In September, workers from Diema’s Dream headed to the Arzamas orphanage in the Nizhny Novgorod region to conduct a seminar to teach the workers there a new method to be used on their own children.
Firstly, the workers met with the children where they were allowed to take pictures and interact with them, in hopes to get an understanding of the level they were at. It was clear that the children were well taken care of, due to the amount of visible work done by the wonderful director and staff. It was obvious in Arzamas that the people who worked there wanted to change the children’s lives for the better and were genuinely willing to help them, hence agreeing to our course being brought over from Diema’s Dream to them in hope they would be able to help the children live and learn to the highest standard possible.
It was noted the children themselves had great potential, acting as a fond reminder of our own babies in our wards in Elatme five years ago. The teachers were drawn to the children, happy to interact with them and practically ready to start classes with them right on the spot if they were allowed. Yet in reality, many children homes’ do only the standard washing, feeding and clothing of children with little to no stimulation of the children’s mental state of mind, with many assuming that if they are ‘vegetables’ than they do not require any teaching of motor skills.
Therefore, Diema’s Dream workers head out to many orphanages around Moscow as well as further out to teach clients skills which they can use on children to aid not only their physical growth but as well as emotional and mental, in hopes of giving them a better chance in life. Workers in Diema’s Dream themselves have attended courses and practicals to become trained specialists in the Portage Method, a technique aimed to help our children develop and gain skills. To learn more about our highly effective Portage Method in means of giving our children a chance to lead a normal life and how you too can support our goal, visit this link: https://ddfrussia.ru/campaign/portazh/
The seminar occurred on on September 201 where thirty five workers from Azamas orphanage — teachers and nurses — were taught this simple, unique yet very effective Portage method.
Workers from Azamas grasped this concept through the usage of of practical exercises. To get a better understanding of the method, the workers even tried the Portage method on each other to see how easy it was to use. Since the method was not being used on children it was quite a humorous sight to behold, as adult women played with toys and helped each other wear socks also known as ‘hand puppets’, a great way to entertain and teach children. The workers in Azamas learnt how to set specific goals, formulate goal-orientated tasks, create worthwhile documents and use different strategies in the development of a child with special needs.
Overall, the course was a success of which a pilot project will be hosted in My 2019 to see if our teachings in Azamas was as effective as it appeared to be. Its stories and results will soon be published which can be found on our project page ‘Port’.
