This country of Belarus is a wonderful place: clean fresh air, kind, attentive people and wonderful weather!
The first thing that caught my attention was the delicious dinners. Not only was everything very tasty, it was also very satisfying: with three meals a day, I didn’t even feel hungry. Let me make a reservation right away: in Russia, in the camps, as a rule, you have 5 or 6 meals a day, but at the same time you go hungry all day. In general, it’s worth becoming a participant in this camp again just for this reason. The main cooks were Mikhail and his wife Tamara, but their much more important qualities were love and care for all the guests of the camp, which was expressed not only in culinary feats, but also in organizing the lives of the participants in this event.
It was my first time here and I was pleased. It turned out that all the participants were directors and I was the only musician. But this only diversified life in the camp. The creative atmosphere was so intense from countless trainings and brainstorming sessions that I temporarily became the director and stage director of the play. Of course, they helped me as a newbie in this difficult matter, for which I thank everyone very much.
During the seven days that we lived here, I learned a lot: I learned the secrets of theatrical life, and became acquainted with various eastern techniques of self-development (wu-shu, yoga, tensegrity, aerophilia) - all this was new to me. However, the most important thing that I saw here - it amazed me - was the speed of development of children (young people with developmental disabilities) in conditions far from those specially created for their rehabilitation, from any hospitals and dispensaries. In conditions that were far from hospital conditions, everyone seemed to be transformed, and they showed results that would take months to achieve in an institutional setting. Smiles and laughter, for which you didn’t even have to fight, in my opinion, are already an achievement. Fine and gross motor skills developed from lesson to lesson at such a pace that it seemed as if this was not the result of external influence from specialists, but simply the favorable conditions created awakened the children’s sleeping organisms (although this may have been the case).
The living conditions were pleasing and exceeded expectations. And constant concern for their development calms and even takes away from talking about it. I consider it necessary to continue this work. This camp reveals the potential of young people and specialists hidden under the impenetrable veil of formality.
Let the number of participants grow every year, and the results will not keep you waiting!