Makariev Orphanage


	Kid’s space

Hello our dear American friends!

It’s been a while since our last letter. We are so glad to say Hi to you again. We are sad because our summer break is over. We are in school again and have less free time. It’s so hard to make ourselves do homework every day and wake up early in the morning. We miss summer time a lot. Our summer was full of interesting events. We spent almost all summer at a state camp as usual. But we love it. We met our old friends and made new ones there. We had a lot of activities which we enjoyed a lot. We took part in different competitions. Lida K. and Anya S. were the most active. We took a lot of pictures. Now every time we watch them we think of our friends and how much fun we had. Right after summer camps some of us were in a sanatorium. They took treatments and just had a good rest.

Some kids spent time at home with relatives or guest families. Sergey T. visited his grandma in St. Petersburg. He even thought about entering a tech school there but it’s way too hard in the big city like that. That’s why he entered a tech school in Galich (small town in Kostroma region). Valera P. was at his aunt’s place in Kaliningrad. He enjoyed living in a family and liked this town. He showed us pictures and shared his impressions. Probably his aunt will invite him to join her family and study there. Unfortunately Valera had failed his graduation exams in summer. But the bright side is that he’s staying one more year with us. Ruslan K. and Anya S. successfully entered tech schools too. We are very proud of our graduates and do hope that they will show us an example of success stories. We are also very happy for some of us who live in families now: Yura K., Liza L., Ilia T. and Ilia V.

By the way the orphanage finally got the neighboring land this summer and we planted different vegetables and fruits. We had even strawberries there. It’s a hard work to look after the garden but it’s a pleasure to eat what you’ve grown yourself.

We’d also like to say how proud we are of Valera P. He participated in helping veterans of World War 2 with other kids from Makariev. A local newspaper even wrote an article about him with the picture of grateful veterans and young volunteers.

Needless to say we miss you a lot. We loved your visit in November and we can’t wait to see you again. We can’t wait to get new letters from you and to get to know about your summer adventures.


	Discipler’s Update

Hello Dear Friends!

Three months is a lot of time. Frankly speaking by the end of it I couldn’t wait to see my kids as soon as it’s possible. I’m glad that at least we keep in touch with them. Couple of times the kids called me and told me about their summer adventures. During my first visit they showed me their pictures and shared their memories. I was happy to know that they had spent a wonderful time. Kids visited a state camp where they were offered a variety of activities and where they spent time with their friends. I was surprised to find out that the orphanage got the adjoining property (behind the orphanage). Valentina and the caregivers have decided to create a garden with the help of the children. They had a good harvest: cabbages, carrots, potatoes and even strawberries.

You know that kids usually meet me with the where-are-the-letters question when I first enter the orphanage. Unfortunately this time there were not many letters. But I promised them that you bring letters when you visit Makariev. So, please, dear friends, remember, it’s very important, spend at 5 minutes of your precious time and write at least a couple of words. If you saw their smiley happy faces after getting your letters you wouldn’t help writing. I am always delighted to see how glad they are when they get a letter from their American friends. The children need to know that there’s somewhere a person who cares about them.

Nadia Gribinikova


	Director’s Notes

Hello dear friends!

Another school year has started and we have great plans for the next year. We start to work on the website for the orphanage where everyone would be able to see the results of what we do. We also plan on improving the territory of the orphanage. We think of making a playground for the kids in the backyard where they’ll have basketball court, soccer gates, swings you name it. We’d like to improve our small garden. We need to buy a Farm Cultivator for rotary tillage, weeding, fertilization, planting you name it. I also have an idea of making a swimming pool for the kids in the front of the orphanage. It’s easy to make but still needs time and money. Anyway the main goal is to improve the quality of life for the children by giving them the tools they need to be successful. And I really hope that we’ll be able to make our dreams come true with the help of all our friends.

And I would like to thank you for all that you do for our orphanage. Children and I are very grateful to you for everything you do for us. You are always welcome to visit our home.

Valentina


	Prayer requests

Please pray:

for the kids’ health
for the staff of Makariev orphanage
for the graduates, so that they would be safe and the first days, weeks and months at new places would not be hard for them.

Thank you so much for everything you do for these kids! It’s really important in their life!

Blessings to you and your families,

Makariev kids and Nadia