From 1999, Maria’s Children studio has taken children from a number of different orphanages/backgrounds (handicapped, disadvantaged children from families, etc.) every year into a summer camp named “Semeyka” (“Family”).             

Till 2004 we had the camp on a steam-boat. Those travels not only enable the kids to see/travel to new cities, cultures and histories, but also to get acquainted with a diversity of different landscapes and scenery.  It is also vital that we all experience two weeks of living side by side like a big family; the children really get a sense of unity, and understand the importance and value of mutual aid and understanding and demonstrating it every day.  We journeyed from Moscow all the way up to Saint Petersburg/Samara and back, experiencing the beauty of human dialogue and observation.

From 2005 we have the camp on  Seliger Lake. It takes from ten days till two weeks.

The daily life in the camp consists of many art workshops: painting, theater, sewing, sculpture, clowning games and improvisation.  Towards the end of each trip, we arrange a huge exhibition of all the works made along the journey by the children and also put on a concert.  Of course the magic of the camp can’t be tangibly shown, as even something as ordinary of having dinner is usually transformed by the creativity and energy of our team. 

The "Our Semeyka" Project is organized and carried out by those from the studio and from a returning group of volunteers joining us from different corners of the world.   We’ve made many friends from Italy, England, Holland, Denmark, Germany and the USA, including teenagers from a Children's Theatre Company in Vermont directed by Stephen Sterns.

We are also happy to say that every year this camp grows in number; the first year we had 25 children participating using only one side of the ship.  On the fourth year, 2003, we were able to charter the whole boat letting us increase the number of people seven-fold to over 180!! We are able to finance this project every year with the help of donations from the participating volunteers.  As a rule, each foreign volunteer raises money enough for their ticket and that of a couple children.  We are also currently applying for grants that would help us maximize the number of participating children as much as possible.                                             

If you are interested in joining us in our next summer camp, please contact us! 

You won’t regret it!