Photographer: Julia Akhtman

Today young people live in the world of innovations, modern technologies, and free access to educatory Internet resources. But, despite all blessings of civilization, still not many teenagers can definitely say what they would like to do in future. Of course, there are children, who dream of becoming doctors, cooks, sellers, lawyers or even cosmonauts. They set their goals, make efforts to reach them, and in future achieve great results. But there are also many other children, for whom the choice of their future profession is made by their parents, which is actually sad, as the views of children and parents may differ greatly. So the result of education got through parents’ advice is the long-awaited diplomas for Mommy and Daddy which the careless students truly suffer to get. Although there is yet another group of future grown-ups, who couldn't care less about their post-school education. They are not worried what professional way they are going to choose or if. Ignoring world classics of literature and music, such teenagers are exploring their inner self in fuggy bars with reckless buddies, even despite their young age. Trying hard to express themselves, with a cigarette and a bottle of beer, these young people do not realize that the biggest treasure every person has got is time, and that self-expression of such kind is just a dead-end road. And it is really sad as our children are the future of our country. And what kind of life we are going to have when our hair is grey directly depends on the way today’s children are going to choose. So, do we ever ask ourselves if we are serious about the choice of our children’s profession? Are we aware of what the future is preparing for us and our generation of courageous, still lighthearted, but very decisive Ukrainian fellows?

In order to help children choose their future profession the Happy Child Charitable Foundation launched its “I Want to Be…” Project. Thanks to this project, many high-school children from boarding schools, orphanages and children from large and low-income families of Zaporozhye got a chance to visit such companies and factories as: Motor Sich, AvtoZAZ, Keramist Publishing House, and many others. Besides, a welcome event was held for orphans by representatives of Alex and Zaporizhzhia TV and radio companies. Children were not only shown the backstage of the television, but also heard an interesting story about jobs in this area. Workshops with children from orphanages and boarding schools were held by museum workers, chefs, and even famous Ukrainian travelers. That is why, inspired with the activities held earlier, and still not losing the hope to make the future of our country, represented by the younger generation, better, smarter, and better educated, and thus stronger, employees of the Happy Child Foundation, together with representatives of fire fighting units of Zaporozhye and administrators of Matveevka orphanage, held a joint project “I Want to Be…: Firefighter is My Job!”.

Within this project, 25 children from Matveevka Orphanage visited Firefighting Station #8 on February 29, 2012. When visiting the station, the children were shown the signal point, where they get fire alarms, the study room, and the barrack, where firefighters stay when there are no fire alarms. Besides, the children saw firefighting equipment, and as the potential future firefighters they were demonstrated the actions of firefighters in case of an alarm.

So, what do we know about this profession? The profession of a firefighter is very old. The first firefighters could be seen in the Ancient China. Germans were the first to set the rules of fire safety, and in the beginning of the XVII century the first firefighting teams appeared in Germany. And in any city, in any country of the world the word "firefighter" will always be associated in people's minds not only with the word "fire", but also with such words as valor, courage, bravery, saver, pride of the country.

"What does a Firefighter do? He is always ready to go and save people from fire – furious and destroying everything on its way. A call to a firefighting unit is an alarm. An alarm signaling that there is an urgent need to attend the location of emergency and possibly to save people’s lives. When on such location, firefighters always act very quickly and depending on the situation. You should remember that one attendance of a firefighting team costs our country about 10 thousand hryvnias (around 1,244 US dollars), so if someone decides to make a joke and give a false alarm call, he will bear administrative responsibility”, - told the children the captain of the Firefighting Station #8 Sergey Fedorchenko.

“To become a firefighter, one should first of all have very good health and be of the proper age (above 18). In Ukraine there are three institutions of higher education, where students get diplomas in this area. They are located in Cherkasy, Kharkov, and Lvov “, - informed the children the major of the same station – Igor Davidenkov.

The children's introduction into the profession of a firefighter was coming to its end. And the final stage of our training tour was visiting the Main Department of the Ministry of Civil Defense in the Zaporozhye region and its exhibition of the firefighting and rescue unit. The employee of the unit, and in past – a colonel of the firefighting department in the Zaporozhye region who participated in combating the fire at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station, Anatoliy Romanchenko, told the children stories of the exhibits they could see in the room. Besides, he gave them a lecture about the safety rules and demonstrated special videos telling how and why the fire breaks out, how one should act in case of a fire and what the sequence of actions should be.

So, this was the story about the tour arranged for the children from Matveevka Orphanage within “I Want to Be...” Project. It was actually not only an interesting and informative tour. The main goal of this activity was to motivate the children to choose their future profession and get relevant training. Well, we truly hope that the goal has been achieved and that in future some of those children might decide to become firefighters.

The Happy Child Charitable Foundation would like to express its gratitude for cooperation and assistance in project implementation to the following people:

Director of Matveevka Orphanage Larisa Konkova;

Deputy Director for Education, Lubov Ostapets;

Head of the Firefighting Station # 8, Aleksandr Kuznetsov;

Mayor of FFS # 8 - Igor Davidenkov;

Mayor of FFS # 8 – Igor Sapa;

Captain of FFS # 8 – Sergey Fedorchenko;

Employee of the firefighting unit exhibition – Anatoliy Romanchenko.

You can facilitate the development of sightseeing and training programs for children held by the Happy Child Foundation. For more details about how you can support this unique project please go here.