We have decided to start this quarterly newsletter to tell you what is happening at our Almaty Center and to involve you as much as possible in our activities.
Paths
The great value of the gift
For several years now, New Year has been a special time for our children. In fact, in Almaty, New Year is celebrated more than Christmas, because Kazakhstan is a predominantly Muslim country. Therefore, for several years in a row, employees of several companies have naturally participated in the MASP project, developed for our children. The project is structured as follows: our social workers ask children what they would like to receive for New Year, and each child’s wish is entrusted to the person who makes the gift. After the gift is made, we deliver it directly to the child. Thus, for each of our children, this is an opportunity to feel special, loved and heard. At the moment, the campaign involves employees of the METRO supermarket, who make gifts for 40 children, and two other small companies, who make them for another 35 children. Many of the gifts are stationery, clothing, games, as well as certificates for certain products necessary for maintaining the health of children. For example, one girl, Leyla, who has Down syndrome, heart problems and undergoes hormonal treatment, so she has to stay at home all the time, was given drawing courses with a teacher who works directly with her. This shows how much attention can be given to the lives of each of our children through this project, showing how unique and important each one is!
What is intuition becomes tradition
The fourth food collection at the center, called the “basket of goodness,” was organized from December 11 to 14. Different people participate in the campaign: individuals and some schools, whose children organize kiosks where they sell their products and use the money to buy food for the collection. In addition, there is a small company whose employees participate in the campaign, or other people, for example, parents of children visiting our center. The best thing is that a pack of pasta is enough for the collection! Since this year, some people buy food online to send it directly to the center, but most often they are physically delivered. The collection includes not only food, but also hygiene products such as diapers, soap, etc. This is a very nice gesture, because different people participate in it, and it becomes a kind of tradition, a gesture that does not end. Moreover, thanks to this project, you can see how it is not necessary to do great things, but even a small gesture can be useful to someone else. In fact, thanks to this intuition, a community of people is formed who work towards a common goal, as the saying goes: “By caring for the wounds of others, we heal our own wounds, and the face of society gradually changes.”
Cooking Master Class
Nazgul, a staff member at the center, holds a cooking master class once a week with our three children with special needs. In this master class, they learn to bake cookies and fresh bread. Nazgul wants them to become more and more independent, although this is a very long way. Everything they cook is sold on Wednesdays and Thursdays at our center to visitors or the boys' parents. To improve, in December, our children went to visit Aruzhamal, a Kazakh cook who visited Italy to study Italian cuisine. After this trip, she opened a restaurant in Almaty called "Sfoglia Bella", where she cooks Italian and Kazakh dishes. A few years ago, she met MASP, invited them to her workshop and taught them how to bake cookies using her recipe. Now, together with Nazgul, they are learning to follow this recipe to bake short cookies. Thanks to this experience, we decided to create a second group of three children with special needs who bake cookies on Tuesdays using another recipe from Arujmal. In these workshops, the quality and quality of the products is monitored, while the boys' work schedule is respected. The goal is for the children to feel that the fruits of their labor are so valuable that others want to buy them. In addition, it is very nice that this chef collaborates with us, teaching the children his techniques for free, thanks to a friendship with us that has lasted for many years.
A story
Elmurat
He is a child in the AVSI distance support program and he has a very difficult family situation: his mother and father do not live together and his mother is slightly mentally retarded. They live in a small house with his grandmother and alcoholic uncle, but none of the relatives have ever accepted the child, and this makes the mother very lonely. Elmurat suffers from autism spectrum disorder and also has a mental retardation that cannot be clearly defined because no one has ever really cared for him. Even in other shelters where he has been, they could not take care of him because Elmurat often becomes aggressive. In a special boarding school and other centers, they cannot lead him along a structured path because it is difficult to find a common language with him. It has not been easy for us at MASP for many years either, but recently, thanks to patience, something has changed. In recent months, our friend from Moscow, Natalia, a specialist in autism and alternative communication, came to us and conducted courses for our specialists. Indeed, most of our children cannot communicate the way we do. In particular, we noticed that when Elmurat cannot explain himself, he becomes aggressive, and thanks to Natalia’s help, MASP worker Nazgul began working with him in the kitchen using alternative communication. To teach him how to make cookies, Nazgul shows him pictures through which Elmurat understands what is being said to him and can respond accordingly. The psychologist working with him also uses the alternative communication method in communicating with Elmurat. In the end, he agreed to participate in these two initiatives, and his aggressiveness did not decrease, but improved significantly!
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