Summer highlights • New vidoes available this autumn • A holiday they will never forget!
Thank you, Gus • Aid to Belarus • New life for Ira • The Mayflower Centre • Calendars and cards

Natalia Semenyako

Plans for our new respite care facility in Gomel are now well advanced. During this Autumn a team of volunteer bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers and plumbers are working to turn the kindergarten into a warm, comfortable and welcoming children’s centre. There will be space for up to eight severely disabled children to stay at the Mayflower Centre, whilst their exhausted parents enjoy a much needed break.
Our Building Projects Manager David Walker did some of the preparatory work in September with Harold Jackson, from Lancaster. But the bulk of the work is being organised and funded by ‘Elegant Homes’ a company directed by Barney McElholm of our Solihull group. Ian Jamieson is co-ordinating the work of all the skilled volunteers and if everything goes according to plan, the Centre should be ready to take its first group of children in December.
We have already appointed Natalia Semenyako (right) as manager of the Mayflower Centre and she is busy assessing the needs of families and looking for potential staff. The first round of interviews will take place in October
The Social Protection Department are very enthusiastic about the prospect of respite care for some of the neediest families in Gomel, and they hope eventually to take over the complete running of the Centre. But for the first couple of years we will be responsible for feeding the children, organising their transport and providing about 12 of the 16 staff needed to give them high quality care 24 hours a day.
Fifty families will receive the support of at least six short breaks every year. We hope that this regular rest from the strain of looking after an autistic or profoundly physically disabled child, will enable families to continue to cope. We will ensure that they get other support too, including humanitarian aid.
It will cost about £400 a year for each family who receives this life changing support. We hope that church congregations, Rotary clubs or companies might like to consider adopting one of these families. And perhaps individuals might sponsor one stay of two or three nights with a Gift Aided donation of £40.