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The Boaz Project's Healing Touch Conference
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The Boaz Project's Healing Touch ConferenceLearn more about The Boaz Project on our website |
From birth, Katya was taken care of by her grandmother. Yet one day, when Katya was crying uncontrollably, her grandmother could take it no longer. She threw scalding hot water on her to make her stop. When taken to the hospital for treatment, the state intervened and placed her in an orphanage.
Sadly, for many orphans, this is when their most significant obstacles just begin. Trapped in a system which denies them intellectual stimulation, human interaction and social development, most children who grow up within Russia’s orphanages bear scars which cannot be seen—the scars caused by neglect. As a result, many are stunted emotionally, cognitively, and behaviorally.
The Boaz Project’s staff visits baby orphanages daily to hold, play with, bathe, and sing to Katya and hundreds of other babies fighting neglect. This is your opportunity to help them do even more.
By giving toward the Healing Touch conference, you can help combat the negative effects of neglect upon institutionalized infants through hands-on training for The Boaz Project’s baby nurturing staff as well as orphanage employees. This special coaching will include written materials, video demonstrations, qualified instructors, and practice of special exercises which encourage babies’ healthy mental and physical development.
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Sadly, for many orphans, this is when their most significant obstacles just begin. Trapped in a system which denies them intellectual stimulation, human interaction and social development, most children who grow up within Russia’s orphanages bear scars which cannot be seen—the scars caused by neglect. As a result, many are stunted emotionally, cognitively, and behaviorally.
The Boaz Project’s staff visits baby orphanages daily to hold, play with, bathe, and sing to Katya and hundreds of other babies fighting neglect. This is your opportunity to help them do even more.
By giving toward the Healing Touch conference, you can help combat the negative effects of neglect upon institutionalized infants through hands-on training for The Boaz Project’s baby nurturing staff as well as orphanage employees. This special coaching will include written materials, video demonstrations, qualified instructors, and practice of special exercises which encourage babies’ healthy mental and physical development.
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The Healing Touch conference will provide The Boaz Project’s team—as well as members of orphanage staff—training in a special program designed to encourage the healthy development of infants: Baby Builders. Baby Builders combines fun play time activities with skills that build strength, balance, and coordination and increase mental and emotional development for years to come. Developed by pediatric physical therapist Jenna Zervas, MSPT, Baby Builders infant exercise program benefits babies from birth to walking. The project will begin with the translation and reproduction of Baby Builders’ training materials (permission has already been graciously granted). Next, a team of American coaches (such as occupational therapists, neo-natal intensive care nurses, physical therapists and developmental specialists) will travel with a Boaz Project representative to Khabarovsk, Russia to train The Boaz Project’s baby nurturers as well as orphanage employees. In a supportive conference atmosphere, American coaches will first present the Baby Builders material through DVD and workbooks, explaining the purpose of each exercise, detailed "how-to" instruction, and correction for undesired movement. Then in small groups, participants will practice each exercise on dolls, with the coach evaluating, critiquing and encouraging. Finally, the groups will disperse to various orphanages and hospitals with abandoned babies to practice identifying stages of development, as well as beginning exercises to encourage the babies’ next milestones. According to Baroness Caroline Cox of the British House of Lords, the current system Russia uses to care for its abandoned or orphaned children was created by Stalin. The goal for this web of institutions was to intentionally deprive children of nurture, intellectual stimulation, and human bonds so that the eventual work force produced could make excellent factory workers and soldiers for the Red Army. Though the Soviet government was buried decades ago, the orphanages have yet to be overhauled. The infants trapped there today are in desperate need of human touch and interaction. Over the years, research has proven Stalin’s theory to be true: denying children the ability to connect with a loving adult permanently affects their ability to develop intellectually and socially. William Goldfarb’s research in 1945 showed that children removed from institutions demonstrated long-term effects which included autistic-like behaviors and inability to socialize with peers.* By 1966, Doctors Sally Provence and Rose Lipton of the Yale Child Research Center concurred when their research demonstrated that institutionalized children showed impairment of impulse control, problem solving, and creative thinking.* And in the 1970’s, Jean Ayers, a psychologist trained in occupational therapy, found that children deprived of touch, movement, and sound became oversensitive to sensory input, sought out intense sensory experiences (body whirling, banging head); and developed coordination problems, as well as delays in speech, language, motor skills, or academic achievement.* Ayers concluded that an undesirable environment during a child’s formative years activates the production of hormones that adversely affect brain function, including learning and memory. These effects are often permanent, impairing the child’s education, social interactions, and physical development. Currently, The Boaz Project hires baby nurturers to hold, bathe, and play with abandoned babies in the Khabarovsk region of Russia. But they lack the formal training which could make their time with the infants as effective as possible.
*Statistics cited from the article "Russian Orphans" By Svetlana Osadchuk in the May 19, 2008 edition of the Moscow Times. The Boaz Project equips Christians around the globe to minister to orphans in their own communities through the following strategies: Arresting hunger and need by passing along your donations to targeted orphanages. Monthly aid is determined by the children’s most pressing needs. Sharing hope in Jesus Christ through Bible Discovery Classes which expose orphans to God’s Word. Preventing human trafficking by providing alternatives through tutoring, as well as job and life skills training. Nurturing the abandoned and counteract the numbing effect of neglect by holding, bathing, and playing with discarded infants. Visiting the forsaken on short-term trips, conducting Vacation Bible School or undertaking construction projects. Celebrating each child with birthday and Christmas gifts which communicate, “You are special!” |
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Project Ended |
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Raised: $860 Campaign Duration: 162 days |
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