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  Resource center for women and families with children in difficult life situations.
  Caritas children's center in Kolomyagi.
  In Russia, about 2 million children are estimated by UNESCO to need a special educational approach, and according to the Ministry of health, the number of sick children in Russia is increasing annually by 4-5%. And for more than a year, "inclusive education" has been sweeping the country and trying to integrate into the Russian educational system. The idea is that children with disabilities learn together with healthy children. This helps ordinary children to become more humane and to have a broader view of the world and socializes children with special needs.
   Since 2011, Russia has launched a large-scale state program "Accessible environment", the purpose of which is to create a barrier-free environment for people with disabilities. What does that mean? What barriers are we talking about? Schools and kindergartens are equipped with ramps, guide tiles for the visually impaired and sometimes even elevators. Down with physical barriers.
  According to education Minister Dmitry Livanov, the number of children with disabilities enrolled in inclusive education has increased by 15.5% in the last three years alone. Thus, it turns out that special children become equal members of Russian society…
  Families raising children with special needs are increasingly turning to our Resource Center, and the main problem is not related to material need, social illiteracy, parents' failure to accept the diagnosis of the child, but to psychological impotence from the regular collision with discrimination of their child in society, with the inability to provide their child with an adequate social and educational environment.
  It is obvious that our society is only at the beginning of the way to change their views and stereotypes, so we think it is important to create as many places where these children and parents can come, meet, communicate and feel good.
  Gradually, we began to include such families in our classes and now no one is afraid and has some doubts. It's useful for everyone and it's just fun and interesting to play together! For families raising a child with special needs, as well as for all parents in need of support, our Resource Center has:
- classes for parents with children (from 1 to 10 years) "Playroom". We play together, learn to communicate, negotiate and cooperate with each other.
- individual consultations of a psychologist and other specialists - group "the Unique I!". This cycle of classes allows each parent who has a child (or several children) to be with the child , and, at this time, to feel their love for him alone.
- support group for parents
- seminars for parents on different topics
- holidays, creative workshops and other events!
Come and bring your friends!

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Hooray! We have holidays, but we continue our active work without school, without preparing lessons, without giving marks!
We relax, enjoy our holidays, create, visit various wonderful places and events.
On May 27-28, the Islanders, along with staff and volunteers, went on a real hike in the village of Losevo on Vuoksa with an overnight stay and songs around the fire. We lived in tents, made fires, overcame obstacles, learned to shoot, cooked food ourselves in boilers, cooked kebabs and sausages. It was an unforgettable two days. Thanks to everyone: the guys, staff, volunteers for their resistance, mutual understanding, sincerity. During this year we became a team and our motto is "one for all and all for one !!!"

On May 30, we went to a boxing training session with Tanya Dvazhdova to a real professional boxing gym! This is our second meeting and we hope for a continuation!

Yesterday we walked around Krestovsky Island. We had a lot of fun! We fed ducks, visited the animals at the Cheburashka Zoo, walked through the sand and water, played on the playground, admired the fountain. These were real summer

And we also regularly have a self-help group for parents of teenagers. This week we talked about fears and anxieties, about good changes in our life compared to how we lived before, about freedom and lack of freedom, about awareness, hopes and dreams.

On Tuesdays, we continue to have a support group for teens 14+. We talk about the most important thing in the life of a teenager.

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For almost a month, we have been preparing intensively for the International Festival of landscape art "Imperial gardens". Participation in it has become a tradition for us. The festival was organized in The Summer garden as well as last year.
The theme of the exhibition was Krylov's fables in our free presentation. Guess what we chose this year?
The composition took 100 meters of wire, four strainers and one umbrella, and the stones necessary for the realization of the plan were taken by the volunteers  from all over the Leningrad region. All the male hands of our wards were involved in the work on the composition, because working with wire is a purely male work that requires physical strength and a "flight of fancy".

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For many years Caritas St. Petersburg and the diocese of Görlitz (Germany ) have been friends. Our father Hartmut came to serve in Russia with the blessing of the Bishop of the diocese of Görlitz. Caritas Görlitz Diocese is our great friend and partner in the implementation of charitable projects.
The Bishop Ipolyt and the priest  Jackel, responsible for Caritas Görlitz Diocese, have visited us this week for the first time. They got acquainted with the work of our projects, visited the House of F. Hartmut, talked a lot with the staff of Caritas St. Petersburg, served us a mass and shared with us "bread and salt"!
We also were visited by our partners: Mr. Mones, director of Caritas of the diocese of Görlitz,  and Matthias Franov who held lecture on issues of inclusion for the staff of the children's projects Caritas SPB .
It's great that we have such friends!

