History of "International Camp Partnership"
In the 1990's finnish churches operated intensively in North-Western Russia. Many groups were visiting ex-pioneer camps, that were build for spreading the communist idea. In 2000 about 20 people from different churches met each other in those camps. Encouraged by what they saw and experienced, they established NGO "Go tell It". Below a photo of people who were involved in 2004.
Go Tell It -people 2004
Our motivation came from the needs we saw in the lives of the orphan kids we lived all the summer at those camps. Those kids lacked attention and love from adults. For us it was a step towards unknown, with the motivation to show God's love to kids and youth who needed it. We were trusted by the camp staff because we realy cared about the children. As a result, the camp staff allowed us to tell the children about loving God, in addition to lessons of dental health care.
2000 – 2006: Visits to orphanages in St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg, or Russian northern capital as it is called, locates only 200 km from the finnish border. It takes only 4-8 hours to travel from Helsinki to St. Petersburg and there are dozens of orphanages in the St. Petersburg city area. The first visit to the orphanages was made during the finnish easter holidays in 2001. There were 33 participants who were divided into smaller groups. The visit was a success, especially thinking about our starting point: about many orphanages we knew only address but still the groups were well welcomed in every place.
Between 2001-2006 we visited in the orphanages at least 2 times a year with a big group, plus other visits. Below a group photo in 2005.
A group in St. Petersburg 2005As a consequence of collapse of the Soviet Union thousands of children were living on the streets. That was due to bad conditions in families and in the orphanages. We visited some shelters that were established for those kids who were saved from the streets. When we began the visits in 2001, there was a huge humanitarian need almost everywhere. We delivered humanitarian aid, too, but still the personal contact and our presence were even more encouraging for the orphanage staff. Below a photo with a child in childrens' hospital.
Children wanted to be close to us
Day camps in Carelia 2002 - 2006
A finnish missionary invited us to organise a day camp in the capital of the Carelian republic. As a result we had a camp in the premises of school of a pour sub-urb in Petrozavodsk at end of June 2002. In many ways this first day camp described quite well our practices: there were 6-8 finnish-russian team organising it and 70 camper with age distribution of 1,5 - 17 years. Still the feedback was good, the school staff saw a christian way how to be in touch with children and show love to them.
We organised camps for the children of that sub-urb for 5 years, from 2002 until 2006. Actions of the local authorities complicated things in many ways, but still we managed to have the camp every year in different places. Below a camp photo in 2003.
A camp photo 2003 in Petrozavodsk
The name of that sub-urb was Brick Factory (Kirpichnyi zavod in russian). The name was due to d brick factory that located in the middle of the area. Earlier, until 1985, there had been a prison, and the prisoners were working in the factory. Their presence, of course, influenced a lot on the atmosphere of the area. Areas' reputation was not good, and roads and building were not in their best shape. While preparing for the first camp, we received a word from God:
This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.” This is what the LORD Almighty says: “It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to me?” declares the LORD Almighty. Zechariah 8:4-6
In 2002 the area was in a bad shape. But then, years going by, the situation got better and better. One year, while we were playing soccer with young men of the area, one man said quite prophetically that "this area is going to a good sub-urb and people will pferer living here rather in the very city". That is what happened. In 2006, after the camp, God reminded us of the word He gave us. It was a nice summer evening, the sun shined and it was quiet and warm. Children were playing cheerfully on a square and grandmas sitting by a house and leaning on their canes. Then we remembered what God had said and it became clear that our task there was done. Below another photo in 2003.
Soccer players in Petrozavodsk 2003
Besides those camp in Petrozavodsk, we had camps in many other places as well. Here a photo of a camp in Carelian village, Vedlozero.
Camp in Vedlozero 2003
Christian Youth Conference in Komi; New Year 2006
New year 2006 we participated in a youth conference in Komi republic. About 20 people travelled more than 2000 km to have fellowship with other Finno-Ugri christians. Below a photo of participants of the conference, representatives of Komi, Estonia, Finland, Carelia, Hanti, Mari, Udmurtia and Mordva.
Conference participants
During the conference we visited a Komi village to organise a Christmas Celebration, experienced a smoke sauna together with mari people and many other things. Some of us got a lot of memories while travelling to Komi by car more than 2000 km through Northern Russia. Below a photo of them.
Men travelling 2000 km to Komi by car
Getting ready for the following years
We continued to visit the orphanages in St. Petersburg and in Carelia and took humanitarian aid with us. While doing it, we saw the huge needs that were in those places and understood: it is not enough what we do. Shorts visits to orphans and churches is good, but not enough to make a real difference. How we could respond to the deepest needs that the orphans have?
The orphanage staff does mainly good job, but they do have limited chances. And basically all of them are women. The orphan children need to see a model of trustworthy and balanced men. A support network is an actual need. As a matter of fact, it is very difficult to love these temperamental orphans, you need God to do that.
Shelter "LIfe" on Finland 2005
Above a photo of children of shelter "Life". They visited a finnish camp at summer 2005.