Here I am, back in Sweden. Back in routines, back to work, back to my old self?

When I came home in the middle of the night the first thing I did was to go to my sons room, give him a kiss and tell him that mommy loves him. This is what I wish that all the children in the institutions or at the day care centre gets every night and every morning. To hear that mammy and daddy loves them. I have been faced with the facts that my wish is far from the reality.

Madde

I have also been told what we are doing, what IKEA’s Soft Toys for Education campaigns contributes to, how Save the Children International is helping Save the Children Lithuania and what Save the Children Lithuania is doing. And I am proud. Proud that I can still say that there are people who care! People who put their heart and soul into changing children’s rights and lives. Children themselves writing on paper hands, how they think parents should discipline them without violence, and then giving the paper hands to parliamentarian members.

Proud of IKEA and the IKEA Foundation. Because of what we do, we are changing the world. IKEA Foundation’s money goes to Lithuania and they are really making a difference. They are empowering communities and families so they get the possibility to keep their children and are able to give them a safe environment. They are educating community leaders so they also know children’s rights and that they need to have social workers and child psychologists for example.

Maybe the children that live at the institutions today only notice a small different but I truly believe that the children tomorrow don’t even need to go into institutional care. They are going to stay with their mothers or fathers, being told that they are loved. This is because of the massive work that IKEA, IKEA Foundation and Save the children are doing.

So, back to Sweden, back to routines, back to work and am I back to my old self?

No, I am never going to be my old self, I am always going to be a better version of myself. I am going to work harder than ever for the next campaigns, I am going to tell the world about what we do and how they can help. And I am always going to fight for Children’s rights!

Thank you for this opportunity, now it’s my turn to do some good hard work!

With love, Madelene

For the third and last day we went to Save the Childrens office. There we found out that they had invited a professor, Dainius Puras as a guest speaker. Dainius works in the centre of Child Psychiatry and social Pediatrics at Vilnius University. He explained the context around the belief in Lithuania, that care institutions for children who that lack to have a good social environment, is the best option rather than finding a foster family.

After listening and learning more about Lithuanian history it is easy to understand that a change away from the system of institutional care will not happen over a night.

Children writing their future wish to parliamentarians

Artwork made of leather belts

After lunch we had the great chance to witness a special event outside the parliament. On the big square outside the parliament a big group had gathered. There was media journalist, national TV, lots of kids, Save the Children and then we. The goal was to raise awareness and that there is other options than to educate a child then with a belt. The children from the different day care centres contributed with 141 hands in paper, one for each parliamentarian. And on the hands the children wrote what they wished for in the future.

Next week there will be a voting regarding legalization against child abuse. Let´s hope that the power of the children´s many hands can make a difference.

The hands are being handed over to a member of the parliament, with Rasa Dicpetriene from Save the Children Lithuania, and Ulla Armyr Save the Children Sweden.

The hands are being handed over to a member of the parliament, with Rasa Dicpetriene, Save the Children Lithuania, and Ulla Armyr Save the Children Sweden.

We are so thankful for being able to join this trip and we have learned so much. In the same time with the new knowledge, we can also tell that Lithuania as many other countries have a long way still to go. But every small step contributes to the big change that we so hope for.

Us together with some of the children outside parliament.

Us together with some of the children outside parliament.

Over and out…

Rasika & Gisele

So today we have witnessed a lot of things, changing our mind and perception of what is important, I will do my best to guide you through this day!
It started at the hotel reception with a group picture of us all in our nice IKEA Foundation shirts!

Getting ready for the day - meeting at the hotel reception

Then we headed of to the Ministry of Social Security and Labour, meeting Simona Bronusiene, working with Child Right Protection. Simona told us about the work they were doing for the children, all from improving the system of family support, family consulting, social workers and so on.

Some figures that she presented to us showed that in 2012 there were 10 389 social risk families, that means families with parents that are either lacking parental skills or they have some kind of abuse, alcoholic or drug related. In those families there are 21 303 children, most of them over 10 years and new inserted families had mostly children under 3 years of age. These children can go to day care centres after school, I will tell you about this later on.

Here we are together with Simona Bronusiene learning about the situation for the children in Lithuania.

At the Ministry for Social Security and Labour

After this meeting it was time to go to Ukmurge which is a 60 km trip away from Vilnius. Ukmurge is a city with about 20 000 inhabitants. We got the chance to visit a child care institution of the Ukmerge municipality.

In this institution 80 children are living today, in what they called families. Each family has their own living space that is meant to look like a “normal” home. This means that it has a living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms. Here you can see how it looks:

Child care institution of the Ukmerge municipality

Child care institution - the bedrooms

In one “Family” can be children in different ages but they are still in the same age group and some of them are siblings.

The most striking thing for me was the fact that the institution is not what I first thought it would look like. In my mind a institution is a place that has very poor standards, smells bad and the children look damaged. This institution was in good shape, mostly renovated recently and didn’t smell bad at all. Some of the children wanted to talk to us, despite all of what they had or going through, they had a smile on their faces when they saw us.

With that being said, it was in my point of view way too clean to see that actually children are living there and we also have been told that when a child comes to an institution that is the last resort. Then nothing else had been working. The other options being day care centres, foster families or adoption. With this in mind it was tough to meet these wonderful children from ages 0 to 18.

Hopefully these children can be together with their families again or adopted, meanwhile I really hope that they are somewhat okay and if they are staying in the intuition until their 18th birthday, I hope that they find the power to brake this and grow up to be a good and caring adult.

All of the “Families” have their own name and one “Family” is called the Kite Family and the hallway was decorated with kites, it was a happy sight.

The Kite Family rooms

The Kite Family rooms II

Before we were leaving the institution we saw the library, it was a small room packed with books! When we came it was two young girls reading to each other and when they saw us they were running out laughing typical girls laugh, it was that kind of laughter that makes you warm in the heart and I am sure that they were talking girl talk!

