Parenting skills for 30 orphanage-leavers

Is it too late to say Happy New Year to you, our wonderful supporters.  We wish you all good health, and the assurance that your generosity is bringing warmth and joy to our families.

This last term has been very difficult for us.  The international sanctions against Russia made it impossible to transfer your donations for a while.  In addition, we weren't able to access our bank account for some time following the death of Elena, our director.  Astonishingly, our wonderful team has continued our project, working without pay.  We are relieved to be able to announce that before the holidays we were able to confirm a safe and legal route for donations, approved by the UK's Charity Commission.  We will now be able to put your donations to good use with no more delays, repay our staff and plan our work going forward.

However, not only have we continued our work, we have expanded it.  With the help of the Timchenko Foundation, we trained 8 local staff and supported them to set up groups in Vsevolozhsk, a satelite town of St Petersburg.  In July we recruited families.  We expected to have ten families, but in fact 19 joined us.  Our staff ran the groups alongside the local staff, which was an excellent way of training them. 

The newly trained staff, were very enthusiastic about the joint project.  One said, "Even in such a short time, I could see the family dynamics changing.  I really liked the Theraplay method and hope to study it more deeply and to use it.  I don't want to lose all that Sunflower have taught me."  With our many years of experience, we have a throroughly tested programme for supporting parents who grew up in orphanages and their children.  We were confident to hand over this programme, with training, for the new groups to use or adapt as they needed.  

Back in St Petersburg, we have also recently celebrated one of our traditional festivals.  You may not realise, but in Russia we celebrate two new years (this is a remnant of the old calendar we used to follow).  So on 14th January we celebrate Old New Year.  We have a very particular tradition that we share with our families at this time.  We have a little party and everyone brings in toys and books that their children have grown out of, or no longer want.  We gift these to each other.  We give new life to unwanted things, and our families are able to give gifts to each other without spending a penny.

Thank you everyone for all your support.  Check out the link for a video of our New Year party at Vsevolozhska.

Links:

• A lovely video of our New Year party at Vsevolozhska