Sunbeam staff member Maria writes this report –
Every week we see miraculous changes in these children who warm our hearts.
When Angelica appeared at our center, she knew a lot already at age three: numbers, letters, colors, shapes. She really wanted to communicate, to express herself and to be understood. Unfortunately, in the beginning she was only good at saying the first and last letters of words, so each time we had to guess what she meant. Great changes have taken place during this year. The teachers in a short time taught her some basic sign language. She gladly began to use them.
Then Angelica quickly became remember and words in Estonian, although her native tongue is Russian. Now she easily speaks long words and has already started to speak a short sentence of 2 words. Finally, in March she had the opportunity to visit a speech therapist. She tries to repeat what others have to say. She loves attention and she generously gives her joy and smile.
Sander, who will soon be 7 years, is preparing to go to school next year. This boy had a phobia of high stairs and elevators. Recently, during a walk in the city, it pleased us to see him become so bold that without our support he ran up and down the stairs. He was so happy about his achievement! And then he said, “I joked that I was afraid of heights, I’m so brave!”
We had a test for our team in February when we were preparing for the arrival of a new malchik – a teenager. All we knew in advance was that he regularly attends school, and when in the classroom he was always sleepy. We have the great responsibility to try to revive the boy’s interest in life so that he would want to visit Sunbeam and achieve good results in school.
His first two visits to Sunbeam scared the boy, he avoided contact with us, wanting to go home with his mother. But the third attempt was successful! It turned out that it was very interesting to him carry out experiments with our developmental toys. We then came up with different activities, he was full of ideas and became a more open. At the end of the day I did not even want to say goodbye, and he said he would miss us all.
Now he is happy to be with us twice a week after school, and his mother at this time can relax, knowing that her child is happy.
In recent months, our focus has been taken with the large number of children who have been visiting.
We support many families by providing and transportation services. Our team has grown, including volunteers, interns and just good people making donations. Recently we welcomed an intern from Belarus!
During the holidays our children had the opportunity to attend Bible studies led by a team of Americans who came with the mission to Estonia. Every day, the children were told a new story from the Bible, and then all together did a creative task and played.
