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AUTUMN
CONVOY 2004 - Refurbishment Programme
(Part 2) |
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| On Thursday 5th
August our summer trip left Wales ready
to meet the Fostering and Prevention
Project’s Barbara Messenger en route to
Calais. Barbara felt that she would
benefit from learning how both sides of
the charity worked and was thrown in at
the deep end, meeting the majority of
the team that she was to share a home
with for the first time at Clackett’s
Lane Services on the M25 at 2 o’clock in
the morning. |
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The team
was based around a group of
three girls from the Caerphilly
Youth Services and was run by
Lynda Rosser with Bev and Steve
Horrell as support workers. We
had two Leahs and a Rachel so
one Leah became known as ‘Welly’
although quite why we couldn’t
work out.
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| Other volunteers
on the trip included Rachel Tuck, who
had wanted to join having heard so much
about the trips from her mother Andrea,
Peter Davies and Norwegian photography
student, Kristian Helgesen. Karl Sprason
had been ‘upgraded’ to volunteer which
allowed him to be part of the girls’
trip and Charity Secretary, Ann Lock was
on hand as always to help deal with any
problems whilst I was out trying to
process the endless paperwork involved
with bringing a team of volunteers into
Belarus. |
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| The journey ran
very smoothly and we all coped with the
usual discomforts of living on the road.
The girls were perhaps a little less
enthusiastic about doing their chores on
the side of the road than everybody
else, but gentle ‘persuasion’ soon had
them mucking in. |
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We arrived at
the Borovliani Orphanage and
Rehabilitation Centre in good
time and were delighted to be
greeted with the traditional
bread ceremony followed by a
huge meal of assorted pancakes
which I thoroughly enjoyed, but
others were far more dubious
about eating. As the week went
on though, the Belarusian
hospitality soon had everybody
enthusing about the cuisine.
Getting cheap
accommodation in Minsk during
the summer months is becoming
more and more difficult.
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It is
not the Charity’s policy
to spend precious money
on comfortable hotels so
the Orphanage Director,
Alla Victorovna, agreed
to allow us to live at
the centre. .
This proved to be
wonderfully practical,
giving us more time to
spend with the children
as well as allowing the
work teams to carry on
painting whilst the
chores team cooked
dinner |
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Our tasks for
this trip were to involve
brightening the typical dark and
dour downstairs main corridor
(common to nearly every building
we visit) and to put a more
homely feel to the room that the
orphans called home. |
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Whereas at
first the girls found it
difficult to be part of a team,
especially working with adults,
within a few days they were
obviously far more comfortable
and at ease with us and joined
in with everything quite
readily.
Their interaction with the
Belarusian children however
needed no introduction and we
were all quite moved when on the
ferry they had bought scooters
to give and had brought toys and
clothes with them.
Everybody
worked very hard throughout the
whole trip and the
transformation of the rooms was
quite remarkable. |
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The Lounge |
Orphan Denis lends a hand |
All hands on deck…. |
..and the job was done
quickly |
wash everything down |
then glossing was next |
so Steve could start hanging
the wallpaper |
Painting gives a warm feel..
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..to the room |
and new furniture finishes
it off.* |
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The Main
Corridor |
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Liz Wright from
Plymouth ran the Cardiff Half Marathon
to raise £533.50,
which bought the furniture. Thank you
Liz. |
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| As well as
working hard at decorating, the team
made the customary visits to the
abandoned baby unit in the Borovliani
Regional Hospital and the Barisov
Babyhouse. Every opportunity was taken
to interact with children. |
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THE
ABANDONED BABY UNIT |
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THE
BABYHOUSE |
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| The trip was
finished off by the invitation to attend
the British Embassy for morning coffee
from HE Ambassador Mr Brian Bennett. His
Excellency always takes his summer
holidays in August and so Charge
D’Affaires Mr Greg Quinn officiated over
the presentation of the Certificates of
Achievement for the girls and Karl.
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The girls
were quite excited about being
at the Embassy and made Mr Quinn
sign autographs addressed to ‘my
best friend…’ |
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| Everybody
made ‘best friends’ on this trip
and the children at the
orphanage in particular enjoyed
a special 6 days. |
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Our thanks go
to:
Volunteers: Peter Davies,
Kristian Helgesen, Bev and Steve
Horrell, Ann Lock, Barbara Messenger,
Lynda Rosser, Karl Sprason and Rachel
Tuck.
Young People: Rachel Morgan, Leah
Probert and Leah Sterry.
Alla Victorovna and the staff at the
Borovliani Orphanage and Rehabilitation
Centre.
Mr Greg Quinn and staff at the British
Embassy, Minsk.
Luda Tagay and her family.
Caerphilly Council
All our friends, relatives, neighbours,
colleagues and church societies who
supported us. |
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