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 The school year during which we've learned a lot, worked a lot, made friends, talked, played, staged, and showed the performances is coming to the end.
May was a kind of test for us. We passed on the knowledge gained the year to our friends. The guys from the Maletsky House  conduct master classes independently and teach all comers techniques and methods of making various useful and beautiful things.
Our teachers Kostya Laptev and Serezha Omelchenko went to visit our good friends - students of the Waldorf school in the village of Poroshkino. Kostya and Sergey held master classes in the production of linocut. With younger students, We printed linocut postcards with stamps together with younger pupils. And for the children of high school, Kostya and Sergey held a lesson on the production of stamps for linocuts and printing not only on paper but also on T-shirts with acrylic. Thank you Oksana Marinina for the warm welcome!
We had breakfast together and watched the learning process at the Waldorf school (and there is not only English and mathematics, but also joint work in the workshops, in the kitchen, in the garden..!), and looked into different parts of the amazing, warm, bright house, which is a wonderful Waldorf School!!!

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All interested in quality patient care are invited. The classes for relatives caring for patients at home within the cooperation with the AdVita Foundation are held on Saturdays .
Galina Fomina, nurse of Patronage service "Caritas SPb", is a head master.
During the classes, the main emphasis is on teaching practical skills of caring for a seriously ill person. Here you can learn how to facilitate patient care, how to avoid co-morbidity (pressure sores, pneumonia, contractures, etc.), what ancillary tools help in the care, how to lay the patient in bed, using pillows, cushions and other items. Each of the participants can visit the role of both the patient and the caregiver. It is also possible to exchange experience and information, ask the nurse questions about the organization of patient care at home, according to social legislation and get qualified answers.
Detailed information by phone: +89616084013, Natalia Osolihina (Palliative project "AdVita").

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This month was very rich, joyful and interesting for our project. It has become a good tradition to congratulate patients and medical staff of the hospital on the Bright holiday of Easter. Employees and volunteers of the program prepared a treat for everyone, baked cute little cakes with their own hands , and parishioners of the Church of The mother of God Theodore icon donated colorful Easter eggs! None of the patients were left without attention and a gift! Many listened with interest to the history of the holiday and the testimonies of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and understood for the first time the meaning of this event! We heard many grateful words and saw warm smiles of patients!

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Dear readers, colleagues and all caring people who are interested in the activities of Caritas in St. Petersburg and support us!
Last year we turned 25 years old and all these years our friends help us and take care of us!
And today we congratulate our friend Peter Schmackait on the well-deserved award from the President of Germany "Medaille des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik Deutschland" ( medal "For services to the Federal Republic of Germany").
Peter is a teacher from God, he worked all his life in the children's village for orphans and refugees "Klinge" (www.klinge-seckach.de) created after the war (analogue of modern villages SOS). Now his business is continued by his daughters. Working with children and replacing his father, Peter taught them not only sciences, but also mercy and kindness. Peter's students are children who know what is the betrayal of parents, violence and other horrors of the modern world. And these guys  collected donations from their pocket money for the same poor children in St. Petersburg and Luga, so that Russian children could spend summer holidays usefully.
The administration of the Children's village of Klinge supported the children's projects of Caritas St. Petersburg, gave a bus to Caritas and bought an apartment in Tikhvin for Caritas programs!
Dear Peter, thank you for being with us so far, thank you for consulting us and taking care of us!
We are glad that the German government appreciated your work! We are proud to have you as our GREAT FRIEND!

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 On the eve of Easter Sunday, our donor Ms. Doris Apple from Germany conveyed her congratulations to the beneficiaries of the soup kitchen "Tatiana". By lunch, everyone received an Easter cake and an egg.

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On April 25, a round table on "Topical issues of medical and social care for patients at the post-hospital stage" was organized and held within the charity project Caritas St. Petersburg "Support of persons caring for patients at home and hospitals" with the support of the presidential grants Fund.
The purpose of our event was to identify difficulties, to find ways to solve problems, to assist our patients and their environment in obtaining systematic, high-quality and timely assistance.
The speakers ' reports reflected the stated topics, and the participants had the opportunity to ask their questions and get detailed answers from experts. The work of the round table was rich and productive, during the discussions the participants shared their experience and information.
We express our gratitude to the charitable organization "Centre for the development of non-profit organizations", the project "Sense of the elbow" for the gratuitously provided premises, equipment and technical support in the round table.

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