Dear friends and supporters,
the Corona crisis also severely affected Lithuania. Nevertheless, there were many positive changes during this difficult time, which we would like to report on here: the transformation of the two Children’s Village houses in Kaunas into a “PATRIA Meeting House for Young People” is progressing, some young people took part in an online seminar on “self-motivation”, there was also renovation work in the Children’s Village in Marijampole, we arranged the first personal training sponsorship in May 2021 and we are planning the next trip to Lithuania from September 2 to 5, 2021. But now one after the other:
PATRIA-Begegnungshaus: The furnishing work is progressing slowly but steadily. Thanks to the generous Christmas donations of our friends and supporters, we were able to transfer a larger amount of money for the facility budget to the PATRIA organization at the beginning of the year. Delayed by the Corona situation, work has progressed well in recent weeks only in one of the Kaunas houses (it is better preserved than the second house): for example, the walls are currently being repainted and sturdy wooden bunk beds have been purchased and installed. Also new bed linen, blankets and pillows are already there.
It is PATRIA’s goal to have the first house fully operational by the summer of 2021 before beginning to furnish the second house. PATRIA is looking forward to using the meeting house for weekend workshops and seminars with young adults soon!
Motivation workshop: Our young people learned a lot about “self-motivation” from a professional Lithuanian trainer. In April 2021, PATRIA organized an online workshop with experienced youth worker Laimonas Ragauskas, who also provides trainings internationally. Laimonas guided the young people to think about some sources of motivation and develop skills to achieve their goals. Some young people gave feedback to PATRIA facilitators after the training that they were very happy about this workshop and took away new ideas. We thank Laimonas Ragauskas for his valuable volunteer work!
Marijampole Children’s Village: We provided financial support for urgently needed renovation work. Due to the legal regulations in Lithuania, only 13 children still live in two Children’s Village houses in Marijampole Children’s Village. At the request of the Children’s Village management, we financed urgently needed work on these two houses, such as repairs to the sanitary facilities and replacement of defective doors.
Most of the children in Marijampole are now in their teens, but in April Sonata’s children’s home, which operates under the new family care guidelines, took in a five-year-old boy who had been neglected by his mother. We were able to add him to our child sponsorship program right away.
Our board member Jurate Bogacz keeps regular contact with the PATRIA organization, the Children’s Village management and the foster mother Sonata to inform and exchange information about the welfare of the children and young people. In this way, we can often help quickly and unbureaucratically.
Personal training sponsorship: Since May 2021, we have been offering “personal training sponsorships” with a fixed relationship between a Lithuanian young person and a German sponsor. So far, we had only offered general financial support of the training program. It was a special concern of our new board member Simone Graubner-Müller to initiate this project, as she herself has a very close, friendly relationship with her long-time godchild Carolina, who is now participating in the PATRIA training program. Thus Simone was able to establish a first “match” between a German godmother and a Lithuanian young woman from the PATRIA circle, who were both interested in a direct contact. We are excited about this new project and will report more soon.
Sponsorship trip to Lithuania: From September 2 to 5, 2021 we offer a sponsorship trip to Lithuania.
Provided there are no renewed travel restrictions, some members of the Board team will be making a trip to Lithuania in September 2021 and would be happy to be accompanied by friends and supporters. In addition to the visits to the PATRIA project in Kaunas and the Children’s Village in Marijampole, there will also be some time for sightseeing in Vilnius and Kaunas. If you are interested in joining us on the trip, please contact Ingrid and Otmar Debald directly (e-mail address: ingrid.debald@web.de).
Dear friends and supporters, without your financial and moral support we could not be so active and effective in our projects for the benefit of Lithuanian children and young adults. For this we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
With friendly greetings
Yours Ingrid and Otmar Debald
on behalf of the management team
of “Children’s Villages in Lithuania e.V.”.