Photos | Projects | Documents

The Project
Geographic Location
Emergency and after
What has been done?
After the emergency (2003)
Almaty
The long distance adoption project
The starting point
Past and future

The project The start up In April 2002 we first visited Kazakhstan, and met Father GuidoTrezzani, a Franciscan father whose chosen mission is now trying to rescue orphans. We visited the state orphanage for handicapped children. Upon reaching 16, these children are obliged to leave the orphanage and, if there are no other alternatives, they are moved to a hospice in which they will pass the rest of their miserable lives. Children who are not handicapped, in other orphanages, must also leave at the age of 16 and their future usually lies in crime and prostitution. In fact, the State which should in theory provide them with training and jobs, does not do this. Not that the destiny of the handicapped children who end up in a hospice is any better. As well as not having the care and affection they need, they are subjected to all kinds of violence and mistreatment. Their lives are neither long nor pleasant. Father Guido takes care of the children in two sites: a house in Almaty for the “older children” who attend school and in due course should be able to find a job, and in Talgar, a village about 20 km from Almaty where in 2000 the Arca centre purchased a property of about six acres, including some derelict buildings which were used as a summer camp for about 200 children during the communist era.

Geographic Location

Kazakhstan is a Republic situated in Central Asia, bordered to the north by Russia, to the east by China and the south by Kirghizistan, Uzbakistan and Turkmenistan and to the west by Russia and the Caspian Sea. Ex member of the Soviet Union, it has a total surface of 2,717,300 km2 and is the second largest state in the Community of Independent States (CSI).

Almaty was the capital city until May 1998, it is the largest city of the country with a populaiton of 1,150,500.

Talgar is as small town about 25km from Almaty with a population of 40,000.

Emergency and after

•After more than eleven years of neglect, the site of Talgar needed a complete overhaul, and we accepted to assist in an immediate intervention in order to:

•Establish a ‘normal’ electricity supply. The current electrical distributor must be renewed by the state electrical company, but first it is necessary to give the whole system a complete overhaul, replacing the wiring which dates back to communist times.

•Immediately following this, the whole electrical and sewage systems also needed a complete overhaul.

•One of the buildings needed to be properly completed in order tobe used as a dormitory.

•Then a proper plan was made, in order to reach the goal of housing 100/125 orphans in an almost permanent manner, providing them with a life as “normal”as possible, so that they can, in due course, lead their own lives.

Arca: what has been done?

In this last year alone, so much has been achieved.

This year a new house was bought to make room for more abandoned children that may need our help.
We have built a canteen which will accommodate 80 people!
We have constructed a guest house that will house friends and volunteers.
We have organised the farm and the orchard so that the children can be more self-sufficient.

Father Guido and friends set up Mozzarella production–an industrious idea with long term implications whereby the older children will have a means to eventually become independent and step into the real world.

We have laid tarmac on the roads around the village where previously the smaller children and those with mobility difficulties could not walk during the winter months due to a vast swamp of mud.

Arca: what has been done?

A multipurpose centre, has become Fr. Guido’s current project.

It is to be used as an educational and medical/rehabilitation centre. With the help of the Arca Village and friends, a young girl has had an operation which has enabled her to walk again!

This is where children who had suffered trauma, family trouble, abandonment and disability are now able to grow and learn in an environment of love.

The Arca village is a family and a home.

Talgar

After the emergency (2003)

In order to improve the general conditions of life in the “Arca Village”, we financed the building of a canteen for up to 80 children


Canteen and snow

Canteen inside

Canteen –June 2003

Almaty

Children of Talgar

Guido and Paola “at home”

...and more…

Following the re-location of the group of older children who attend school in Almaty to the new house, we could then press ahead with the plans to build a guest house to accommodate the many welcome visitors and volunteers to the Arca Village in Talgar

•Works started in February 2003 and by June on the same year the guest house was almost finished.

Children of Talgar

Guest house, interior

The long distance adoption project

Here are some examples of what the Charity has done to date:

•On December 16th, 2002, the Charity Members in Milan and Dublin launched a long distance adoption project aiming at ensuring stable and continuous support for the day-to-day needs of the children, this included: food, clothing, medicine and medical equipment, education and educational materials, housing, heating, electricity etc.

•The number of adoptions reached 183 in 2003, and we are now in the process of launching the initiative for 2004.

Kazakhstan

Our experiences in Kazakhstan have been wonderful: it has proved to be a stable and safe country where it is possible to work without encountering too many problems.

We received help for Kazakhstan from various sources, from people who devoted time, professional skills, money and equipment for the purpose of improving the lives of all of the children in the “Villaggio dell’Arca”.

The starting point

And now, I think I owe you some details on how this all started.

On November12th, 1999, a plane carrying 24 people, 21 of whom were engaged in humanitarian missions in Kosovo,crashed near Pristina, leaving no survivors. My eldest son was on board. He was flying to Prishtina to help victims of the Kosovo conflict in need of orthopedic care: to help people who had lost arms or legs to be active again, or to walk again, with artificial limbs. Twenty three of these war victims were assembled in the Catholic Church in Stubbla (south-east Prishtina), waiting for the arrival of the plane when it crashed. It seemed that our personal grief and loss brought us closer to the tragic suffering in Kosovo and I , together with many others who knew him, felt a strong desire to find some way of continuing their mission, and so we started our activities in Kosovo.

Past and future

This was the crash site, at 1200 meters high, on a hill near Prishtina. On July 21st, 2000, we reached the site, escorted by the Italian Army, and, in the sunset of a summer day, Mass was celebrated for all of the victims of the crash.

What would you have done in my place? Something just like this!

We have to extract good from evil and hope that even such accidents may eventually lead to something positive.