DONETSK orphanage Donation TRIP 

The Preschool “Teremok” Orphanage N1 in Donetsk is one of the nicest in the region. At any given time, it is home to around 62 healthy children aged 3-7 years old, and it has been in existence for over 50 years.

The dedicated staff of 51 includes 1 doctor, nurses, caregivers, 12 educators and others, all dedicated to giving the children a good start in life that will prepare them for their life ahead – this could include being returned to their families of origin, national or international adoption, or progressing to the next orphanage in the system.

We called the orphanage director Prylypko Rayisa Andriyivna to inform her of the donated funds and to discover their needs. The director had hoped to equip the gymnasium for children. She explained that they wanted modern sports equipment.

We called to “Liberty International” and asked for advice. We decided to send the catalogue of sports equipment for children in Donetsk by train, so the director could choose all the necessary equipment. Then we called the director and worked out the list of items.

Here is the final and complete list of items purchased for this project.

#

Items

Pieces

USD

Total

1

Labyrinth for playing

1

679.02

679.02

2

Therapy equipment “Perekati Pole”

1

248.83

248.83

3

Therapy equipment “Wonder Stairs”

1

291.4

291.4

4

Therapy balls (set 3 pieces, 1m in diameter, weight 18 kg)

2 sets

487.02

974.04

5

Floor mat for children (height 0.1 m)

3

156.38

469.14

6

Therapy carpet “Gofr”

1

150.37

150.37

7

Therapy carpet “Top-Top”

1

187.02

187.02

                                                                                                  TOTAL

2999.82

Since the equipment is not a finished product, but is custom built, and must be produced and delivered from Khmelnytsky, we had to prepay for the delivery. The currency rate was 5.3 UAH to 1 USD.  “Liberty International” also arranged the delivery by van.

The trip was planned for October 12, Sunday evening.

Donetsk is situated 800 km far from Kiev. The trip was estimated to take about 10 hours. The delivery was scheduled to begin on October 10 with the representatives from “Liberty International”. So they departed on October 10, Friday evening, and arrived in Donetsk around 2 PM, October 11, Saturday, and they left for Kiev the same day.

We arrived at 10 AM on October 13, Monday and were shown to the Director’s office. Having explained who we were, the Director, Prylypko Ryisa Andriyivna said that they had been waiting for Joan Jones and all of us. They all were asking about children.

We also met the ex-director of the orphanage Natalia Viktorovna, who was promoted and now she works in the Regional Administration, Guardian Council. She is a frequent guest at the orphanage, and she keeps in touch with the orphanage staff, remembering all of the children by name.

Rayisa Andriyivna, the orphanage director, has worked in the orphanage since 1990, and she’s been the director since July 2001.

The children there are well supplied with the food. The daily ration of a child is estimated 4.5UAH (about 0.85 USD) and owing to the fact that sponsors help the orphanage, the daily ration is estimated 5.5 UAH (1.04 USD).  The average orphanage salary is estimated 140 UAH (26.42 USD).

Prylypko Ryisa Andriyivn, Natalia Viktorovna, Joan, Yulia

Last weekend included a very special happening: the orphanage children were baptized. They received special certificates and crosses.

The orphanage director had recently heard the radio program where a woman, who has a foster care family (about 10 children), had a word. She was talking about the importance of the foster care families, and she insisted that the orphanages and their staff can’t give love to the orphans and provide them with all the facilities, care, traveling, education and so on, the foster care family can do. The orphanage director protested against such an opinion, since the orphanage “Teremok” and its staff gives love, care and protection to their children and even traveling abroad.

Statistics shows that in 2001 there were 27 international adoptions, and 6 adoptions from Ukraine. In 2002 foreigners among whom there are 3 families from the US adopted about 15 children. In 2007 they want to organize the meeting of the adoptive parents who are supposed to bring with them their adopted children. It’s going to be the real event in the orphanage.

The orphans who had grown up and left the orphanage usually come to visit their teachers and caregivers; sometimes they ask about their origin and their biological parents.

There was a case when one orphanage boy had found out about his mother and sister, and he came to his mother to ask why she refused from him but not from his sister? When he was telling this story in the orphanage, everybody was crying, it was really the emotional moment.

The other girl who had been adopted in Russia, Moscow, just came to visit the orphanage staff and to spend some time on the orphanage territory, since she felt nostalgia.

When she came there she didn’t mean to look for the biological parents, because her adoptive parents are the best people in the world for this girl.

The brightest example of care and devotion is the ex-director’s attitude to the orphans. Working in the Regional Administration, Guardian Council, she seriously thinks over the help to the orphans in Ukraine, and she is very eager to do everything possible and impossible to increase their living standard in the society. 

She would like to share the experience with the foreign experts, including American. She is open to the international projects such as our therapy group. She also invited the therapy group to visit Donetsk orphanages, and she was open for collaboration.

The general impression of the donation trip and the orphanage was extremely pleasant. The orphanage staff was really happy to see us, and they took care to make us feel comfortable offering tea, coffee. We were impressed on the fact that everybody of the orphanage staff knows all children personally and also they even know the psychological characteristics of each orphan.