Previous Programmes

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

The fifth Sheredar rehabilitation programme started on 6 April 2013. 29 children from Moscow, Astrakhan, Samara, Bryansk, Novosibirsk and other cities were welcomed by a friendly and cheerful team of volunteers led by Terry Dignan. A very interesting and intense programme for the whole rehabilitation week was waiting for the children who suffered oncological diseases. There was everything: horse riding, photo studio, dances, cartoon studio, archery, a visit of Ilya Belostotsky (one of the directors of Eralash, a children's comedy TV show), and lots and lots of other interesting events.

 

 

 

 

 

At Sheredar children have an opportunity to try their hands in different studios and workshops. Do you want to learn to make beautiful things with your hands? No problem! Our Do-It-Yourself workshop is there for you! Do you want to try your hand in the hard work of a reporter? The children will learn how to publish a magazine, take an interview and describe habitual things in an interesting manner in our The Rubric workshop. The glory of Walt Disney makes you excited? Our Cartoon Studio creates cartoons that are none the worse. Do you want to capture the most exciting moments at Sheredar? We are happy to teach the young photographers how to take good pictures in our Photo Workshop. Is your dream to play on the stage and be a famous actor? Your dreams can come true in our Theatre Workshop. Do you want to dance like Michael Jackson? That and even more is possible in our Step Forward Dance Studio. Noble Robin Hood will teach the children the art of archery in his workshop. The children can also make friends with the most graceful and kindest animals in the world – the horses – in our stable. Everyone will have an occupation s/he loves most and the whole programme will be held under the slogan “Off the boredom, let’s have fun!”

 

During the first day the children were getting used to and acquainted with each other. They divided into teams and invented funny names for them: Little Mandarins, The Team of Cheerful Fellows, Penguins, Success, and Hipsters. In the evening the children saw a real performance about the miracles awaiting them at Sheredar Planet. Thanks to the volunteers the miracles are going to be numerous!

 

 

 

 

 

During the second day of the rehabilitation programme the children studied the schedule of the studios and workshops and began to get acquainted to the daily regimen. The first days at Sheredar saw first success.

 

What is a technique of freezelight and marbleisation? Why does a theatre begin at the cloakroom? What do our horses like to eat? How to create a cartoon with your own hands? These and other questions were answered during the second day at Sheredar.

 

To work well one needs some source of strength and our canteen is the best helper. The children enjoy food and afterwards thank our cooks crying together: “Thanks to our cooks for the food so good!”

 

Everyone was waiting for the evening with a special excitement. We were not to disappoint the children, so we arranged an incredible disco with competitions, dances and songs. Everyone could feel as a famous dancer and show what s/he learnt in Music and Dance Studio.

 

 

 

 

 

The first meeting is over and the children keep settling down to the place, getting volunteers’ support and understanding. Sheredar’s schedule leaves the children no time to be sad or miss home: the studios and workshops change one another, while volunteers are always ready to entertain the kids with various interesting games. Making a cartoon, handicraft workshops and archery need a lot of attention; that is why the children come to the classes in small groups. Masters can pay attention to every kid, explain all the details of the process and help to bring talent to light.

 

Sheredar is a perfect place not only to learn something new, but to make friends as well, which is also a purpose of our evening activities. That evening, for example, the volunteers made for the children a fascinating quest with a lot of interesting tasks and riddles that they needed to solve to return Sheredar Planet to peace (the Bad had stolen the map of the planet and everything had gone wrong). Every team had to fulfil different tasks given by the residents of the planet: a cook-magician, a map guardian, a lord of fresh water, a sad princess, and many others. Only after each task was honestly performed by each team, the evil spells were gone. A festive campfire was waiting for the kids at the end of the way: everyone could get warm and enjoy a camp dinner. Later the kids and the volunteers got back to the cottages and began to prepare for the “Whispering meeting”, one of the good Sheredar traditions. Every evening in the silence and by candlelight, the children, whispering, share their experience, success and difficulties of the previous day with their new friends. As Terry Dignan, Sheredar Rehabilitation Programmes Director, says, the most important is not only to reach something, but to be able to be happy for other people: a joy of a success can be full only between friends.

 

 

 

 

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are happy to announce the most cheering news: a guest is coming to us. Who? That was the question the kids have been trying to answer since the very morning. Sheredar knows how to surprise: that is why the name of the guest was held in a secret till the last moment.

 

Ilya Belostotzky, one of the directors of the Eralash, a children's comedy TV show that is so famous between the kids in Russia. The way from Moscow to Sosnovy Bor Village, as the guest confessed, was quite long, but even the traffic jams could not put him out of humour: he was so happy to meet the children. Apart from his good humour, Ilya brought the children some new Eralash short stories. The kids and the volunteers really liked them and there were a lot of applause and laughing in the room.

 

Our kids wasted no time: each team prepared at the Theatre Studio a short performance based on the most famous Eralash movies. Ilya Belostotzky was pleasantly surprised, especially after he recognized one of his own first Eralash movies in one of the kids’ performances. What a coincidence!

