Secondary Projects that Make a Difference: Helping the Zhas Dauren Orphanage
Sue and I wrote the following story to chronicle our work with the orphanage. I thought I would share it with you. In the story, it seems like Sue and I did all the work but really it was a joint effort between multiple NGOs, donor organizations, volunteers and friends. I hope you enjoy it.
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When Sue and I arrived in Uralsk, Kazakhstan in the spring of 2004, we knew we would be spending the majority of our time working with our NGOs to help business leaders but we also knew that we wanted to focus our secondary projects on helping the kids at the local orphanages. We had no idea how our internal desire to help the kids would turn into such a comprehensive series of programs and touch our own hearts in so many ways.
So here is the story as we saw it or at least how we would tell it on this day.
Project One: Foster Care Program
Sponsored By: Phillip Morris
Implemented By: Women’s Union
It all started during our first few weeks in Uralsk when Sue arrived at her new organization – Business Association of Women. During the first meeting the director talked about a new project that they had started a month prior and told Sue that they needed the help of an American to work with the children. We realized that this could be the starting point for accomplishing our goals for working with the orphanage in Uralsk.
The program is similar to the foster care system in America. During the first year there were 14 families with 20 children, seven of these families were somehow related to the child, but did not have money to house, feed, or clothe the children for the entire year. The second year 18 families participated along with 25 children. The Women’s Union of Hope, paid each family $12.00 every week to ensure that relatives could stay together during the summer, and to help the families who only wanted to give a child a family setting, but did not have the monetary means. Both years the program consisted of taking the students to the movie theater, cafes, out for ice cream, and picnics in the park. The end of the year finale was held in the main park where the families, students, sponsors, and Union of Women played games and picnicked. Leaving the children looking forward to the next year when they would have another chance at living the life of a family.
As Sue was helping to launch the foster care program, I began to talk with BG Kazakhstan about a computer training program to help the students at Zhas Dauren.
Project Two: Orphanage Computer Training Program
Sponsored By: BG Kazakhstan
Implement By: IBC Group
The next project that we launched was a training program focused on helping orphanage kids ages 15-17. We developed a 10-month computer training program for students at the Zhas Dauren Orphanage in the West Kazakhstan Oblast in order to help the students learn valuable computer skills and prepare for the university. The students were transported from the Orphanage to our training facility two days each week for their lessons. The program allowed us to teach 40 students, hire a project manager, project administrator and three trainers.
The first year of our orphanage training program came to an end on May 20, 2005 during a graduation ceremony held at the IBC Group training center. All 36 orphanage kids that completed the BG computer training project attended the event. Three representatives from BG Kazakhstan joined us for the press conference and certificate ceremony. It was great to see how happy the kids were to receive the certificates. We were also able to offer fully paid, four year university scholarships for two of the kids. Additionally, we recognized 8 students who excelled in the program and on the final exam, and we selected one of the eight students for a summer internship at IBC Group. The event included interviews with the press, certificate and scholarship ceremony, performance carried out by the kids, and many speeches. I think it was great ending to a solid and impactful program.
I have pasted a note from one of the sponsor mothers of a student that participated in the class:
My name is Donna from New Jersey and I have a beautiful two year old daughter adopted from Almaty. I am also the Sponsor Mom to Sholpan who resides at the Zhas Dauren Orphanage and has taken the wonderful computer classes that you have been involved in arranging. Sholpan has told me that the classes have recently ended and I just wanted to write you a heartfelt thank you for this wonderful, wonderful program !! Sholpan has enjoyed every minute of the classes (she's always so excited to tell me about them) and is extremely grateful for everything that she has learned. Thanks to these classes, Sholpan e-mails me regularly which has been amazing for us because we are extremely close and love to communicate with one another. Sholpan was also so very excited to learn how to conduct herself during a job interview and how to write a resume. Thank you for teaching these precious children the skills that they will need in the world to survive on their own.
It was great to know that the class meant enough to the kids to share it with their sponsor families in the States.
Posted by youngterry
at 2:27 AM CST
Updated: Monday, 31 October 2005 2:30 AM CST