The first family-type children's home in the district has opened in Postavy

As reported by the head of the education, sports and tourism department of the district executive committee, Alexander Kashirin, the facility was built within the framework of the "Children of Belarus" program.

The mansion, which cost the state budget about 3 billion undenominated rubles, has an area of over 200 sq. m. The construction was carried out by the well-known enterprise "Rassvet Postavsky" in the district.

The upbringing of children was entrusted to reliable and proven people. Olga and Alexander Vavinsky took a girl, Masha, into their family back in 1999, who grew up with their biological sons Pavel (now the director of the Postavy sports school) and Peter (graduated from the Vitebsk State College of the Olympic Reserve). Today, the 27-year-old girl lives in Italy. Then there were three more foster children.

Alexander Kashirin explained the specifics of such an institution. Unlike a classic foster family, a husband and wife work in a kind of mini-orphanage under the official specialty of "parents-educators of a family-type children's home." Experience in raising other people's children is mandatory. They live here themselves. They do not receive very high salaries, but a certain amount is allocated separately for the maintenance of each child, and the state fully pays for all utilities and the children's health improvement.

Today, there are 8 children in the friendly family (and according to the regulations, from 5 to 10 children can be raised here), the youngest of whom is biological Varvara. The girl (she was at a dance club class during my visit, so she is not in the frame) turned 8 years old, the eldest Denis and Vitaly are 14. There are also Alexander and Alexandra, Stanislav, Dmitry, and Eugene.

All children attend school. I talked with the children. The girl Sasha does not leave her new "mom" and although she has been here for less than a week, having arrived from a local orphanage, she has already managed to make friends with everyone. Just like Vitalik, who also arrived from an orphanage literally the other day. He loves to cook very much and is already helping Olga Evgenievna with cooking in the kitchen.

The house is very cozy and clean. On the first floor, there is a hall, a sports corner (the father was seriously involved in decathlon, today

teaches physical education at the local gymnasium) with a table tennis table and exercise equipment, a sofa with armchairs for receiving guests, a spacious kitchen where the children love to cook homework together. There is also a bathroom, a wardrobe, a pantry, etc. On the second floor there is a parents' room, children's bedrooms, a playroom, a shower and restrooms. Also a spacious hall, just like downstairs.

The improvement of the housing was helped, as they say, by the whole world: enterprises and organizations of the district, people of different professions collected about 200 million undenominated rubles. Everything here is pleasing to the eye. There are already pets: cats and a dog who loves the little ones with all his heart.

It is gratifying that such institutions are appearing in different districts of the region. This is a good deed for children with difficult fates, whom strangers are trying to replace mom and dad.

Ales BYNKOV, photos by the author. "Vitebskiye Vesti".