This orphanage is also about a 20 minute drive from the town of Johvi. It’s in the center of town with about 50 kids living in this orphanage ages 6-20. There are 5 family groups in this orphanage with about 9-10 kids per group. About 50% are teens with about two-thirds being boys.
I spoke with a lady named Svetlana Kritena that was very happy to take us around, although she was not the director. The director was unavailable at the time, so we took a quick tour and I asked her some quick questions to get a feel for their receptiveness to groups coming. They do have a large stage and can set up a large screen and a laptop projector so the entire orphanage could attend an event or movie. They have received other groups in the past from Sweden, Finland, and Holland.
The kids’ normal schedule is to come home from school and then do homework in their family groups. Many assignments are sent via computers as the kids in this orphanage have 3 or more computers per family group. This homework goes on until 6pm. Svetlana said that it would be better for groups to visit after that time.
The orphanage is set up for family groups and for each child to have a room of their own as well. In a way, it seemed like a college dorm. Many of the kids are social orphans, meaning they have parents but there is some problem at home. The church in Johvi visits them occasionally and they seemed to get visits from the three other countries on a regular basis. My initial impression is that they are better taken care of than some orphanages, but they seem to be very open to a group coming.
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