2016
It was the 10th time that Maria’s Children went to Beslan. From year to year our friendship with beslani children and adults becomes even stronger – so much was done and experienced together!
From 3 to 9 April our dear and deeply loved teachers and pupils of the First School welcomed us with all their love and hospitality.
In the course of the week we daily held various master-classes, such as: decoration of frames with the teacher’s portraits, creating bas-reliefs from clay, classes of dancing, batik, Tiffany glass, clowning, theatre improvisation, making kites.
As evening approached, everyone joined in painting the wall of the school gym.
The week ended in an improvised concert at which our team and the pupils of the First school demonstrated everything we managed to create and learn together.
Our international volunteer team included both those who had never missed a single trip to Beslan starting from 2007 and our new young colleagues who came to Ossetia for the first time and, so saying, went through baptism of fire; graduates of the First school and orphanage graduates, beslani, moscovites and foreigners (Guillaume specially arrived here from Canada, Chip – from USA and Charlene – from the Great Britain), big professionals and passionate amateurs.
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Even the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, our good old friend Zita Ibragimovna Salbieva took part in our programme and left her autograph in the shape of a butterfly on the school gym’s wall.
The volunteers visited children in a children’s home “Hury Tyn” in Vladikavkaz with which we have been maintaining friendship for many years.
We also went to a children’s home “Nadezhda” in village Dur-Dur, Digor region of the North Ossetia. It was our first time there and we received such a warm welcome! We chatted, played games, did face-painting, clowned.
Moreover, the children danced a national Ossetian dance “Honga” for us. On the way back we stopped in the Alagir ravine to admire beauty and splendor of mountains.
We heartily thank our donors for the opportunity to realize this programme, Utair avia-company, hotels “Imperial” and “Vladikavkaz” – for discounts, Zita Ibragimovna Salbieva and Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Director Liudmila Petrovna Dzutseva and our dear teachers and all the pupils of the First School of Beslan!
We are so much grateful to volunteers who participated in this trip: Guillaume Vermette, Charlene Whitehead, Rodney Daly (Chip), Alexey Golubkin, Zhanna Novikova, Grisha Troitsky, Vika Ermilova, Anya Smetanina, Ira Rokotnina, Zhenya Gurianova, Dima Ponomarev, Vika Kotsoeva, Ira Gurieva, Galya Petrova, Anya and Alina Eliseev, Yulia Amanova, Vika Basina, Justin Lifflander, Dasha Kamenskaya, Andrey Morozov, Stepan Tarasov, Pavel Belyakov, Kambolat Baev, Khetag Khutiev, Timur Ganiev, Tamerlan and Azam Tebiev, Azam Kadiev, Batraz Kokov! Thank you!! Thank you, friends!
