About JOY
JOY was founded in Norway in 2005 as an ideal, politically independent organisation. JOYs goal is to provide disabled children in countries from the former Soviet Union with activities and resources so that they can develop and learn. The organisation was founded as a result of experiences done in the above-mentioned countries. We saw that activity, emotional and physical stimulation and time to play are given little priority in an everyday full of harsh discipline, routines and lack of resources. It also became clear for us that lack of knowledge about disabled children, enhanced this. This resulted in children who are frightened, underdeveloped, acting out and inverted.
Introduction of “Active Learning”
Active Learning is developed by the Danish preschool teacher and psychologist, Dr. Lilli Nilsen. The method is used for helping development and learning in children with multiple disabilities. The premise of Active Learning is that all children learn through their own actions, on their own initiative given the time needed for personal engagement.
“…if given the opportunity to learn from his own active exploration and examination, the child will achieve skills that become part of his personality, and so are natural for him to use in interaction with others, and for fulfillment of his own needs, and will gradually make him ready to develop to be as independent as possible.”
- Dr. Lilli Nielsen
One of the most striking elements of Active Learning is the banishment of physically guiding the hands, even the hands of children who are blind or visually impaired. Instead, the parents’ and educators’ role is to construct a personalized learning environment that leads the child to perform learning tasks on his or her own, with no physical intervention, regardless of the extent of the child’s disabilities. In this manner, the multiply handicapped child experiences genuine independence and his/her learning become meaningful and relevant. The equipment that is needed to implement are foremost picked from the child’s natural environment. It is up to the educator to be creative! You can use boxes, different types of paper, wash-brushes, combs, etc.
Our Work:
JOY is currently engaged with two orphanages in Azerbaijan: Internat Shagan and Saray.
Both internates are located about 45 minutes from the Baku city centre, and are of approximately the same size. Today there lives about 150 disabled children at each internat. The children are divided into groups of 25 depending on age, gender and disability, with one or two adults to care for them. There exists a great lack of resources, resulting in under- stimulated and developed children. The working staff members barely has time to feed the children and provide minimal care.
Organisations like United Aid For Azerbaijan, Norwegian Humanitarian Enterprises and Friends of Saray are engaged at the internat’s on a weekly basis providing care, therapy and education for the children. JOY is frequently visiting the internat’s, providing special equipment for the children and arrange for training in the method active learning. Each summer JOY is hosting a summer camp for all the children living at Internat Shagan. Volunteers from Azerbaijan and Norway works together on this project for two weeks. We create meaningful activities for the children to give them a break form the uniform life at the internat. We all need a little break and some fun from time to time, and these two weeks are just about that for the children. Sharing of meals, someone to laugh with or a hand to hold. The JOY summer camp is a great success that has been ongoing from 2006 and hopefully the camp will continue for years into the future.
Future projects:
JOY is currently exploring further opportunities in Azerbaijan. The possibility of opening a resource/day-care centre in Baku for families with disabled children with United Aid For Azerbaijan is an option with great prospects. Depending on our research process and funding, the JOY centre can be opened in 2012.
-Child sponsorship.
