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After
a two-hour flight, we arrived at Minsk airport, eager to set off to
the village of Zashirye for our ten days of work – though after a
five hour journey in a minibus/van, our enthusiasm inevitably wore
off. As we arrived in Zashirye, I felt a mixture of excitement and
anxiety: excitement at the prospect of the next ten daus, but also
anzious about staying on my own with a Belorussian family I had
never met before. Fortunately, my worries were soon put at rest , as
my host family, the Zayats, made me feel really welcome, and within
a few days I felt like one of the family.
The
first day was mainly devoted to unpacking our resources, which had
been sent over to Belarus some months previously. We also got to
look around the school, at which we were to do the play scheme. It
was a fairly large school, and looked a bit like a typical American
high school on the inside, with many large murals on the walls
depicting children playing in idyllic settings, and beautiful
sunsets over misty lakes.
That
evening, I experienced my first dinner with my family, though the
father was not there, as he worked extremely long hours (from 6.00
a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, with two days holiday a year). I
was given copious amounts of food, usually some sort of meet and
potato variation with vegetables, and was given much Russian wine, a
‘weak’ drink at 19% alcohol. After several toasts to love and my
family, I finished my large meal feeling extremely satisfied. Later,
we all walked around the village, which is not like any village you
would find in England – or anywhere really. In fact it is more
like a town, with its high rise flats and other large square
buildings.
The
second day was really the first day of the play scheme, and children
from Zashirye and two other nearby villages gathered at the school.
While waiting outside, there was a gas explosion in a nearby
building, blasting a window off and making a large crashing sound. I
was then amazed to see that none of the children, some as young as
four or five, had even looked around. This was the first moment for
me when I realised how hardened these children are. This was also
made very clear from other things I saw. For example, a young boy of
four fell off his bike one day on
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concrete.
Iwas expecting him to cry, or at least play up to the injury, as
there were many adults around. But instead he just picked himself
up, rubbed his hands on his coat and got back on his bike again.
In
the play scheme, I was mainly responsible for drama and music
activities. These were especially fund and interesting for me, as
the children do not really get the chance to do anything like it. We
found that the key to getting them to join in is just to become
really silly and make a fool of yourself as much as possible – not
too hard then. I found that, after this, the children were much more
willing to participate. It was really magical watching some of them
standing just thinking of what they could do in some of our games,
and I am sure that nearly all of the children thoroughly enjoyed
them.
I
also ran other activities in the arts and crafts sessions in the
play scheme. It is impossible to pick out single moments, as I was
continually being amazed by the children. The same is true for the
whole ten days, in that words can never do it justice; not the
people, the feel of the place or the things that I saw people doing
that really struck me (not to mention the smell of home-made vodka).
By
the end of the ten days, we were all completely drained, physically
and emotionally. After some tearful goodbyes, we all piled into the
cramped minibus and set off for home. Some minutes of silence
followed, when we were all personally reflecting on what amazing
people we had just met, and were leaving behind. I suddenly felt
very guilty about leaving them: we seemed to have brought so much
happiness in just ten days, and now we were just going. But one
thing I learnt when I was there was that these people do live life
as best they can without stopping to complain about trivial things
as we all do too much. It was a real eye-opener, and made me think
about the next time I complain about having to work six hours at
Tescos.
I
would finally like to thank the Westbury Friendly Society for their
kind donation to my travel costs. I am very grateful that I am so
lucky to live in a village where young people are supported in such
a good way.
Ben
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