Polina is 12 years old, she is an orphan and has lived since infancy with the consequences of a severe neurological infection that deprived her of the ability to walk and weakened the muscles throughout her body. Now, after specialists from the foundation arranged treatment for her in Moskva, she is walking with increasing confidence.
During her treatment, between examinations and rehabilitation sessions, Polina lives at the foundation’s Social Center. She and other children who have come to Moskva for treatment are supported by a whole team of specialists: a physical therapy coach, a speech therapist-defectologist, and a teacher. Their lives are filled with medical care, trips between hospitals, examinations, surgeries, and challenging activities that develop their muscles, speech, and thinking. But every child deserves a childhood! At the Social Center, the caregiver is responsible for this: playing with the children, performing magic tricks, telling fairy tales, holding workshops and celebrations, teaching poems and songs.
“I work with all the children at once, but I have an individual approach to each one,” the caregiver says. “It’s very important to see the personality in every child, to give them freedom of choice and self-expression. For example, Polya loves ballerinas, so when we were making crafts from leaves, I drew a ballerina for her, and she made a tutu out of leaves.”
There are 12 children living at the Social Center—all of them came to Moskva for treatment from orphanages in various parts of the country. Each of them wants to simply feel like a child, to play and rejoice in small achievements. Activities with the caregiver give the children what illness tries to take away—the freedom to be a child.
Help us pay for the caregiver’s work at the Social Center! Let every child have a real childhood: with games, celebrations, and creativity!
