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Kingisepp Orphanage No. 2

…not so for the poor kids in the Kingisepp Orphanage No 2, including these four young girls, who had a break in more ways than one! (Full story)

Well, here's what's been happening!

Since our last newsletter the committee have been working hard to confirm our charity status with official registration. The process might have been easier, but someone seems to have put a word in the Commission's ear to our detriment which has made the whole affair abit tiresome. However, we are in frequent contact with the Charity Commission and there now seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.
We have complied with all the Commission's requirements regarding the appointment of trustees (Dr Denis Barter, Mike Lee, Dave Wilson and Ken Harper), child protection arrangements, banking systems, submission of accounts, record keeping and general organisation of the charity.

Letter from the Komso Children's Hospital Charity. Click the image to see a larger version

The good news is - WE CAN KEEP OUR NAME! After much argument the Charity Commision finally agreed we could remain The Komso Children's Hospital Volunteer Group! We have also had full support from Anne Mackey, a founder member of the original 'That's Life' charity, in keeping our name. With luck, we expect our official registration number in the very near future.

Helping hands

More and more volunteers have joined us over the last few years , so the committee has looked for help in the running of various aspects of the charity. We have asked Peter Annetts and Dave Doran to head up our works committee in Russia and they have both agreed to help - thanks guys! They will be appointing team leaders from the senior volunteers to help with work allocation and schedules. They have also both been nominated to become trustees of the charity. You will also be pleased to hear that Gill, Zoe and Jeanette have offered to help with our entertainments while we are in Russia.

Loose ends…

Any constructive comments or ideas you have regarding the on-going development of the charity or any input for the newsletter, will be warmly welcomed and will be discussed at the next committee meeting. Let us know your thoughts. And, when all these loose ends are sorted out and the registration number is
confirmed, our website, which is back on the net, will be updated.

Our next trip

We are organising our next trip for the middle of June 2003 to coincide with the Tercentenary celebrations of St Petersburg when the city will be three hundred years old!
We have been asked by the British Consulate General if we would like to participate in the Tercentenary celebrations. Some of you have expressed an interest in staying on in the city after the work is completed, to take part in the celebrations and it does seem as if the whole city will be buzzing - major reconstruction and repair programmes are in operation at the moment and you will certainly notice a big difference when you return. There will even be a gathering of the famous tall ships docked in the city harbour.

THE DATES…

Dates for the 9-day charity trip will be from June 13th to June 21st at a cost of £550.00. If you wish to stay on for the celebrations the dates will be June 13th to June 27th, a total of 14 days at a cost of £675.00. These are excellent prices for the time of year and they include British Airways direct flights from London Heathrow to St Petersburg, hotel accommodation in twin-bed rooms (single room supplements if required) and breakfast. All transfers to hotel, work/holiday insurance is also included. But there is a bonus: the exchange rate is now 48 roubles to the pound, rather than last year's 39

As we are liaising with the British Consulate we will need to know as early as possible exactly how many volunteers want to extend their visit. Flights and accommodation will need to be booked in good time and it won't be easy securing adequate accommodation in St Petersburg during the 'white nights' period. We know some of you have already paid up in full, but for those of you who haven't don't leave things to the last minute - we will need your £50.00 (non-returnable) deposit no later than 30th October 2002. If you want to stay on for an extra five days, let us know when you send in your deposit. The sooner we receive your deposits the more interest the charity can earn at the bank.

New Proposals for Work

OH DEAR, WHAT A DRAB WELCOME!

This picture shows how run down and shabby the main entrance to the hospital has become. With a bit of effort we hope to restore it from its dilapidated condition into a bright welcoming entrance.

The hospital have asked us to renovate the main entrance of the hospital, including the much-needed repairs to the front steps and parapet walls. We are having plans drawn up for this at the moment. We are also preparing a survey for the inclusion of a wheelchair access ramp to one side of the entrance stairway.

In order for us to do the job properly we need two more bricklayers and two more plasterers who will join a small advance party going to St Petersburg in May 2003 to erect all the stone and brickwork required for the construction of the new porch and wheelchair access ramp.

Letter of thanks. Click the image to see a larger version

There is also carpentry work to be finished in the radiology department, the fitting of new toilets in the out patients department, and the complete refurbishment of a new mothers' room (tiling, partitions, painting etc) located in the polyclinic. As well as the skilled work there will be plenty of work for the no-skilled volunteers. Ken, Peter and Dave will be going to St Petersburg in October of this year to assess all the work needed to complete the above. On the same trip we are planning to look at a future project at one of the outlying orphanages close to the Estonian border at Kingisepp. This is the orphanage that Ken visited two years ago with his truckload of goodies for the children.

We hope these bigger projects will use your skills to the full and be the challenge you have been asking for. But first we still need to raise more money before we can contemplate tasks of this magnitude. We are actively seeking sponsors for materials etc, but you can also help!

Meanwhile at Orphan House 2

Just a couple of massive trees that were blown down on the orphanage property causing extensive damage

Children's Orphan House No 2, at Kingisepp, one of many underfunded state orphanages, was recently severely damaged by a freak, hurricane-force storm in early July. Huge trees were blown down, damaging the roof, the steps, a lot of the border fencing and several windows. A great deal of devastation was also sustained by the children's outside climbing frames and much of the effort they had put into creating a small vegetable plot and flower garden was wasted when the plot was ruined.

