Projects 2006

Mykolayiv, Ukraine

During one month volunteers made several visits to the Mykolayiv orphanage #2 for mentally challenged children. They played games with the children, drew pictures, and made colorful masks with them. The children were asked to draw a picture of a wish of theirs. Autumn Holiday with competitions, games, and prizes was organized, and as the culmination of the project the children’s’ wishes were fulfilled by the volunteers.

The project was aimed at the young artists of Mykolayiv who rarely get the chance to practice their skill or publicly display their artwork. Popularization and development of the urban art of graffiti were declared as the project’s goals.

With the permission of the state authorities one of the grey and dirty city walls that had been spoiling the urban landscape for decades was brighten up by nearly thirty young Mykolayiv graffiti artists who came to participate in the youth festival “Graffiti Evolution – 2006”. Hundreds of people came to watch the artist at work and hopefully gained more understanding for this developing modern art!

Four volunteer teams with two trainers in each worked with respective groups of 5-9 orphanage children in a long-term socialization program. At the beginning of the program a survey was conducted by the future social pedagogues to assess the quality of the children’s socialization skills. The results were incorporated into the program curriculum.

The program taught children effective interaction techniques and helped them develop responsible behavior, learn about their rights, and stick to healthy lifestyle and habits. Four program modules are planned overall, and two were carried out under the YES Program. One of the meetings with the children was carried out in the form of a basketball game as a variant of a socialization activity.

Yuzhnoukrainsk, Ukraine

The IOC alumni from Yuzhnoukrainsk, Mykolayiv oblast, led by Lilia Antonyuk, joined their efforts to draw attention to the local English club that had existed at the Gymnasium #1 for six years but was going through a crisis in participation at the time. The activities included creating a multi-media presentation about the club, organizing a Halloween party, and producing a newspaper devoted to the club’s history. The aim of the project was to create more interest in learning English based on communicative methods among the students of the gymnasium and to recruit new club participants.

Donetsk, Ukraine

All participants of the IOC in Donetsk were invited to make optional donations for the implementation of the local project. After discussion, it was decided that these donations will be given to Donetsk orphanage “Malutka”, which is one of the largest orphanages in the regions. So, after offering help to the representatives of “Malutka” and with the consideration of this orphanage’s needs, we bought medical equipment and necessary supplies for the sick children.

During the Closing Ceremony, this equipment was donated to the representative of “Malutka”.

Anna Podoprihina organized a student contest of business plans with the support of the Marketing Department of the Donetsk State University of Economics and Trade. The contest took place at this university in October, 2006. The main idea of this project was to encourage students to write business plans and share them with each other. More than 100 business plans were presented during this contest. Teachers of the Marketing Department chose the best 10 plans, whose authors were presented with diplomas and small prizes. This project helped students apply their knowledge in practice and make the first steps into the competing world of business.

Special guests from various companies were invited to this event, so students could meet their potential future employees.

Ternopil, Ukraine

The director of the orphanage mentioned that the swings, slides, little statues in the garden, some doors and windows needed painting. Thus, we agreed that we would spent part of the funds gathered as participation fee for IOC-2006 on paint and brushes. So, a week after the camp its participants and some staff members gathered again to put this idea into life - to make the place where kids live and play more attractive.

Also, a month later 600 UAH were spent on water taps and details needed for the bathrooms in the orphanage.

Two-hour-long classes were held every Friday for 10 teenagers in the Ternopil Children’s Library. Each lesson incorporated English grammar, creativity, critical thinking and a lot of fun! Every week there was a different theme based upon students’ interests: music, sports, celebrities, politics, international day and others.

One thing that did not work out in this project was keeping the number of participants up. This could be for several reasons, one of them being that some children that did not return had a lower level of English and were uncomfortable with the activities in the lessons. On the other hand, the students who did attend the full series of lessons really did improve their English. The activities in the lessons taught the students to express themselves on abstract subjects, which is rarely achieved through school English lessons.

Chernihiv, Ukraine

On the 25 of January, 2007 the “Education against Drugs” Training of Trainers seminar took place at the Koryukivka school #1 (Chernihiv oblast). Participants were representatives from three schools of the town including eighth grade teachers, school psychologists, social teachers, selected high school students.

The participants, using computer facilities, got acquainted with the EAD program and afterwards discussed it and expressed their points of view. They also filled out questionnaires. All respondents (16 people) believed that such a program would be necessary or relevant at schools. 70% felt ready to get involved in conducting the program. The seminar was initiated by Kelsey Waters, US Peace Corps Volunteer in Koryukivka, and conducted by Valeriy Ryabukha, the EAD program author.

Sumy, Ukraine

A seven-hour-long role-play game “The European choice of Ukraine” took place at the Sumy School #1. The game was carried out by the specially invited Serhiy Shtukarin, an experienced youth trainer from Donetsk Regional Youth Organization “Euroclub”, who was assisted by the US Peace Corps Volunteer Rut Mulero. After the game the participants were invited to an open discussion about informal European education and the possible activities of the Sumy youth in this field.