Gift Personal Mentors to 100 Orphans in Kazakhstan

Dear Friends,

It's report time and we are happy to share with you the results and successes of our mentors and children from orphanages!

Children spend their summer holidays in camps and mentors come to visit them. Together they have picnics, play various games and enjoy their holidays! And our team throughout Kazakhstan continues to work on recruiting new mentors: coordinators hold information meetings, training for all those who want to become mentors.

Every summer, mentors in Shymkent get together and visit children in the camp. This has already become a good tradition, and children always wait for their mentors and are happy when they come to them. Mentors bring with them various board games and play together with children.

The story of friendship between Saule (mentor) and Mira

The first meeting was very exciting for both of them. They were both shy and nervous, but thanks to psychologists and games at this meeting they managed to relax a bit and get to know each other.

Our team immediately saw a lot of similarities in them, so it was decided to introduce them. They both love going to the cinema, are creative in life, love to read and are eager to acquire new knowledge. In addition, have a similar taste in clothes. Already everyone around them notes that they look alike. We are very happy when we manage to find a mentor who looks like a child. It is very important that the mentor shares the child's views and interests.

Saule made the decision to become a mentor spontaneously after seeing an Instagram post. As Saule herself says, it was one of the best decisions of her life and she has no regrets. In the beginning it was scary, as she didn't know if her child would accept her, if she could be a good mentor. But despite the fear, there was no doubt.

They meet regularly, every Sunday. Together they go to the cinema, walk in parks, go to the market to buy food so that Mira can learn to choose and shop. Afterwards, they come to the mentor's house and cook together. This is how Saule teaches Mira how to cook different dishes

"You should not be afraid to become a friend for a child from an orphanage. Patience and labour will change everything!" - Saule

Within the framework of our project "Mentors: Educational courses for children from orphanages" in Shymkent, children throughout the school year have been studying maths with a tutor. The classes were attended by children of different grades and ages. Separately, the tutor worked with 2 children who are finishing 11th grade this year. The children were diligently preparing to pass the UNT. Thanks to their diligence and additional lessons they successfully passed the test and now entered the grant in universities. Now a very interesting and intense student life awaits them! We wish the guys success!

In Karaganda, our team did a great job during the summer to attract new mentors. Coordinators and psychologists took part in TV and radio programmes.

In addition, our team organised an excursion and internship at Dodo Pizza for children. The children saw how their favourite pizza is made, what ingredients are needed for it and were even able to make their own pizza. Some of the children had a week-long internship in the pizzeria, following which 1 girl was invited to work in the pizzeria. Such excursions and internships are very important for children, as living in orphanages children have big gaps in skills. Many children do not know how to cook food, use bank cards, etc. In addition, children get the opportunity to get a job and gain a lot of experience in their careers!

In Pavlodar, our team in Pavlodar continues to work actively every day to protect the interests of children: they conduct selection, train candidates, and provide psychological support to mentors and children!

We have already told you about mentor Saniya and boy Zhenya last time. Now we want to share their successes.

Saniya managed to interest Zhenya to enter Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools. Then Zhenya really wanted to study there and was preparing for admission in the tutoring centre. Our Dara Foundation paid for these classes throughout the school year. Zhenya regularly attended classes in maths, logic, science, maths literacy, Russian, Kazakh and English, and his tutor supported him in his aspiration to enter NIS. They worked very hard together during the completely academic year and in summer Zhenya successfully passed all entrance exams and entered the multidisciplinary lyceum boarding school for gifted children in Pavlodar! We are very happy when children set themselves goals and achieve them, and mentors help and support them! Congratulations to Zhenya and Saniya!

In Uralsk, our coordinators are in the process of selecting new mentors. They conduct training, interview each candidate and are ready to introduce the new mentors to the children when the children return from the camp

Atyrau delights us with new mentors. We love to see how mentors and children start to become friends. It is always very exciting for our whole team, as we really want all our mentor-child pairs to become friends and become close and important in each other's lives.  

Unfortunately, the introduction of new mentors to the children fell in the spring, when Kazakhstan declared a state of emergency due to large-scale floods in many cities of Kazakhstan. Because of this, many mentors as volunteers took part in the work on flood control on the river Zhaiyk. For this period, children in the orphanage were evacuated to a safe place. All this time the mentors did not forget about their mentees and supported them through calls and messengers. After the threat of floods subsided, the children returned to their orphanage and our mentors continued to meet with the children.

Gauhar (mentor) and Milana's story from Atyrau.

This is one of the warmest couples in Atyrau. Gauhar and Milana met in. Now Gauhar already has a guest family agreement and now Milana spends more time at the mentor's place with her family. They are all travelling for business, doing all the activities together. Spending time with the mentor's family. The mentor and the child have already become like family and we are sure that their friendship will be very long lasting!