HEART-RENDING reports used to emerge of children in orphanages
in Russia and Eastern Europe who were endlessly left in their cots
and deprived of all the loving stimulation that a small child
needs. St Andrew's, an Anglican church in Moscow - one of the
further outposts of the diocese of Europe - has
done something positive about the children who have grown up with
that deprivation. The chaplain, Canon Simon Stephens, is shown here
with just a few of the young people who have benefited.
Not only is the church a haven for UK
expats, and many others, but it is also the home of the St Andrew's
post-orphanage education centre, known as Step Up (or, in Russian,
Vverh). It helps many young Russians who have grown up in
the orphanages in and around Moscow.
Step Up was founded by members of the
St Andrew's congregation in 1999, and, since then, it has helped to
change the lives of several hundred young people who otherwise -
Russian statistics suggest - were likely to end up in prison, as
prostitutes, or dead as a result of drugs or alcohol by the age of
22.
It has a staff of professional
teachers who coach students, mostly with very low standards of
education, to complete middle and high school, so that they can
enter further education and colleges, and eventually get jobs. In
addition, the young people are taken to concerts and exhibitions,
to other cities and monasteries, and much more. Sport and dance are
important; they stage and perform theatrical productions, and also
have a soccer team.
All this is to compensate for their
deprived early years, and to help them to develop social skills and
personal talents. It also teaches them to take responsibility for
their own actions, and to give them the confidence to do so. Step
Up is supported by the Charity Aid Foundation, many other Western
and Russian charities, and big businesses such as
PriceWaterhouseCooper and Nestlé, but more is always needed.
Many of the young people return to the
Step Up centre, long after graduating from high school, for the
comradeship and support it provides. Many of them say: "Step Up is
my family."