Awaiting the holiday
On the New Year’s Eve, <i>The Day</i> has visited the Kyiv “Berizka” orphanage, having brought not only sweets for the children, but also things that will eventually form their personalities – good books
The “Berizka” orphanage is actively preparing for winter holidays; they have just seen off St. Nicholas and they are already expecting Santa Claus. The educators are sewing costumes for the kids, and the little inhabitants of the orphanage are learning poems and songs for the New Year’s performance.
“Boys will be Petrushkas, we sewed nice jabots and caps for them, and girls have cute aprons – they will perform the dance of little fir trees,” told The Day the sensory room educator and music worker Halyna Kravchenko. According to her words, Santa Claus and Winter will also come to the children.
Today the “Berizka” orphanage has 73 children aged from two months to six years living in it. “Our institution is specialized, so the kids can stay here with any illness,” explained the director of “Berizka” Oleksandr MOHYLNY. In his words, the institution’s workers are trying to devote enough attention to each child.
Starting from the age of one year, the children are attending the sensory room, where they develop fine motor skills of hands and all kinds of feelings – hearing, sight, scent, tactile sensations, they also learn to communicate. “Children choose the toys by themselves, I do not impose my opinion on them. The classes are based on the principles of Maria Montessori,” said Mrs. Kravchenko.
There are toys and developing games for every taste. Four children under the supervision of Mrs. Halyna are occupied each with his own business: a three-year-old Oleksii is gathering a colored pyramid, a four-year-old Bohdan is playing with a cockhorse, and his two-year-old sister Liza is running her fingers through the colored balls. The most active here is a five-year-old Leonid – the boy is constantly changing toys and running, and on all educator’s attempts to help him with the toys he replies: “I will do it myself.” “Leonid is undergoing a period of adaptation – he came to us from home, and everything seems very interesting to him, hence there is such hyperactivity,” explains the sensory room teacher.
There are many such children as Leonid, who temporarily stay in “Berizka.” “We have orphans, children who are deprived of parental care and children who are here temporarily. When the parents or a single mother are in a difficult financial situation, the social services give orders to send the child to us. As soon as parents have the opportunity, they take their kids back home,” says Mohylny.
Special attention is paid to the emotional state of children. They regularly lie on soft poufs and listen to classical music, bird songs, and different sounds of nature. “We also have a room where the psychologist is working with the children, there we have a corner where kids feed a turtle and the fish,” says Halyna Kravchenko.
However, notes Oleksandr Mohylny, no matter how well the educators and nurses take care of the kids, the children still need a real family. Mr. Oleksandr says that young families have become less afraid and ashamed of taking kids from orphanages. In 2011, 21 residents of “Berizka” were adopted, another 21 were taken under custody with further adoption. Just a few days ago, a five-year old boy went to the new family,” said the director.
According to Oleksandr Mohylny, more and more people help the orphanages. “We are happy that attention is paid to the destiny of every child, that the crisis did not become an obstacle and people find the opportunity to help and comfort the kids. This already became a good tradition,” he said. Our edition has also visited “Berizka,” having taken presents with us: sweets – for the children, and the subscription to The Day, our photo albums, and the newspaper’s fresh issues – to all those who care about kids every day: educators, baby-sitters, nurses, and the director.
