Center "Up" - Russian non-profit organization, which works with pupils and graduates of correctional orphanages and neuropsychiatric boarding schools.
Our goal is to help every child learn and develop as individuals, overcoming the negative consequences of the orphanage past.
We strive not only to lead the student to receive a certificate, but to encourage him to rise, reach out, grow. We want the academic year to be perceived not as walking in a circle, but as climbing the ladder of time - from ignorance to knowledge, from discord with oneself to gaining personality-in-itself, from social uncertainty and disorder - to socialization, from isolation in his "I" - to dialogue with the world. What can help turn learning into climbing? First of all, friendship - students among themselves and students with teachers. Then - a fun game of discipline: without discipline, learning is impossible, without a game it becomes boring. And finally - the attitude to study as an adventure, difficult, but exciting.
Our team of teachers has been working with orphans for 10 years. In 2010, the Vverkh Center was registered as an independent Russian organization- before that, it was called the Post-Orphanage Educational Center and worked as part of the international charitable project ROOF (Russian Orphan Opportunity Fund).
We understand that today's orphanage resident cannot wait until the existing system of boarding education and training is changed so that he has the opportunity to maximize his abilities.
We believe that learning - especially teaching people who really start learning at the age of 15-16 - can only be carried out in an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect, and we managed to create such an atmosphere, and we work to maintain it every day.
Our programs:
Educational programs:
- Learning the basics of writing and counting;
- Accompanying schooling;
- Computer literacy;
- Preparation for exams for 9 classes;
- Preparation for exams for 11 classes;
- Preparation for college and university;
- Help in college and university.
Socialization programs:
- The Literature Club is a regular analysis class literary works open to all students, alumni and staff of the Up Center. These activities are the least like extra lessons at school. This is exactly the club, with its accompanying relaxed atmosphere and equality of participants.
- The theater studio - "School of Scandal" was organized in February 2010, and this is one of those projects that grew out of the personal initiative of the students and graduates of the Center. Within the theater studio
- Club "Country Studies" - every year the guys choose a country and get ready to tell everything they are interested in about it at the conference of student projects.
- Student Council - The Student Council has been operating in the Center for the third year. The guys themselves worked out the rules of conduct in the Center, established duty and control over it.
- MyStepskaya is a workshop of creative crafts where children create crafts and postcards to participate in New Year's and Christmas fairs.
- Excursions, cinema, theater, museums.
- General holidays.
Contacts:
Center "Up"- Moscow center equal opportunity for orphans - works with graduates of orphanages and inmates of children's psycho-neurological boarding schools. The mission of the center is to help every child learn and develop as individuals, overcoming the negative consequences of the orphanage past. Not only adaptation is important here, but also the personal development of children, what will help them feel comfortable and safe in society, be independent people. Education - especially the education of people who really start learning at the age of 15-16 - can only take place in an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. About how the center managed to create such an atmosphere and what programs the organizers and volunteers offer, Olga Tikhomirova, director of the Up Center, told us:
Olga, do classes at the center follow some special program or is it a general education school program?
I must say right away that the center has been operating under the name “Up” for the third year, but our team has already 15 years of experience. We work with children on a general education program. However, with the guys who live in adult boarding schools, the work is completely different: sometimes it's just learning to read and write. Adult people come to us who cannot read, they lived in orphanages for severely mentally retarded children until the age of 18 and were recognized as unteachable. Our task is to teach them to read and write. For some, this is the achievement of such a level of education that one can successfully pass the commission in a boarding school and obtain permission to live independently.
For children who came from correctional boarding schools, it is important to reach the level of general education. And when we see that they are ready to study and pass exams, they apply for an external program and take exams there.
How many kids are doing at the center now?
It is difficult to give an exact number. Guys come to us own will. We don't pay scholarships. And in order to have a result, you need to make maximum efforts and study a lot every day. Not all guys can stand it, so we have a floating squad. Some start, then quit, then come back again. Someone does less, but participates in the activities of the center, comes to the holidays. The number of students is constantly changing. Recently it has reached 150 people.
And what is the age of those who work in the center?
From 17 to 30. We exist as an evening center, and someone comes to us who can independently reach us.
Do you have enough resources at work?
Of course, if we had more premises, then there would be more guys, and we would start developing several more areas that we cannot implement now.
For example, what?
For example, we want to make workshops.
And what already exists now besides the educational program?
We have several clubs: a literary club, a cinema club, a country studies club.
The Literary Club is the oldest - the same age as the center. It takes place every two weeks. For this time, the guys are given a short work to read, then they meet, drink tea with cookies and discuss what they have read with the presenter. Of course, this is a club for our older students who can understand the works and are interested in discussing literary works.