 

The children, who have already mastered some parts of the journalistic art, began to ask the guest various questions: “How do you shoot Eralash short stories? Do you invite stunt men? How to become a Eralash actor?” Ilya answered all the questions and confirmed that many of the kids could become very good Eralash actors.

 

At the end of the meeting Ilya Belostotzky signed autographs for the children and they took a photo together. Thanks to our guest for a nice and interesting conversation! We will be happy to see Eralash again at Sheredar!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who has said that Birthday is a sad holiday? We are ready to prove that it is not!

 

10 of April was the Birthday of two girls at the same time: Galina Besprozvannaya, a volunteer, and Yana Shilova, one of the kids. We could not miss such an event, so we began to prepare for it in advance. No holiday can do without a greeting card. But there were so many of us and a small greeting card has no room for all our emotions and wishes. So the volunteers and the children made two huge beautiful greeting cards and hung them on the corridor wall so that everyone could write her/his wishes there. We continued to celebrate the Birthdays during the dinner, singing the traditional song “Happy Birthday to You!” and eating a Birthday cake. Then there were dances with competitions where we had a lot of fun and congratulated the girls once again.

 

Many kids and volunteers confessed that they would have liked to celebrate their Birthdays at Sheredar among the friends also. We hope we will celebrate a lot of Birthdays of our guests at Sheredar!

 

The children kept trying their hands in different spheres and by that time we could see their preferences more clearly. Masha Stepanova and Liza Abramova opted for interview, as one of the journalism genres. They decided to talk with Terry Dignan, the Programme Director, about his difficult but important work. They were preparing questions and studying the information about Terry’s work the whole day. Then in the evening, with the help of the Masters of Journalism Studio, the interview took place. Masha and Liza were curious why it was in Russia that Terry decided to help in an organisation of a rehabilitation centre, what difficulties he was confronted with, what character a volunteer should have, and when Sheredar will work at full capacity. Terry gave them very detailed and frank answers, revealed several secrets to them and expressed hope the girls can become professional journalists in the future and write about the rehabilitation and help offered for children who suffered serious diseases.

 

 

 

  

 

Do you like masquerades when people put on incredible costumes turning into unusual creatures? Such a masquerade we decided to hold at Sheredar. It is always a lot of fun at the masquerades and this one was not an exception. In addition to these fascinating transformations, we also had a photo session.

 

The children who were coming to the masquerade were those we knew, but just in ten minutes they were turning into beautiful princesses and kings, frightening zombies and witches, charming little cats and cheerful pirates. Each costume was prepared in advance and to make the heroes even more realistic, the volunteers painted faces of the kids with colourful theatrical make-up. In between the magic transformations the children played funny games and had classes in the studios.

 

In the evening the kids demonstrated their courage and good physical form taking part in sport competitions. The teams competed with each other and everyone showed herself/himself as a real sportsman. Besides, they had an opportunity to show their cohesion and team spirit. 

 

After these active exercises we went to sleep, but we did not forget about the “Whispering meeting”. We shared our impressions of the previous day and imagined some magic journeys. We had a lot of adventures ahead and we were ready to meet them!

 

 

 

  

 

From the very morning we knew that we had a big day. At first everyone was offered six studios to choose from and in the evening we were planning to have a final concert.

 

After breakfast the kids went to the studios they had chosen. They were real horse-riders who went off on a journey; and the true born journalists who carried out a small journalistic investigation; the little actors made a small theatrical performance for the evening concert; the brave heroes were shooting arrows, and the animators helped pictures to come to life. So everyone was doing what they liked most during the programme.

 

After having fun we had to do some more serious things: to pack the bags for the next day’s departure and rehearse before the evening concert.

 

The kids carried out the first task very fast. When the time of the rehearsals came, the entire floor turned into side-scenes of a theatre. The young actors and actresses were rehearsing songs, poem’s recitations, sketches, and dances, while our Sheries and Masters were helping them.

 

Everyone was very excited and agitated at the beginning of the concert: the concert is a serious task! The children had a lot of different talents and rich imagination.

 

The smallest ones, The Little Mandarins, prepared as many as three performances! The elder ones kept up with them. The second team with their faces painted different colours danced a lively dance called Raccoons. The children from the team called Penguins prepared a dance called Nose. The next two teams also opted for a dance: Success team had a dance based on the traditions of ballet and Hipsters team – an artistic dance Mafia.  Besides, there were other performances: poem recitation, songs and humour sketches. Then Sheries showed a slideshow and a cartoon made by the children in the Cartoon workshop.

 

Everyone was touched. There were a lot of hugs and warm words that evening. The kids went to sleep feeling both happy because the concert went off very well, and a little bit sad because of a soon departure. 

 

 

 

 

 

The last day of the programme arrived unexpectedly and too soon. We came to have breakfast, singing cheerful songs as usual, and cried “Thanks!” to our cooks. The shelves full of different things just a while ago were empty and there were bags near the kids’ doors. We were sadly carrying the bags to the exit. Everyone was saying goodbye to each other, exchanging mobiles numbers and souvenirs. The girls and the boys were hugging each other, their Sheries and Masters.

