Children from the orphanages and emergency shelters of Primorye are always welcome at the Primorsky Aquarium. Since January 2024, over 700 kids have visited the Aquarium for free within the Educational Environment project. The residents of the Sail of Hope Emergency Shelter for Children have become regular monthly guests of the Aquarium, leaving overjoyed and elated after each field tour. That time we had a group of 40: kids aged 5 to 17 years and some of their parents. Most children came here for the first time.
“That was so cool! Awesome! How do they do that?” Karina, a 16-year-old girl, is enraptured by our marine mammals. “Mario the fur seal and Misha the walrus are officially my favs now!”
“I’ve only been to an aquarium in Moscow. I am first time here,” shares another guest, Ellina. “And I’ve had lots of fun! I was much impressed by bottlenose dolphins. Their sounds are so fascinating! I really liked their ‘songs’!”
One of the Sail of Hope’s teachers Andrei Smirnov says that for the children in difficult circumstances who live in the shelter, visits to the Primorsky Aquarium are always full of exhilarating moments, which are so important for the success of psychotherapy and social rehabilitation.
During their stay here, the children saw the exhibits and the presentation in the Dolphinarium and learned a lot about aquatic organisms, pre-historic creatures and marine mammals. This biological and ecological knowledge will surely help them in their future studies. As you may remember, the Primorsky Aquarium has been offering charity tours for many years. These tours are carried out for groups of children from emergency shelters and orphanages, disabled people, and active duty members of the Russian Federation military and their families. As Olga Shevchenko, Director of the Primrosky Aquarium, emphasized, social mission is an integral part of the Aquarium’s activity.