On 8-22 July our favourite summer camp “Our family” took place.

The diversity of the “family members” was impressive as usual: 28 children and tutors from the orphanage №28, 3 young people from psychoneurological institution, our graduates of different years, volunteers from Beslan (we remember them as small children!), volunteers from Moscow, Saint-Petersburgh, USA, Maria’s Children staff…

The camp opened with a Families’ Parade.

Giraffes, stylish and creative

Zebras and “zebra kids”

All the elephants as one Big Elephant

Lions pass with clang and growl

Each morning the children were offered so many master-classes that it was not easy to choose.

Arthur (father-Elephant), Andryusha, Vanechka and wind chimes.

We learned the art of book-making and weaving ornaments from multicolored threads, painted large carton boxes and composed mosaic, drew a huge picture and created wind chimes, made dolls for the doll theatre and wove friendship bracelets, learned to play guitar and shot films, mastered a blueprint technique and soap-boiling, mastered melted wax crayon painting and created hair accessories, molded from clay and stitched…

Magrat, Serezha and box coloring

Life in the families was also so eventful that it was impossible to get bored. Zebras and Elephants, Lions and Giraffes, each family on its own and sometimes altogether, we made performances, shot films and clips, improvised in the “Theatre from wheels”, sang and danced, created different nice things and played games, cooked kebabs and mushmellows, organized a Mad Haircuts disco and an Evening of Spa. No matter what we were doing – it was joyful and interesting, heartwarming and sincere.

Theatre from wheels “And suddenly he saw a roasted partridge on a table”

Mad Haircuts disco

Our favorite Ossetian pies from our dear Beslan volunteers

Kebab, potato, mushmellow

A big game. We fed the dragon and he became kind.

We were lucky with the weather this year – there was a chance to swim, to ride a banana and to master surfing.

And when the camp came to an end, everyone could admire a gala firework in the sky above Sorochany.

THANK YOU, dear children, for your joy and love that we all get from you. We thank administration and tutors of the orphanage №28 for cooperation and trust.

Thank you, our dear donors: Sophie and Roland Nash, Rostislav Ordovsky-Tanaevsky Blanco and Rosinter Corporation, Charity Fund DAR, Andrey Chistyakov and Moscapstroy company, Gruzovichkoff Company, Pavel Drozdov and everyone who supports us by various means. We thank administration of Sorochany resort and personally Vladislav Yudenkov for discounts and keeping oursummer theatre requisite during the winter.

Thank you, our dear volunteers: Oxana Yushko, Artur Bondar, Sophie and Roland Nash, Ira Baranova, Anya Eliseeva, Mari Stepanyan, Asya Segalovich, Debbie Sears, Donna Kaminski, Oleg Fogel, Vanya Antonov, Andrey Nikitaev, Anya Kochegarova, Sona Stepanyan, Olya Eliseeva, Martin Akhmetov, Alina Eliseeva, Tata Kochegarova, Masha Dermicheva, Natasha Pershina, VasyaLednev, Valentin Ponomarev, Serezha Shuldikov, Vitya Kotsoev, Timur Ganiev, Ira Gurieva, Vika Kotsoeva, Hetag Khutiev, Kambolat Baev, Batraz Kokov, Arina Tebieva, Liza Loseva, Misha Mischenko, Serezha Aristarkhov, Polina Loseva, Olga Ivanovna and Natasha Sidorov, Inessa Dorokhova, Tamara Krapivina, Misha Gomelev, Masha Tatieva, Korney Bruskov, Tamara Naumova, Erika Stepanyan, Mikhail Satleikin.

Huge Thank You to our cooks – Praskovya, Nadya and Vera whose delicious meals filled us with energy and just brought a big pleasure to everyone.

We thank all our staff members - those who worked at the camp as well as those who meanwhile realized our connection with the “mainland”.

Photo by Oksana Yushko and Artur Bondar. You can find many photos from the camp here.