In the cinema club, the guys watch and discuss films. It is noticeable how, over time, they begin to distinguish between mass cinema and auteur cinema. And within the framework of the country studies club, the guys not only study the history and culture of different countries, but also visit different thematic exhibitions, festivals.
We also have a football team. Moreover, not only the students of the center play in it, but also their friends who do not attend the lessons of the center, but they want to play football. The team has been around for almost two years. It all started with volunteer enthusiasts, and most recently the team has a real, authoritative coach with a sports education. At first, I saw in this only an opportunity to involve children who did not want to study in the activities of the center. And then it turned out that this is really a grandiose event. There are a lot of boys and they all love football. In addition, a team game is a very difficult job that helps children learn communication and communication. They have been participating in blitz games for a long time, but it still cannot be said that they are a close-knit team. I always tell them: the team is more important than victory.
I heard that there is also a theater studio in the center?
We have two theatrical directions in the center. The first one is led by one of our teachers of literature and the Russian language. She was the initiator of the beginning of theatrical activity in the center. This is a classic trend. The guys have already staged such works as "A Hero of Our Time", "The Government Inspector", sketches from "Cyrano de Bergerac".
The second direction was organized by one of our graduates. At first he participated in classical performances, and then he said that it was all boring and performances should be staged in a completely different way. So we have an avant-garde troupe, headed by our graduate. His first performance was "Cinderella", for the second he completely wrote the script himself, making an unusual mix of old Soviet films. Successfully compiled everything, and the performance was a great success.
Now the avant-garde troupe holds performances for which you can buy tickets. At first, this idea seemed controversial to me, but the guys themselves decided to earn money for the center, and, in the end, I saw that after this decision, they began to treat productions more responsibly.
Recently they staged another performance - "Notes of a Madman" based on Gogol. They showed it at the Bulgakov Theater, which helps us with the premises. This performance was attended by one of our acquaintances, the director, who highly appreciated their work and said that this was already a completely different, not amateur, level.
Let's dream a little: how do you see the "Up" center in a few years?
I don’t want to plan a lot in advance, but I would like it to be a full-fledged youth center personal development through educational programs. Collecting entertainment activities is not a problem, another question is how to create motivation for setting life goals and achieving them.
Our deepest conviction that adaptation in society, a comfortable state and a sense of security give love and a sense of rear, this is the key to getting an education. And I really hope that the guys who come here perceive the center as the very rear that they never had.
Graduates of Moscow orphanages are entitled to free travel to public transport, benefits for admission to a university, an increased scholarship for up to 23 years and an apartment. There is only one problem - leaving orphanage, a person most often does not have sufficient knowledge to pass the exam and enter a college or university, or social skills to start an independent life. As a result, 80% of orphans rent out their apartments received from the state, move to live with friends and prefer not to work at all.
At the Vverkh center, children from ordinary, correctional orphanages or psycho-neurological boarding schools are prepared to pass the Unified State Examination, they help them enter a college or university and find a job.
The Village spoke with Olga Tikhomirova, director of the center, about how a small charity can do this.
Olga Tikhomirova, director of the center "Vverh"
About the center
Center "Vverh" grew out of international organization ROOF (Russian Orphan Opportunity Fund), which was founded in 1998 by an American and an Englishman Georgia and Andrew Williams. They were parishioners of St. Andrew's Church in Voskresensky Lane, so they asked to allow ROOF to settle in the church building.
ROOF was the first organization to provide educational assistance to Russian orphans. Then the directors of orphanages themselves said that the level of educational preparation of children is very low and that this is probably the most important and necessary assistance.
I came here in 2001 as a teacher of history and social studies. Due to financial difficulties, the center was closed in 2004, but then resumed work, and I was invited as a director.
We function as an evening center where children over 18 come after work or study. The decision to visit the center must be made by them.
They hear about us by word of mouth. We do not actively work among orphanages, because we do not have such a large capacity and number (the whole team is about forty people). We teach between 80 and 120 students per year.
I asked:
"What is a meadow?"
And after a long silence, a man timidly said to me: "Where Vegetables Grow"
We do not pay a scholarship, and studying with us does not give any benefits. Our education is in addition to their basic education, which they receive at school, vocational school or college. We offer them help in what does not work. Most of our students have always been graduates of correctional orphanages - those who leave at the age of 18 with an education at the level of the sixth or eighth grade. They want to be like everyone else. They want to get certified. For them, this is a sign of normality. Of course, it is not easy to prepare for exams in a year. In rare cases, it takes two years, usually three, sometimes four. This year, a girl who has been studying with us for eight years went to the exams. We understand that learning has become a way of life for us.
For me, the story of how I started working is very revealing. I had a group of guys (15-20 people), a whole room. All are about 20 years old. We read a sixth-grade history textbook with them, there is such a paragraph: “The Germans settled among dense forests - I still remember this sentence - near reservoirs, in glades.” I asked: "What is a clearing?" And after a long silence, one person timidly said to me: "Where vegetables grow."
