This is something everyone needs!

In the quiet courtyards of the capital, the St. Sophia social house of the Orthodox service “Mercy” is comfortably located – the first and only non-state small family-type house in Russia for the cohabitation of orphans and adult pupils with multiple developmental disabilities. Here, orphans and adult pupils who do not have their own families live in a specially created unique environment based on support, trust and acceptance of the characteristics of each.

In the social house, or as it is affectionately called by the inhabitants – the house, special attention is paid to the socialization and integration of pupils into society. The children regularly attend developmental classes at the Center for Curative Pedagogy, learn to swim in the pool and dance, work with specialists: a movement therapist, defectologist, psychologist, get acquainted with the outside world by attending developmental classes, museums, sensory performances, inclusive events and much more. Now there are 24 pupils in the project: 19 live in the St. Sophia social home, and 5 children in 2021 switched to accompanied living with close adults in specially selected rented apartments.

For more than two years, master classes have been held in the St. Sophia House on working with various materials in various techniques. Children attended these classes with pleasure, and recently a real creative workshop “Pa-pa-pa” for children and adolescents with severe developmental disorders has opened. It is the creation of a full-fledged workshop that makes it possible to make these classes systematic, with a work plan and with the prospect of professional growth of pupils, taking into account the characteristics and abilities of each of them.

“The workshop is a great opportunity to analyze the process of learning and gaining life experience,” says Maria Kruglenko, head of Pa-Pa-Pa. “One of our main goals is to introduce special kids to the world and then build a space for them to exercise their right to work. We want to position things with an emphasis not on the fact that they are made by people with disabilities, but on the fact that each such thing is one in the world.

Different people work at the Center: with disorders of the musculoskeletal system, with mental and mental illnesses – autism, speech defects. It’s amazing how when children and teenagers get into the workshops, they gradually change: they have a mood, a desire to do something, they smile. These are children with severe developmental disabilities, and educators are well aware that they are not ordinary children who sat down at the table and draw and embroider. Someone can work two or three hours without help, but someone needs constant help. Thanks to the efforts of volunteers, one of the children learned to sculpt or work on a potter’s wheel, another to weave, a third to draw and perform some simple technological operations, and with the support and control of teachers, all this turns into amazing full-fledged works.

The task of specialists is to help each creator find the activity in which he can express himself. Works are different, they have completely different emotions and moods. Here, a dear girl Olga is working enthusiastically, she could not do anything for a long time, but she found herself in painting dishes. It is amazing how a person who does not walk, does not speak, and sees the world only from the window of the house, creates incredibly bright, fantastic pictures. Figures of dancers and funny animals, wild flowers or cosmic landscapes are guessed in unusual abstract lines.

“For me, the appearance of a workshop in our house is a joyful event. This is evidence that the house lives and develops; that the atmosphere of love, inner freedom and creativity contributes to the birth of new wonderful ideas. And the very essence of the workshop as a place for regular interesting employment testifies to the growing up of the inhabitants of the house, to the sensitive perception of the needs of the children by the employees. I am very pleased with the birth of this initiative and sincerely wish that everything planned will work out!” – Svetlana Babintseva, director of the St. Sophia Social House, shares her thoughts.

The workshop “Pa-pa-pa” plans to work 5 days a week in two formats – individual and group, with the support of volunteers, the pupils will create handicrafts, which are expected to be successfully sold at charity fairs. The joy of the appearance of unique souvenirs is received not only by visitors to various exhibitions and fairs, but also by the craftsmen themselves, who work day after day to create new products. After all, while working in the workshop, they communicate, find friends, and realize their creative abilities. It is also important that a person who, for some reason, finds himself outside of society, finds a business for himself, and this business turns out to be necessary not only for him.

In the festive program, the guests were pleased with the demonstration of a new interactive play “Christmas in the Forest”, staged based on the story of the same name by Ulf Stark by the employees and pupils of the St. Sophia Social Home. A charity fair was also held, where you could buy dishes, clothes, jewelry, accessories and souvenirs made by the pupils.

Our reference:

Help Service “Mercy” is the largest Orthodox social service in Russia. The wards of “Mercy” are children and adults with disabilities, lonely old people, low-income families, pregnant women and women with children in difficult life situations, patients in Moscow hospitals, homeless people. The service includes 25 assistance projects, including the St. Sophia Social House, Children.pro, Communion, St. Demetrius Children’s Center, St. Spiridonievskaya Almshouse, Crisis Center “House for Mom” ​​and others. The beneficiaries of the service “Mercy” have access not only to humanitarian and medical assistance – lawyers, psychologists and other specialists are working to return the suffering to normal life. More than 30,000 people find solutions to their problems in the service every year.

Mikhail Kovalev.

Author’s photo