Cannot adopt, but can become brothers and sisters

If you want to help a child from an orphanage, but cannot become his parent, try to become an older brother or sister - take football, drawing or a planetarium. Or convince everyone around that he is capable of more, although no one believes in it. Publicpost spoke with volunteers from the American program "Older Brothers, Senior Sisters", which works in Russia and has no analogues.

Ilona, ​​representative of the organization "Older Brothers, Senior Sisters" :

The program began in Russia in 2003, it first developed in the regions, in Yoshkar-Ola, in Perm, then in Moscow, actively, since 2007. In the United States appeared more than a hundred years ago and exists already in 13 countries of the world, even in New Zealand and Australia. But the main office in America. We are not a unit, they are little connected with them, neither financing, nothing. We just work according to their single standards. Sometimes they come and check. Now we have already 162 pairs of volunteer in Moscow - a child, and the program continues to grow. When a person comes, he goes through a certain selection procedure, training. Then acquaintance with the child, taking into account the wishes associated with age, hobbies. Volunteers are usually people from 25-30 years old, usually a girl. Probably because children attract more women. These girls are professionals, so far without a family. The first month is found inside the boarding school so that the administration has seen that everything is fine, so that we are convinced, too, that they can go out, walk. Of course, in accordance with the boarding school. The guardian of the child is still a boarding school, but I do not think that the volunteer is responsible if something happens to the child. There was one case when the volunteers adopted the girl, a few years ago. But the program has a different essence, it is positioned as a program of friendship, mentoring. Volunteers really help. Recently there was a case, one girl, she will soon be 18 years old, she dreams of becoming a veterinarian. In the boarding school, she was not allowed to go to the courses to prepare for the institute. It was believed that she was not studying well enough for this, and it would be better to go to the school. The volunteers have ensured that the girl was allowed to go to courses, now she is preparing to act. The program mainly comes to those who are configured for this, and not for adoption. At the age of 25, there is usually no family yet, but they are ready to give something. Although they say that in the future they would like to adopt.

Alla, 28 years old and Lesha, 14 years old

Alla:

“I helped the Sofia charitable foundation and went to the house of my mother and child, I studied with children, walked. They were very small, they had to be worn in her arms. She walked, and made friends with the head of the fund. She said that she would like to deal with older children so that she could communicate with them, participate in life and she told me about this program. It was 6 years ago. It was 6 years ago. It was 6 years ago. The interview came, and they didn’t even have an interview on Tver Boulevard.

Then they began to introduce me to the children. Then only one orphanage, boarding school No. 8 participated in the program. The senior volunteers brought, the children gathered in the game room, and we just came and started playing with them. I wanted to understand who I could continue to help. Such a story happened to the second meeting - I look, the boy folds Lego. It was Lesha, he was 8 years old. I came up, say: "Cool, these are men, they will live in a house." And he threw the designer, looked at me and said that homeless people would live in the house. I had a shock, and I thought that I want to tell this child, that families live in houses, and not homeless people, that everything was arranged differently. I don’t know what I affected in his soul then. Then, a few years later, we also stacked Lego, I carefully asked who he was building the house for, and he said that for the family.

When I met my husband, he really liked that I am engaged in social programs. He even somehow went to the meeting with me, looked at how I communicate. Lesha and her husband can sit, talk some topics. I then ask, and he says that this is a secret. We meet every weekend. In the summer, the guys leave, and we also do not see each other for the winter holidays. Sometimes I have a loaded weekend. Every time he leaves, he brings me souvenirs. I don't know what I give him. But he gives me a lot. He is a golden man, he has no aggression. The teacher told me that there was one conflict, he raised his voice, but it was an isolated case. "

Lesha:

"I thought that this is a person who could help me in something. They began to be friends, talk, go to all sorts of holidays. I study in the evening school, plus a section on the Sparrow Hills. I am engaged in football, I am aquest for CSKA. For me, Igor Akinfeev. I was offered to meet with him at the end of March-April. Do not say, with a physical education at school, and I find out the city, I know almost everything on my own.

Vika, 27 years old and Maxim, 13 years old

Vetch:

“We met Maxim thanks to the alla. And I met her on the donation of blood in the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital. We got friends, at one time went to give together, Alla told about the program. I gathered with my thoughts for six months and matured. I met me almost immediately, and now we have been friends, since 2009, they can’t help such children, they are very interesting, they worthy of developing. It seems to me to learn to draw one lesson, it seems to me that he has an artistic taste, I want it to get acquainted in this direction at the festival, which is satisfied with the “big brothers” and for adults who are looking for children and the children who are looking for adults, and then I asked me. I thought about adoption, but I lived with my parents, I did not have my own base.

Maxim:

“When I saw Vika, I decided that she was good, good, that I could do it normally. I was about 11, now I was 13. It was Vadim Anatolyevich’s birthday, director. Vika gave me an album, and we started drawing a postcard. We did and went to give it and he liked it. We meet about two or three times a month. She helps me to draw for an exhibition.

Julia, 28 years old and Ksyusha, 12 years old

Julia:

"I am not from Moscow, from the Urals, and for a long time I did not understand whether I could participate in the program. I would stay in Moscow, or will I leave somewhere. You are taking responsibility for a person. And at some point everything just happened, and then I called them in my work, where I was engaged in corporate volunteering-I coordinated such programs in IBM, I started to look for creative creative programs. Opportunities to do it and a year and a half ago, we met Ksyusha. Ksyusha is a very socialized, active person. I listened to the first months to her what she wants. The peculiarity of these first months is that you need to spend time in a boarding school, you are not released. I brought felting, some other things, made a collage of our goals for a year, cut out of magazines. Learning English, now we will write a postcard to a friend to Holland. Even Ksyusha is engaged in a circus. We are fully spent one day a week, and this is very few. ”

Ksyusha:

"We were in Gorky Park, went for walks, 5D exhibition, Vyacheslav Polunin show. Julia for me like a sister."