Prosjekt Kaliningrad
is a charitable organisation aimed at helping orphan children in Kaliningrad.
The foundation is run on a voluntarily basis by myself and my father. It all
started with thoughts and ideas and a burning wish to help at least some of the
orphan children I had met myself in Russia. The main idea and motivation behind
the project was to show that it really is possible to get humanitarian aid all
the way through to those in need, and that is also possible to get all of
it through. My background before I started working with the project was a
year as an exchange student in Russia. Besides learning the language, I learnt a
lot about Russian society and culture both through my studies and by my
extensive travelling. I was supposed to continue my Russian studies when I
decided to start this humanitarian project.
Summer 1997 I went to the small Russian enclave Kaliningrad, situated between
Poland and Lithuania. I was very warmly welcomed by children and employees at
"Internat no 3", which was the biggest orphanage in Kaliningrad, counting 234
children between 7 and 17 years old. During the summer I studied the needs of
this institution, and all practical conditions and possibilities for sending
humanitarian shipments. Most importantly, I had daily care for these amazing
children, whose parents for various reasons cannot or will not take care of. I
got to know the staff at Internat nr 3 very well. It was obvious that many of
them found it tough and demanding to work with difficult and unwanted
children. Many of them find it hard to manae economically themselves, but
still take care of the children as if they were their own.
Fall 1997, I started working with fund raising, and collecting clothes and
equipment. I needed money to improve the unhygienic and unworthy sanitary
conditions at the orphanage, for daily needs like food and toilet articles, and
to buy necessary equipment to start different activities for the children. This
was not easy. During fall 1997 we arranged three big collections. Everyone
having some experience in this field knows there is much to arrange and get
sponsored, like transport, cartons, storing place etc. The toughest task though,
was to raise money. But when you are so personally committed to a cause, you
never run out of motivation or ideas. Just after New Year, everything was ready
for shipping the first two containers of 14 tons of clothes and equipment to
Kaliningrad. I personally went to Kaliningrad to distribute the shipment, and to
live and work in Internat no 3, improving the living-conditions there as much as
I could for the money we had managed to raise.
One of the highlights in the work of establishing the foundation and the
humanitarian project was the offer from Nomadic Shipping to take care of the
freight of all our humanitarian shipments from Bergen, Norway to Kaliningrad.
Since 1997, there have been many more shipments and tons of equipment, and
Nomadic`s ships have many times taken detours to Bergen to pick up containers of
humanitarian aid. Nor Cargo has provided containers for the freight every time.
For a small foundation ran by two persons, my father and me, this kind of help
is beyond value. With the support of Nomadic and other sponsors (listed in the
sponsor page) we have been able to focus on fundraising and the actual work in
Kaliningrad. Fundraising is tough work. In my opinion, this is to a high degree
a result of many unserious and poorly run organisations competing for the good
will of the society among us. I believe most people want to help, if they
feel certain that their help actually reach the target they were meant for.
As mentioned the main idea of Prosjekt Kalininingrad was to show that it is
possible to get all the help all the way through to those in need. This demands
good planning and hard work. The custom clearance and preparations to get the
humanitarian shipments through, is always done by a representative from the
receiving institution and me in person. Working and negotiating with the
Russian bureaucracy requires hard work, courage, stubbornness, and much, much
patience.
Winter and spring 1998 I lived and worked in Internat no 3. My main task
was to distribute the humanitarian shipments and improve the sanitary conditions
and educational and physical needs of the children. I was also doing all the
budgeting and accountancy for all the work carried out. Luckily, friend I
had been studying Russian with vlunteered to come with me and work in the
orphanage. She was a great support in an everyday life that was tough, but
nevertheless full of highlights as we could see our presence and our help really
making a difference. Over and over again it surprises me how little it requires
to do so much for the children.
It is obvious that we get much more out of the money in Russia than what we
would do with the same resources spent in Norway. But what really makes me
believe that the work I am doing is worth the effort, is to see how the persons
and institutions we help, manage to get so much out of the means and
possibilities we give them. To see how our help releases their time and
resources, so they can look ahead, instead of worrying about everyday concerns
like how to feed and dress the children tells us we have been doing the
right thing. It is at this stage the work of Prosjekt Kaliningrad really
starts giving results. It is from this level we can start building up the
childrens self-confidence, give them education and help them prepare for
getting a job when they get old enough. The Russian society is tough, especially
for those with the lowest status. The orphan children are painfully aware of
this.
When it comes to support and fundraising, I believe feedback is very
important. Since I started up in 1997 I have put much effort into trying to give
everybody supporting the project feedback on what we have managed to do for the
children, thanks to their support. This is also the main reason for making this
web-site. I hope it can be a forum for information, feedback, and comments for
everybody involved or wanting to contribute.
Today it is much easier for me to get support for "Prosjekt Kaliningrad". I
believe this is very much due to our achievments and proven results. I also hope
it is because I have showed that trying to help others is really worth the
effort.
Thanks to hard and untiring work, taking one step at the time, and support
from businesses, private persons, and organisations, we have been able to
expand. Since 2000, we have been helping two more institutions in Kaliningrad.
The two institutions are Krylovo, a home for mentally retarded children, housing
150 children, and Kolosovka, prison/work colony for youngsters, home of 190 boys
and girls between the age of 14 and 21. In Kolosovka the
youngsters are now given the opportunity to learn a profession while
serving their sentence. After having served, they obtain help to get a job.
Thanks to all of you, who are supporting our work, my father and I, can
maintain a high activity level. We both work without any compensation and spend
all the time we can on helping the children in Kaliningrad. We emphasize the
principles of empowerment, and helping others to help themselves. We have truly
experienced that the people receiving our help can do very much themselves, if
they only get some basic resources to start with. Unfortunately the work my
father and I can do depends on support from others. We need all the help we can
get, and I can personally guarantee that all the help reaches the children in
need.
We hope you too want to contribute to making the lives for orphan children in
Kaliningrad worth living.
Cecilie Nordstrøm, Leader "Prosjekt Kaliningrad"
