the other holding my hand.  A couple of the older kids caught up with us as we walked.  One grabbed my free hand, and the other stepped between me and Sergei, who was holding my hand, so that my arm went around him.  The older kids were talking to each other, and one said something to me in Russian.  I, of course, didn't understand them, but when I got to the river and ran into the other volunteers, I asked him to translate what the boy had said.  "Today, it's just like you are our dad..."

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For additional information, email me at [email protected]