ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA:

Secure care for severely handicapped children


For over 20 years, our partner organisation, Perspektivy, has been working on changing the mentality, and tending to the special needs of severely handicapped children in large state-run homes.

Sonja Dinner visiting St. Petersburg in December 2014 playing with a mentally and physically handicapped girl. The children receive more intensive care and stimulation through our partner organisation Perspektivy.

Support, care and assistance are provided, leading to an improvement in the quality of life of severely multi-handicapped children in house no. 4 of the children's home, Pavlovsk, in St. Petersburg (which is taken care of within the state-run home by Perspektivy).

Perspektivy - founded by the German Baroness, Margarete von der Borch - is the only NGO in Russia that has been working permanently with its own employees within a state institution and in close cooperation with the special education centres in Moscow and Pskov, both "leading lights" in handicapped work in Russia.

The Pavlovsk children's home is the largest in Russia. Social orphans with mental and/or physical handicaps live here. The state only takes care of “keeping the children safe". Untrained carers (called sanitarkas) only ensure that the child is fed and clean, but the state provides no individual human care or support.

The activity of Perspektivy operates at two levels: The first and most important level is taking care of the children. The unceasing aim is to improve the quality of life of children and enable them to attain some autonomy, employment and enjoyment in life. Since 1996, Perspektivy worked with volunteers to this end. The most important task of the volunteers is to give the children attention and love - to play with them, communicate with them and go out into the fresh air. The second level of activity of Perspektivy is to provide assistance for the children from qualified employees: special education teachers, doctors, psychologists, physiotherapists, speech therapists, teachers and massage therapists. In 2009, individual development plans were introduced that have produced wonderful successes and improvements for the children. Sonja Dinner visits the children every year. She was full of joy on the occasion of her last visit 2016 when she saw the progress that had been made.

How you can help us

Would you like to have a positive effect on the life and future of a child? If you send a donation to The DEAR Foundation, 100% of it will be injected into your desired project on the following working day.

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Our donation account is as follows:

UBS Switzerland AG
CH-6301 Zug
IBAN CH73 0027 3273 2279 4795 Y

For donations of over CHF 100, a donation receipt will be issued automatically in January of the following year.

Estate and foundations

We will be happy to advise you, without obligation, so that your estate or part of it will lastingly help the poorest in the world, and help avoid unnecessary costs.