"We will all go to raise potatoes"

The founder of the Anton here Nearby Foundation Lyubov Arkus - about the prospects of charity in Russia

The Anton here Nearby Foundation is engaged in systemic support for people with autism: from early diagnosis and preschool inclusive education to accompanied employment and independent life. The founder of the Fund and the magazine "Session" Lyubov Arkus told the cold, which program programs are already closed, which are under threat and what they do so that the fund survives.

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You were born and lived in Lviv, traveled a lot around Ukraine. When the destroyed streets are shown in the news - these are the streets that you walked along?

- All the geographical names that flash in the news are my childhood. I have the feeling that I was crazy. I almost do not sleep at night, but every morning I think that I dreamed of everything that happened. I have two homelands: Ukraine and Russia, they are equally important to me. There I spent my childhood, here are two main affairs of my life: the Anton here Near Narrows and the magazine "Session".

What problems did the fund face now?

- There are a lot of problems. For eight years we worked hard, and has gained a certain amount of money in the account so that we could not worry about the future. Now this money is turning into ... well, let's say, into something else. This is first. Secondly, in Russia they blocked Instagram-an important platform for sales and fundraising. Thirdly, our partners leave Russia. For example, IKEA and Prisma helped us a lot. Thanks to IKEA, nine girls with autism were employed: they worked in a sewing workshop, received a salary, we planned to expand this direction.

Did they work in the center "Anton here " or at the production of IKEA?

- They worked in the center, but completed IKEA orders and received a salary of the money that IKEA transferred to the fund. Prisma helped us with grocery sets for families in a crisis situation. Now she is also gone. In addition, now we cannot receive donations from other countries. People do not have subscriptions that were issued through Apple Pay and Google Pay. Well, it is clear what everything goes to globally: our loyal audience, like us, will become poorer, the number of donations to fall, and the number of requests for help is to grow. Many people with autism and their parents will be without work.

Representatives of IKEA or Prisma contacted you before leaving? Did they warn you that cooperation is stopping?

- No, we learned about this naturally: IKEA closed - it means that the affiliate program closed. I think they had other things and problems. But now we are in touch and even discuss the possibility of volunteering of their employees in the fund so far shops are closed.

You wrote on Facebook that you have the ends for workshops.

- Yes, it turned out that Russia does not produce white clay, no paper supplies. Now the reserves of our ceramic workshop are ending. It will be terrible: the workshops are the center of the fund, its heart. It's not about money, but that adults are busy with autism. They work, understand? And if the workshops stop, they lose this work.

Do you have a plan, what to do next?

- Are you seriously asking about plans? I just hope that this will all end. How? Don't know. There is no plan, we are in the maximum turbulence area. In which case, we will all go to raise potatoes or do something else.

When you started saying “ In which case we will all go ... ” , I thought it was about emigration.

-No, no, no. What emigration? Who needs our fund there? In the West, there are enough of their autists.

What do the parents of your students say?

- The other day we had a large parent meeting, and they asked what they could do, how they could help. So far, I have no answers to these questions. Families of guys with autism are ready to help, I just don’t understand what this help can be. Most of them have retired 25 thousand rubles. Well, they will subscribe to donations of 500 rubles per month. Then what?

Have you discussed the situation in the country at this meeting? Some of the parents believes that all deprivations can be justified by state tasks?

- No, there are no such people. Let me tell you one thing, a very important interview for this: on Facebook, in our bubble we are dealing with sofa thinkers, on one and the other side. And here are 300 families with autism, and this is responsibility. Now I think only about how to protect the fund. Do you understand? This is my responsibility. For all my incredible sorrow for dying Ukrainians, Russian boys who are not clear why they put their lives ... In addition to all this horror, I have responsibility. Once again: these are 300 specific families with autism.

How does everything happening workers with the fund employees?

- The employees of the fund are in a slightly more advantageous situation than most Russian citizens. It’s easier for us because we have the meaning of life. Of course, employees have a relationship to what is happening. But I am not free, and I do not want to retell how they relate to this, everything is obvious here. It is simply even more obvious and important to their understanding of where their responsibility is right now.

Are you allowing a reduction or decrease in salaries?

- While we are holding on, we have not reduced the salary to anyone, they did not fire anyone. How much is we enough? I have no idea. Standing day, holding out the night is the only strategy that we have.

Does the psychological state of the fund's students change?

- But this is a very difficult question. We have a student Sasha Friends, and, like many people with autism, he has emotional and speech patterns. He constantly asks us the question: "Can you cry?" And usually he hears in response: "No, Sasha, there is no need to cry." What should he answer now? Of course, as well as on us, all this alarming background acts on autistic people. Many do not understand what is happening, and our most important task now is to minimize their anxiety.

How?

- Just as we fought with their anxiety before. We just say to our students: listen, at 9:30 you have a workshop, at 10:30 - communicative classes, and at 11:00 - a walk. We must occupy them with something, for this we need a routine and the rules of the fund. And we ourselves are saved in this routine. This is our most important task. A difficult task. All employees of the fund are stress, but their stress must be left outside our sites. The guys need to come calm and confident.

I listen to you, and I think that it sounds like instructions for communicating with ordinary children in ordinary families.

- Yes, it is. I always say that our children with autism are a mirror of what is happening in the ordinary world.

How do the trustee of the fund show themselves now?

- We are in touch. The actor Gennady Smirnov came up with a project, which, I hope, will allow us to earn something. Sati Spivakova thinks how to help the fund. In general, the trustees think.

But among your trustees there are people close to power. For example, Konstantin Ernst.

“I think Konstantin Ernst is now not at all up to us.”

What happens to the " session " ? Will the magazine continue to be released?

- Yes, definitely. The day before, we handed over the number about Pazolini, today we discussed the next number. It will be devoted to such a concept as human choice: professional, civil, humanitarian. The “session” was, is and will be. No one stops the work.

I heard that due to a shortage of paper, he can go online.

- Let's see. May be. But he will definitely live. I repeat: there are specific things for which I am responsible. I am responsible for the fund and the "session". Now everyone needs to speak for themselves. The word "we" has lost any value. I did not leave, although the opportunity was and remains. But I am in Russia, and while I live and breathe, I will do everything in my power to save the fund and the magazine.

I turn to those who left: please do not teach us to live. We stayed and do our job. I turn to those people who rule our fates: leave us alone. We work for humanitarian things, even if it seems to you that we are national traitors. We are not national traitors. All my life I have been engaged in creative work in this country. The people who surround me too.