 

It was sad, but very good at the same time: the kids got a lot of positive emotions during that week. They found new friends and understood themselves better. They were the same children who had come to Sheredar a week ago, but they changed a lot. Of course, no one wanted to leave, but we could not help but smiling, because we managed to make this programme exactly as we wanted it to be. We were doing “cabbage” (it is when a lot of people are hugging each other) for a long time and wished all the best to our friends.

 

The magic of the Sheredar Planet was over, but it will remain in memory of the young travellers for a long time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Children from 9 to 13 years came to the forth Sheredar programme from different parts of Russia. Terry Dignan, a Leading expert with the International SeriousFun Children’s Network, was the Programme Director. It was as always very funny and interesting at the programme, the time just flew by! The kids made their own cartoon “One and a Half Giraffe”, shot bows, fed horses with vegetables, made photos as historical and literature characters, sang songs to a guitar, and chattered sitting over the fire.

 

 

 

 

 

This day our little friends arrived. Volunteers were preparing very carefully to meet the children and were nervous perhaps even more than the kids themselves. When the children, a bit tired after the two-hours trip from Moscow, saw the volunteers disguised into fairy tales heroes, they cheered up.

 

Then the volunteers introduced some get-acquainted games and showed the children the territory of the recreation centre. The kids very quickly began to find common language with each other.

 

In the evening everybody was sitting around the fire, singing songs and keeping getting acquainted.

 

 

 

 

 

The day was very interesting and full of events. Various studios opened their doors for children: hand-made studio, cartoon studio, photo studio, horse riding, archery, drama, and creativity studio.

 

The volunteers showed the children the stable with the horses (of whom children grew very fond of). Accompanied by experienced instructors and in compliancy with safety regulations (everyone had a special helmet), the children had a horse ride. They could ride in a cart with other children or separately, on horseback. The children really loved the ride and afterwards, in cottages, some of them were drawing the horses. The kids showed their creativity making different handicrafts at the hand-made studio. Everyone was absorbed in the activity, and the boys were drawing and cutting coloured paper figures with the same interest as the girls.

 

Everyone remembered this day because Anatoly Karpov, a chess grandmaster and the official world champion from 1975 to 1985, visited Sheredar. He looked around the construction works of the future buildings and gave presents to a future chess club. Then he came to the recreation centre to meet children and to give them a chess master class. The kids were very interested in the game and asked a lot of questions. After that Anatoly Karpov, accompanied by regional administration representatives, planted some trees in the Alley of Good (Alleya Dobra).

 

 

 

   

 

The programme ran its course: the children were playing, having fun, attending different studios, and making a wall newspaper. Once, at the archery studio, the children and the volunteers coloured their faces trying to look like Indians. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the children also coloured the Programme Director, Terry Dignan.

 

Besides, the birthday of Maksim, one of the kids, was celebrated. In the morning the children and the volunteers blew up balloons and said happy birthday to the boy. The dining room was decorated with garlands and, when everyone gathered, a cake with candles was put on the table. 

 

Children’s nourishment was organised very well and thoroughly. The cooks not only took into consideration the medical condition of the kids, but also tried to make the food tasty and healthy. For example, there were always delicious curd pancakes, cakes, etc. for breakfast.

 

 

 

 

 

The main event of this day was a swimming pool. Children swam, played ball and had a lot of fun. Everyone was very content – it was a day to remember!

 

 

 

 

 

This day a new surprise awaited children: actresses Chulpan Hamatova and Dina Korzun visited Sheredar. They spoke with children and looked around the construction works of the future buildings of the foundation.

 

Dina Korzun, an actress and cofounder of the Gift of Life Foundation: “In developed countries children who suffered serious diseases always have a rehabilitation course. This practice is still under development in Russia. The Foundation works in cooperation with international rehabilitation camps that receive children from Russia. After participating in such programmes, children say that those days were the happiest days in their lives. Rehabilitation helps children to believe in themselves, overcome fear and self-doubt, set goals and achieve them.”

 

Chulpan Khamatova, an actress and cofounder of the Gift of Life Foundation: “Children who overcame cancer should understand that they do not differ from their peers and that they can do everything they other kids can. That is why we watch the construction progress closely. This project is very important to us and our children.”

 

Later the children attended the studios, including an archery class that they liked very much. A real concert – talent show – was organised at the end of the day! Children sang, recited poems, appeared on stage with theatrical performances. For some kids this on-stage performance was the first in their lives, however all of them carried themselves very well and had a lot of fun.

 

 

 

 

 

It was the last day of the programme and children were preparing to leave Sheredar. The volunteers and kids have become very close friends by that day. The children coloured their palms and left their “imprints” on the volunteers’ shirts for a keepsake. The volunteers gave every child a small present that they made with their own hands. The kids got very happy with the unexpected surprise. Of course no one wanted to part! Children said that they really wanted to come back to Sheredar again.

 

 

 

 

The Third Rehabilitation Programme (30 May – 8 June 2012)

The Second Rehabilitation Programme (11 – 18 February 2012)

The First Rehabilitation Programme (25 September – 1 October 2011)