On the 22nd of December 2007 the small group of two volunteers and two actors of the circus studio were again on the way to the orphanages of Zaporozhye. At the New Year eve we decided to organize the interesting performance and give the valuable gifts to the kids of Molochanskiy and Chernigovskiy orphanages. The easy-going communication with the kids and getting acquainted to their needs in the distant orphanages of our region was in our plans. Unfortunately there was again the lack of time. As usual during the trip there was a great number of pleasant moments as well as some “flies in the ointment” that hat to deal with the human’s behavior.
First I’d like to say a few words about the people, without whom our trip would not be possible.
First of all among them it is essential to name Andrey from London. This young man who was born in Poltavskaya region donated the sum of $600 for organization of the celebration for kids. For this money we bought two cassette-receivers Panasonic, 2 DVD players with the karaoke and the microphones, two voiced ABC-books, metallic car models, wooden and metallic construction sets, and a great number of other qualitative developing toys that you can see in the photo report.
We also thank the “DneproSpetsStal” plant that kindly granted us the minibus for the trip. This plant helps us a lot indeed.
We also thank our mysterious sponsor from Washington. This man has an Indian name “Kahpo” which means: “friend to everybody”. The name fully fits with the reality. In the e-ails Kahpo is laconic, but he helps much more than he says.
Nearly every month we receive wonderful parcels for orphans from Kahpo. A great number of dolls, sports goods, construction sets that are in the photo report, were received from him. The trust with which Kahpo honored us indeed impresses and inspires for the further activity. Thank you, Kahpo!
We also thank the young married couple from Zaporozhye – Kolya and Katya, that bought 2 cassette-receivers and balls for about 900 hrivnas.
We are grateful to Volodya from Zaporozhye who gave us the laptop to use during the concert for the musical support.
I would also note that all the above-listed donators absolutely don’t demand from us to tell about them in the site articles. They do the good very sincerely, from their heart. This is very important. It’s not a secret that lately there is a tendency to do the charity for supporting of one’s public image or the image of the enterprise.
It even sometimes happens that for example when the sponsors give the furniture to the orphanage they pay for the story about this act in the local TV-news program. The marketing departments of the company perform the market research in order to find out the economic effect of how the sales volume will increase if the company will present 5 beds for the orphanage. There are not so many people who still think over the Bible commandment “Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them.”
But let’s get back to our trip. That’s the second time when Sergey and Vika from circus studio of the Zaporozhye Transformer Works cultural centre took part in such a performance. We should admit, that the guys were 200% good, and the kids from distant orphanages that rarely visit real circus, had the possibility to feel the circus atmosphere in their own orphanage. And after the performance anyone could talk or take pictures with the performers. Perhaps some of the kids will be inspired by our visit enough to go in for serious gymnastics studies or developing of their acting skills.
Vika surprised our kids a lot with her flexibility and the stunts that she performed in the difficult conditions – the temperature in the sports hall of the Chernigovskiy orphanage was 8-10 degrees above zero.
Sergey and Vika.
Vika’s performance in Molochanskiy orphanage
The show with the lasso.
Sergey managed to show the three different roles – of a concert host, a DJ, a clown and a yogi magician. The conditions for their work can easily be called the Spartan ones, for working without a mike was quite usual, and the performers could lose their voice. It’s not surprising at all that after the performance Sergey felt really drained. The kids reacted in a very good way to all his jokes and the show of the magician and the yogi, that is not afraid of knives and sharp glasses indeed took the kids’ breath away.
Sergey with the kids of Chernigovskiy orphanage.
The high wire act…
There were some embarrassing moments in the trip. Some of the tutors in the orphanages surprised us in an unpleasant way. During the giving of the presents they were dissatisfied with the quantity of the prizes that were given to their classes. Even our explanation telling that the main part of the prizes was given to the kindergarten group of children didn’t make any effect. And another embarrassing fact was that the tutors in the orphanages seemed not to control their orphan children at all, and we had to be in the role of the tutors for them. Also the administration of the orphanage considered that it was not needed to invite the younger kids to the performance – they were afraid of the difficulties they could cause.
The fact that the kids were deprived of such joy seemed not to trouble anyone at all. Moreover, the administration of the orphanage refused in a polite way when we offered to organize the trip of 10 kids to Kiev, the trip was sponsored by our fund – as they say, this is not needed, the children feel just fine in the orphanage (!!!). And well, after all we are not satisfied with ourselves – we would like to organize not just the entertaining performance, but the competitions and the warm communication with the kids as well.
But there was too little time and people for that. We hope that during our next trip, that will most probably be in March 2008, we will manage to implement our plans. If some of those who read these lines has the wish to take part (to donate money or help with organization) – please call +3 8 066 513 34 35 (Albert), detizp[at]mail.ru
To end with, traditionally after such trips I appeal to every reader: Look into these faces on the photographs. All these kids should be not in the orphanages, but in the loving families, with mom and dad. Just think it over – may be some kid is waiting for you!
How to help the kids in Zaporozhye Region
Translated by Natalia Guzenko from Kherson.
MOLOCHANSK ORPHANAGE
CHERNIGOVKA ORPHANAGE
