St Gregory's Foundation

News from Kondopoga

The parish "dacha" or holiday base is now complete

For several years we have been helping the parish to build a wooden house to act as a base for the children's summer camps. The house can accommodate up to 24 children and 8 adults. Although the shell was completed some time ago, this summer has seen great progress on making it truly fit accommodation. These include:

1. Insulation against the very harsh Karelian climate
2. full electricity installation to the highest professional standards.
3. The internal preparation for water and sewage installation is complete, but this summer the community still needed to bring water in and out: the full professional installation of water supply and septic tank will happen once all the camp activities are over. This also applies to the purchase and installation of the electric generator: it needs a proper little shed of its own, with a solid concrete floor and good secure walls, roof and door.
4. Roman, the parish builder, is building a bathhouse/sauna, or "banya" in Russian. This traditional arrangement is much more practical in the circumstances than a western bathroom.
5. Our friends in the US have given a wonderful present to the community: an additional house which will be used to accommodate adults in addition to the children’s camps. It will be built up gradually, but we hope that the first adult guests will come next year.
6. Staircases have built on the steepest and most slippery slopes around the dacha making it much safer. A terrace has been added next to the house.
7. The teenagers created a beach and three jetties to create safe swimming areas in the lake for the children.
8. The children and teenagers also created games areas and a bay to keep the boats in: thanks to British generosity, they now have 3 boats!

Summer camps for children and teenagers

For the first time this summer, the Kondopoga parish teenagers were joined by a group from St Petersburg organised by St Basil’s. These included former young offenders, musicians from the conservatoire, and African students studying in St Petersburg. Each contributed to the entertainments with concerts and displays of parcour.

The main activity for the teenagers was preparing and performing two plays, one based on the story of Oddesius and the other on a comic fable. The boys and girls rehearsed separately and were able to compare their interpretations. This year a parent, who is a volleyball coach, came to the camp for two days and gave intensive sessions, helping the teenagers to improve their game. In addition, the local teenagers earned their keep: the boys helping create a beach by the lake for the younger children, and the girls sewing sheets for the beds.

After the teenager’s camp, the younger children arrived, all 24 of them. Along with the adult helpers were 4 teenage boy helpers (Mother Julia was particularly pleased to see them taking such responsibility, since as young boys they had been nicknamed “the warts” by the other children because they were such a pain in the neck) and Laura, a student volunteer from England.

Despite bad weather, the kids had a fantastic time picking berries, going for walks and expeditions in the three boats, learning how to paint on glass, and generally playing.

Mother Julia writes: ” No-one wanted to go home. When a coach came to collect us and got stuck in our very soft soil (we have not made a proper road yet), the children were delighted and kept screaming: Hurray! We are staying for another week! But a tractor pulled the coach out and we went: first to Girvas for their patronal feast, and then home to Kondopoga. We thank yet again our dear friends in England for making it possible! Thank you from our children, from their parents and their grandmothers! The grandmothers, actually, are particularly grateful and send particularly warm thanks!

Parish sets up vocational courses

This September will see the start of a new parish venture. Budget cuts have seen the closure of almost all vocational training courses in Kondopoga. The parish already have equipment and experience in their carpentry and sewing workshops and have stepped in to provide accredited courses for a small group of teenagers. Those learning sewing and carpentry to professional standards will also benefit from the community life of the parish. They will be able to eat with the parish and do their homework there. SGF has funded the first six months of the programme, which will cost around £10,000 per year to run.

Kondopoga town contributes to its new church

St Gregory's Foundation is not a religious charity, and we don't fundraise for church-building. However, Friends of Kondopoga wished to help the parish to build a new church, because they understood how vital this was to the community.

The parish are delighted that local companies and individuals have recently contributed in very significant ways.

• The paper mill have paid to install the electric supply (although the internal wiring will still need to be paid for) and the water and sewage. These were well beyond the means of the parish.
• Parishioners have fundraised to cover the plasterboard for the whole interior of the church.
• A local firm has donated floor tiles for the whole church, although the parish will need to pay to have these laid and for the underfloor heating system.

Another tiny village church is also being built in the village of Unitsa. This is totally funded by local people, and is designed on traditional lines by the Kondopoga parish architect, Irina Soboleva, and is being built by the parish builder, Roman Nikitin, and his team.