Finnish actor, Ville Haapasalo, learned how UNICEF is helping disadvantaged children in St. Petersburg
At the end of January a girls' orphanage and a Day care rehabilitation centre for disadvantaged children in St.Petersburg were visited by unusual guests. Together with the UNICEF staff from Russia and Finland a famous Finnish actor, Ville Haapasalo, and Finnish comedian and TV presenter, Yakko Saariluoma, came to see the kids. The children quickly became friends with affable and vivacious Ville and Yakko. They were excited to show them how they live, what they do, and to demonstrate their crafts. UNICEF National Committee for Finland is preparing a series of TV-programmes about projects supported by UNICEF in different countries. Ville Haapasalo and Yakko Saariluoma will be telling about the activities of UNICEF in these programs. In Russia two projects in St.Petersburg were chosen which vividly portray how UNICEF supports the most vulnerable children. “Our girls are wonderful” - says Vasiliy Sereda, the Head of the shelter. “Each of them has problems, we don't have any simple cases here. Some of them have no documents at all. Others haven't gone to school for several years”. The girls come to the shelter from families where it is not safe to live, or after living “on the street”. While in the shelter all the girls go to school, or receive employment skills. Qualified psychologists work with each girl, compiling an individual rehabilitation plan. The center also works with the parents to improve relations within families. “Our task is to return girls to their families”, - Vasiliy Sereda says. - “If it is impossible, we look to place them in families, but most end up in orphanages”. For the girls, Ville's visit was a real holiday. They showed him their rooms, drank tea with him, told him what they like to do and even sang their favourite song on karaoke songs. “I want Ville to visit us every day”, - said one of the girls during the goodbyes.
The next day, UNICEF and Ville Haapasalo visited the Day care rehabilitation center for disadvantaged children. The centre exists in St.Peterburg for 10 years, working with families that in difficult life situations but which are still possible to rehabilitate. Every day, it accepts 30-50 boys and girls. These children spend nights at home, but come to the centre during the day after school. Here they do their homework, go to various workshops, and even stage plays. For some of them, the day care centre is also a possibility to eat well during the day. UNICEF supported the project for several years. In particular, pottery and theatre classrooms have been equipped to assist children's rehabilitation and development. Thanks to the joint project of UNICEF and KMB Bank, children visit workshops at the Hermitage regularly. In all the events, parents take an active part where parents and children can build their relations and learn to understand each other better. In this centre Ville met Nikita who comes here almost every day. He is 16 years old, and lives with his mother, younger brother and two sisters in a small room of a St. Petersburg communal apartment. His mother really loves her children and takes care of them, but she is going through hard times: after her divorce she lost her housing and official registration in St.Petersburg. In such situation it is almost impossible to get a job. Nikita and his family live his mother’s inconsistent and very modest earnings. Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of families like Nikita's who are in difficult life situations. In the Admiralteysky part of St.Petersburg alone, there are about 5000 families in crisis. “It's not boring here. We communicate a lot, and really cool guys come here”, - Nikita shared with Ville. Now, the teenager spends less time on the street, as he has come to his senses. He added, “I want to become a computer programmer when I grow up”. “It was very hard to hear these children’s stories”, -Ville said after visiting UNICEF project sites in St.Petersburg. “How can people do that to their kids?! We need to help these families, and to do everything to prevent their children from becoming homeless”.
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