The children's tribute to their friend who fell from a high window.

Aside from the immediate emergency work needed to repair the storm damage, there is ample need for further essential improvements which would benefit the children's health and sanitation requirements. They have no showers, no toilet doors, and crumbling walls etc etc. The orphanage is very badly funded but with a little effort on our part we could considerably improve the kids' accommodation and their happiness. Kingisepp is only 90 miles from St Petersburg and subject to our assessment this autumn we anticipate developing a large project for the summer of 2004. Morale is low at Orphan House No 2 as a child was recently killed falling from a high window.

If those of you with young children would like to establish contact with these four young girls living in the orphanage at Kingisepp, they'd love to hear from us and our life in the UK. For further details please contact Ken, who has their names and addresses.

Looking for penpals: from from left to right - Masha, Nadia, Olesia, Olsa

PEN PALS WANTED!

If those of you with young kids, would like to make contact with these four young girls who live in the orphanage at Kingisepp, they'd love to hear from you. If you are interested in a Russian pen-pal, please contact Ken for details.

THANKS… all round

THANKS GO TO… Each and every volunteer for your hard work and efforts raising money for the charity last year. Thanks to your endeavours we have money in the bank which has enabled us, since our return to the UK, to supply the hospital with much needed medical instruments. These were supplied to the Ear, Nose and Throat Department and both Natalia (head of ENT) and Andreis would like to thank you all for your generosity (see photo right).

AND TO… Theime, the German publishing house for the supply of much needed textbooks to Alla Karpenko, head of the Diagnostic Dept which will help her to train her staff of 42 when working the new M.I.R. scanner (see photo left).

AND ONCE AGAIN THANKS GO TO… Renee, Colin and Daniel (see photo right). Well done for painting the mural of Russian Fairy Stories in the main entrance hall. All the children stop to look at it and it has now been protected from their sticky fingers by a nice handrail to prevent damage.

A BIG THANKYOU GOES TO… Rosie Boycott, one time editor of the Daily Express (and still the only woman to edit a national newspaper), for her article in The Oldie, Richard Ingrams' magazine. It has already resulted in some new recruits coming forward to help.

THANKS GO TO… Simon Ferrier. We would like to thank him for all his work with the charity and wish him all the best in his new venture - apparently he's teaching English to school kids in Taiwan.

AND FINALLY… the Head of the Hospital,

Dr Okunev and all of his staff, would like to express their sincere thanks and gratitude for all the effort and work put in by all of you last year and they look forward to seeing you all again soon.

AND WELCOME TO… Lynda Lewis who will be acting as our new fundraising organiser. Lynda will not only be looking at ways of raising money for the charity but also be there to lend assistance to volunteers should they need help. Lynda used to work for the Sun and the News of the World newspaper group and has made some useful contacts over the years. You can contact her by phone on 01590 672 861 or e-mail at lynda@lewis2285.freeserve.co.uk.

Future diary

October 2002

Investigative trip to the orphanage at Kingisepp and the St Petersburg Regional Children's Hospital to assess requirements for future work.

JUNE 2003

Working trip to the Children's Hospital in St Petersburg to impliment the improvements needed and… for the lucky few, an extra few days spent enjoying the tercentenary celebrations.

APRIL 2004

Amazingly, this will mark the10-year anniversary of the start of the Charity

SUMMER 2004

Our first working trip to Kingisepp Children's Orphan House No.2

SUMMER 2005

Trip to the Regional Children's Hospital
at St Petersburg

Volunteer News

More new volunteers are steadily coming forward, and we welcome the return of one volunteer from our original trip with the 'That's Life' team. Some of you have friends and workmates who are interested in joining us, so if you want to be considered, hurry and get in touch with Ken to ask for a copy of one of our new updated database forms. Last year saw a steady rise in new volunteers, which in addition to our existing volunteers, shows a positive and healthy future for the Charity.

For the record, we now have over 100 volunteers on our database and currently distribute over 200 copies of each Newsletter. We would like to thank you all for your continued support, especially since our return last year. This year has not been easy for the charity and the committee's efforts to meet the demands of the Charity Commission have tired us out. Let's hope you have more energy than us.Don't forget to check out the sponsorship page on our website - www.komsokids.org.uk - you never know, your name may be there. If you really want to help the Komso Kids - check out the donations page and make a regular monthly payment.

Have you signed our new guestbook yet?

Martin hartley is looking for a companion or two to accompany him on a drive out to Russia next year. He will be taking materials out to the hospital and the orphanage at Kingisepp. He will be driving our van and we will have the use of it while we are out there. If anyone is interested in participating in the drive of a lifetime please get in touch for details.

To all those who enquired about what happened to last year's film of the trip, the volunteer designated to do the filming, Roger Davey, has so far refused to relinquish possession of our film. Who knows, perhaps he sees himself running a charity of his own someday. We are pursuing the matter.

Finally, after last year's little intervention, we would like to thank you all for your support. It seems 98% of you are still with us, for which we are very grateful. We must be doing something right!

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