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..............................Dec 2006 | Nov 2005 | Jan 2004 | Dec 2003 | Oct 2003 | Oct 2002 | Spring 2002 | Dec 2000
A CHALLENGE FOR 2008
INTO
THE SNOWS
TOWARDS
THE END OF 2007 Ken and Steve made a wide-ranging survey trip to
Russia. |
 |
GDOV
is a very small town almost cut off from civilisation and served
by
just two
buses a week. This
institution helps children and their families to reunite and overcome
particular traumas – such as drink
problems and alcoholism, broken relationships and violence in
the home. It is
badly in need of our help and the staff were amazed that anybody
would want to come all the way from the UK just to help them. We plan this year to install and tile a small kitchen, decorate the main room, rebuild and re-tile the front steps, rebuild and tile a new porch, renew and re-tile both sets of toilets, install a new shower, rebuild cupboards for storage, and renew the linoleum flooring in the main room. |
 Steve and Olga outside the Pskov Foundation Office |
 Some of the deplorable toilets at the Yamm Orphanage |
 The kitchen at the Yamm Ophanage |
 The orphanage and Convential Centre at Yamm |
...AND
AT YAMM This will be a much bigger project for us to do. We will be working in another small town called Yamm where there is a large orphanage for children between 7 and 18 years of age requiring correctional care and guidance. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the director, Olga Evseyeva who has been there for 21 years, the orphanage is in fairly good condition. It even has its own small school house which receives financial help from a Finnish organisation. While we were there some of the older children, working under supervision and once more with financial help from Finland, were helping to clad the walls with timber to hide the appalling state of the plaster work.Our job there will be to improve the washrooms with new wash basins, toilets and showers for both boys and girls as they are in an awful state. The toilets are the old-fashioned ‘stand-up’ variety with no doors and very poor ventilation which doesn’t make for a pleasant odour-free environment. We plan to install extractor fans to improve the ventilation andbuild new cubicles with doors to provide the kids with a degree of much-needed privacy. There is only one shower, in the girls’ wc, for 116 children, so we also plan to install new showers so that both the boys and girls have their own facilities – all of these will need tiling. We also plan to make use of an adjoining room and partition it to allow its use for storage. Finally, we plan to fit new electric lights in all areas and decorate throughout. |
MAKING
IT WORK This year, because we will be working in two different locations, we are planning to send out an advanced party to visit both locations – order materials, set up the work, confirm accommodation and transport and make sure everything will be ready for the go-ahead when our volunteers arrive on site to start work ACCOMMODATION Spitsyno Holiday Village, which sits on the banks of beautiful lake Chudskoe, is ideally situated on the main road from Slansy to Pskov almost midway between Gdov and Yamm and it is here that our volunteers will stay. The village is equipped with 42 log chalets, which vary from the fairly basic to more luxurious cabins complete with sauna. There is also a restaurant, a bar and an ablutions block on site. WHEN DO WE GO From the 4th – 15th July 2008 during the summer ‘White Nights’ period. COST The total cost per person for the 12 days will be £500.00. This will include direct flights from London Stanstead Airport to Tallinn Airport and return, visas, visa invitations, registration, insurance and transfers to and from our destinations in both Estonia and Russia. Accommodation will be in log cabins (see above), each with its own washroom & shower facilities. Each cabin sleeps between 4 and 6 people. PAYMENT For those of you who haven’t already paid a deposit, all volunteers should now send in a non-returnable deposit of £100.00 to arrive with us no later than Friday 22nd February, 2008. The final balance of payment is due no later than Friday, May 16th 2008. FLIGHT TIME Direct flights have been arranged with Easyjet for: Departure – London Stanstead to Tallinn 4th July – take off at 06.45 am. Return – Tallinn to London Stanstead 15th July – landing at 12.55 pm. |
 The dining area inside one of the holiday chalets  The Restaurant Building  One of the holiday chalets at the Spitsyno village on the banks of Lake Chudskoye |
SHOOMILKINO This is possibly a project for us to consider for 2009. The Bobrovo Children’s Home (Shoomilkino), is an orphanage caring for 146 mentally handicapped children. This facility requires a lot of help as work has been started on a rehabilitation centre which has sadly been left unfinished due to lack of funds. The orphanage is hidden away near the borders of Estonia, Russia and Latvia and it appears to be a case of ‘out of sight out of mind’. Many of the children are immobile, just lying in their cots or on the floor. The director Victor Lesnikov has been waiting patiently to complete this project as he feels it would benefit the children immensely. KINGISEPP We visited Kingisepp Orphan House No 2 where we have worked for many years and had a meeting with the director and her staff. She told us that they now have three full time maintenance staff working for them. No progress has been made regarding our proposal to install a new reception, locker room and security office for the main gates (a possible 2-year project), nor have they bothered to follow up our plans, visited city hall and found out what is required regarding architects, and surveyors etc. As for alternative projects, the Director gave us a list of other jobs which were purely cosmetic. In short there was a definite lack enthusiam evident and not really enough work for us to contemplate doing anything there this year. |
THE
FAMOUS DASH A team of four runners was fielded to compete in the 2007 Annual Liverpool ‘Santa Dash’ over a 5km course. Our Volunteers were Dave Doran, Ian Doran, Paul Hynes and last but not least, the redoubtable Mike Ferrier! There were rumours going round that he had walked some of the way, but we believe these to be untrue as we all know what a fine athlete Mick is . CHANGE OF POST Those of you who have been with us for a few years will remember Dr Aleksandr Okunev, the head of the St Petersburg Regional Children’s Hospital where we have worked over the past 14 years on varoius projects. He has recently taken up a new position as the Minister of Health for the Leningrad Region. We wish him well in his new position. WEBSITE Our website is currently being updated with many new pictures as well as the most recent newsletter. Please view our website – www.buy.at/komsokids – as anything you or your friends buy on line gives the charity between 1% and 8%. Other major stores will be joining the system soon. NB: Please note our e-mail address has changed to: komso007@hotmail.co.uk DULUX We will again ask Dulux if they will supply us with paint again as they have generously done in the past. If you know of anyone else who could sponsor our trip or supply us with useful equipment please let us know. ANNIVERSARY Ken and Steve attended the 10th Year Anniversary of the Kingisepp Orphanage No 2 where we have worked for the last 7 years. There were many sponsors present including four customs officers and several small business owners – all bearing gifts for the children. The kids put on a spactacular show lasting almost two hours and they were very pleased to see us there . AND FINALLY... We would like to thank the boys from Liverpool – Dave Doran Paul Hynes, Dave Moody and Sam Knowd for their very generous and unsolicited donation of additional funds towards this year’s trip and for the replacement of some of our very tired equipment with new power tools. This gesture is very much appreciated. |