There’s always a first time for everything. For children in Isilkul, it was a chance to stretch their legs in the city of Omsk. Allies volunteers, in coordination with the members of the local Rotary Club, arranged a city tour and a visit to a cartography plant.

The children, who were accompanied by the two supervisors from the orphanage, were excited and grateful to be part of the excursion, which gave them the opportunity to explore historical landmarks in the center, discover the interesting inner workings of the plant, and enjoy a hearty lunch at Monplaisir as one happy group – or better yet, as one happy family!

“Organizing this trip would have been a really difficult task had it not been for our partner and Rotary Club member, Olga,” Allies volunteer Ekaterina said. “Olga was once on an exchange program in the US and we had much in common with her. She has good connections with a tour company in Omsk, and was generous enough to spend time and effort on planning the city and plant tour for the orphanage kids.”

Most of the children had never been to a large city before, and some had never even been to restaurants. The experienced opened up their world and immersed them in a different environment.

“It was interesting to see how little the kids know about the city, and they seemed to be a bit disoriented,” Ekaterina said. “Vanya, one of the kids who joined, seems to be the leader of the group. He was very active and curious, and asked questions about the trip. That was interesting to observe as well.”

We were excited to hear about how much this trip expanded the children’s worldview, as well as get them out of their routine in the orphanage. We want to be able to keep providing more exciting “firsts” for deserving children in orphanages across Eastern Europe. Your support to help us provide activities like this brings smiles to children’s faces, as well as make their lives a little bit brighter each day. Thank you.