Our First Ten Years • Recuperative Holidays • Neman Holiday Camp • Zhuravichi Boarding Home
Family Home 2000 • Rodni Kut • Mayflower Centre • Foster Care Training Programme
Children’s Hospice Care • Humanitarian Aid Deliveries • Special Class at School No 5
Vikov Home for Disabled Adults • Thanks to All Our Supporters

FOR those families who have kept their disabled children at home, life is hard. Severely disabled children do not go to school, so the parents, often a single mother, have to care for them twenty four hours a day, 365 days a year.
When we brought senior members of the Education and Social Protection Departments to Britain on an Educational visit in Autumn 2002, they were so impressed with a respite care centre they visited in Leeds that we decided this should be our next project. Social Protection gave us a large ground floor space in a kindergarten; Barney McElholm through his Solihull company ‘Elegant Homes Ltd, funded and organised much of the building work; professionals from special schools and Manchester Disabled Children’s Team helped us to interview for the staff; and on 1st July 2004 the first group of six children came to stay at The Mayflower while their parents had a much needed rest.
The Centre was officially opened by the British Ambassador, Brian Bennett in September and Gomel Social Protection Department have been so impressed that they are keen to find other foreign partners to help them to set up similar centres in other parts of the region. Natasha, the manager, and several members of staff have been to the UK to spend time at Woodlands and Stockdales, two wonderful respite centres in South Manchester, and experienced staff from these centres have visited Gomel to share their knowledge.
Currently we fund most of the staff for the Mayflower but we are hoping that over the next few years, Social Protection will take over most of the responsibility for the running of the Centre.