In this library was a librarian working, the cutest old lady, the oldest one in the building she said. She told us that about 15 to 20 children there reading there every day, but not on a sunny day, and today was a sunny day.

Laimlite Malcanova, Bibliotekininke - the librarian

Before we left we met an old and dear friend, FAMNIG heart pillow

Meeting an old and dear friend, FAMNIG the IKEA heart pillow

Before we headed home we went to visit a day care centre where children of social risk families come after school to do homework and play.

These centre’s are a big and important part of these children’s life because it is a safe place for them. Here they can be a child for a while. Social workers are around that can talk to the children.

Each Tuesday the centre gets a delivery from the grocery stores and they get food with short expire dates. This they can hand out to the children so they can take some food home with them.

I am very thankful to have been to this places and that we have been welcomed by many different people that have showed us this, so thank you!

Our group outside the day care centre

See you soon!

Madde

Wow, now its getting close! I am going to Lithuania and I have pictured the trip so far away and now it is just round the corner.

I can assure you that the butterflies are is starting to fly now.

Being from Sweden the distance to Lithuania is not so far, but still I know very little of the country. I picture it in my head as a lot of flat landscape and big difference in standards of living, depending if you are living in the bigger towns our on the countryside. But I really don’t know what to expect.

What I hope to meet is nice people that can teach me about their country and why they love it, so hopefully I can go home and have a relationship to Lithuania. I also hope to see that the IKEA Foundation together with Save the Children is making a big different in Children’s life so I can learn and tell my colleges, friends and family how we contribute by having the Soft Toys for Education campaign.

Right now I am preparing myself for the trip by doing a lot of practical stuff, you know, like packing the camera, unpack the camera because I am not sure that the it was fully charged, then pack it again and unpack it so I can really make sure it was fully charged, and pack it and unpack… And so it will continue until it is time to go on Monday morning..

I am really happy about getting the chance to be a part of this trip and I will do my very best to tell you all about it!

Talk to you soon!

Madelene

For my very first trip to Lithuania I will be in company with Save the children, not what I ever imagined but it is even better then I imagined!

Do I know anything about this country? I can quickly sum up and say “No”. I do not know more than this, they are member of the European Union and I know that Vilnius and Kaunas are 2 big cities in the country but this is where my knowledge about Lithuania stops.

For me it is beyond amazing that I as an IKEA co-worker get the chance to visit and see projects that are supported by the Soft Toys for Education campaign. Some years back I have hoped that I will be one of the lucky ones, that gets this chance and now the chance is there. Next week I will be on my way.

I only know Save the Children, Red Cross and UNICEF projects from ads on TV, where we can see poor conditions for children and families. And personally I give a monthly contribution to different projects in Asia, where I was born. So for me I think it will be a good trip to visit children’s day care centres in Lithuania that is “so close” to where I lived all my life, in Sweden.”

A group of IKEA co-workers from Sweden, US and UK are going to visit Save the Children projects in Lithuania,  that have been funded by the Soft Toys for Education campaign. Read about the current situation for children placed in institutional care from Kristina Stepanova, Programme Manager Save the Children in Lithuania.

Kristina Stepanova, Programme Manager Save the Children Lithuania

In the recent UNICEF report on children well-being, Lithuania was ranked 27th among 29 countries evaluated. Despite the fact that UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified by Lithuanian government in 1995, there still is a long way to go to ensure happy and safe childhood for all children in the country.

One of the main problems negatively impacting a large number of children in Lithuania is children left without parental care and placed in the residential care. In the European Union, Lithuania is one of the countries with the highest rate of children placed in institutions, including children under age 3. Despite the fact that institutional care violates child’s right to live in the family, it also has a negative impact on a child’s development. It has been a long-term practice to solve family’s social problems by limiting parental authority and placing children in care institution, rather than providing help for the child and family. The financial system of childcare institutions for a long time focused on the maintenance of the institutions themselves, rather than on the needs of the children. This  has a long-term negative impact on a child, raising financial, medical, psychological and other problems in a child’s adult life. Not to mention losing a chance to have safe and cosy home and to have people who love you around you. Because children being sad, absent-minded, stressed and bad-tempered due to the loneliness and neglect feeling, will have difficult relationships with parents and peers, as well as trust issues.

Save the Children programme in Lithuania

With funding from the IKEA Foundation, Save the Children in Lithuania has created unique opportunities for facilitating the process of change and moving towards overcoming the legacy of institutional culture. The project gives a great opportunity to tackle the sorest problems for children and helps to develop effective preventive measures of children going into the institutional care. The project aims at strengthening families and local communities to empower them to raise problems in due time that will have a negative impact on children being able to stay in their families and to support the family in overcoming obstacles so they can keep their child. Also, IKEA Foundation support leads to help for children already placed in institutions by providing them with necessary education and preparation for independence in life and society, by educating social workers who will support these children into their adulthood.

Save the Children in Lithuania

IKEA Foundation support contributes to strengthening competences, knowledge and experience of Save the Children Lithuania staff too, and therefore strengthening the Non Governmental Organisations sector in Lithuania. This is a significant contribution for sustainable changes in Lithuanian society.

Furthermore, Save the Children Lithuania is thrilled by the opportunity to not only have financial support from the IKEA Foundation but also to see active involvement of IKEA staff members in the projects the Foundation is supporting. Waiting for the current visit of IKEA co-workers to Lithuania, Save the Children believes it is a great way to build responsible partnership between business and civil society sectors, together driving sustainable and significant change for children. Save the Children Lithuania believes that such partnership will help to ensure safe, healthy and suitable conditions for the growth and development of the child.

Save the Children in Lithuania