About graduates of orphanages
The world of orphanage graduates is a closed subculture. They clearly divide those around them into “their own” (orphans) and “home” (those who have parents). I learned this term here. There are “ours”, and there are “home” people. Not even children, but "people".
Until the age of 23, everything is going very well. At the age of 18, those who are deemed fit for independent living receive an apartment. In Moscow, there are no problems with housing for the guys, they all get apartments. Then they go to study either at universities, if it is a general education orphanage, or at colleges. And so they get one education. In our case, this is the specialty "tiler", "plasterer-painter", "seamstress". And then they are told: “Let's get another profession in our own college for better socialization (colleges are on a per capita basis). Then, when you get the profession of a cook, you can get some other profession. And up to the age of 23, children receive support from the state: they are taught, transferring from specialty to specialty. At the age of 23, financial support (stipend) ends, and the person is sent to work. And then it turns out that you need to work for approximately the same money for which you studied.
Moreover, financial support ends at the age of 23, regardless of whether you entered a university or not, and how you study in it. It happens that those who studied with us received certificates and entered universities later.
If we talk about the financial support of the state, then the last few years have been even too good with it. At the same time, one must understand that the guys form a wrong idea about money, where it comes from and what it means to live on the earned 12 thousand until the end of the month.
When does it end governmental support, most in a simple way earnings becomes renting an apartment. It is no secret that 80% of orphanage graduates rent out their apartments and live with one of their own. They rent apartments not only because of the money, but also because they have never lived alone.
Here he comes to a house where no one is waiting for him. Someone starts an incredible number of animals - cats, dogs, hamsters, everything that is possible - someone begins to live with someone. And so they live together, do nothing, drink. But there are different stories: we have a student who rents an apartment, but he pays for his education at the university, because he could not pass the competition for the budget department.
Not a secret, that 80% of orphanage graduates rent out their apartments, and themselves live with one of their. They rent apartments
not only for money
but also because they never lived alone.
We talk to everyone who comes to us to find out why they want to study. There is no connection between education and quality of life. At best, they understand that education is another specialty, but they have no idea what specialty they would like to receive.
If, as a result of our work, the guys begin to understand that knowledge is important, that certain types of activities are interesting, if they like to read, then we can consider that we have done everything that is needed.
One of the most fantastic stories that we are proud of is about young man, which receives higher education. No one believed that he would finish the ninth grade and receive a certificate. He made his way towards knowledge. But at the same time, he has great willpower. This young man passed the certificate for the nine classes, then graduated from college. Being engaged in college, he was preparing for the exam, passed it and entered the Institute of Physical Education. He is very athletic, now finishing his fourth year, working as a physical education teacher at school and running at the Moscow marathons.
About summer camp
Once a year we arrange an exit camp in the Pskov region. There, on the outskirts of the village, there is an orphanage for mentally retarded children. When we got there, there was poverty and monstrous poverty. Now, from a material point of view, it has become better. But children (from 4–5 to 22–23) live in this orphanage all the time. Most of them do not receive permission to live independently, and they will move from this orphanage to adult boarding schools, where they will have the same closed life behind a fence until death. Since these children are not taken to summer camps, we bring a summer camp to them. Every day, volunteers come there in the morning and in the evening and conduct classes with children. Two or three students of our center work in a shift. As a rule, in orphanages for mentally retarded children they are not taught, they are recognized as unteachable, but here they began to be taught. The school was opened in 2010. This is largely the result of our work.
The camp is often more important for volunteers than for children. This experience has a profound effect on people. Many of those who traveled remain in the charitable field. I am deeply convinced that a trip to this camp as a volunteer is not in vain for anyone.
Thanks to this outreach camp, a football team was created in our center, led by Howard Amos.
About funding
Until 2008, we had one good sponsor, and we sat quietly, enjoyed life and did not tell anyone about ourselves. Then there was a crisis and before the new school year, our wonderful sponsor said: "I'm sorry, but I can't do it anymore."
So the task arose to tell people about ourselves and what we do. Good way make themselves known - these are Christmas charity fairs. But what to show? The first years we glued postcards, and it was a complete nightmare. Two and a half years ago, a volunteer appeared who made bird feeders himself and offered to make them together with the guys in order to sell them at fairs later. And we created a workshop. The effect of these fairs was amazing: a lot was written about us, there was a lot of attention. Now we are developing our workshop “Hands From There” so that it turns into a project that would allow the guys to earn money. Now we are sponsored by both companies and individuals who transfer from 50 rubles to quite large amounts.
Nadezhda Fedorovna
mathematics teacher
