Travel Discover Help – trip to Orlovka

On March 31st, we visited our friends and mentees in Orlovka. March turned out to be quite a hectic month, so this time we limited ourselves to a one-day visit. We had missed the kids dearly and wanted to see them, catch up, and spend some quality time together.

The trip had two main goals:

1. To hold two workshops for junior and senior students.
2. To celebrate the February and March birthdays.

For the first goal, we invited two trainers. Artur worked with the younger children on a workshop titled “Storytelling.” In practice, the kids learned how to create fairy-tale characters and even wrote their own magical, heartwarming story. Some even managed to draw illustrations for it! It was fascinating to watch different characters come to life with their own personalities, unique looks, and names. As it turns out, all you need is to follow a few simple rules and let your imagination run wild. And voilà – a fairy tale appears out of thin air.

Kristina worked with the older group on a more serious topic: how to write a resume and present oneself effectively during an interview. Almost all the teenagers have already decided on their future careers. Kristina showed them how to conduct themselves when meeting an employer and how to craft a standout resume. At the end of the session, the kids gave mini-presentations. Now, the idea of a job interview doesn’t seem so daunting.

Our second goal – celebrating birthdays of the month – is a long-term initiative. We plan to celebrate every month so that every child receives a small but thoughtful gift, giving us another reason to bring them joy. This time, we had seven birthday celebrants from February and March. Sezim’s birthday was the very next day, so of course, we couldn’t leave her out – we found a gift for her too! For everyone else, there was cake and pastries that we brought along from Bishkek.

And, of course, there were plenty of hugs. It was wonderful to see how happy the kids were to see us; some even talked Gulnara Apa into letting them stay home for the day. A few others had to go to school, as we couldn’t disrupt their classes. I had a great time chatting with my friends Aibike and Saule (10 and 7 years old). Aibike learned how to do a “pistol squat” move on the pull-up bar, while Saule is still a bit hesitant.

Time flew by, and soon it was time to head back… we really didn’t want to leave. The good news is that we’ll be returning at the end of April. We’re hoping to take the children to the mountains then – fingers crossed everything works out and the weather stays clear!