OOOGLYGORSK
BOARDING SCHOOL
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The Boarding school in Ooglygorsk, Donetsk region,
consists of three huge buildings that are in very poor condition. It
is home to around 316 pupils aged 7-16 years old at any one time.
There are only 12 biological orphans whose parents have died, and
all the others are social orphans. The building is 40 years old. It
used to be the specialized orphanage for deaf and blind children,
and during last for years it’s been functioning as the boarding
school. |
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| The dedicated staff of 200 includes about 100
educators and 100 operating personnel: cleaners, cooks, laundresses
and others, all dedicated to giving the children a good start that
will prepare them for their life ahead – this could include being
returned to their families of origin, national or international
adoption. |
ORPHANAGE
NEEDS
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We called the orphanage director Gorobets Nelya
Olexandrivna to inform her of the donated funds and to discern their
needs. The director had a dream to equip a dentist office for
children. She explained that they had a real problem with dental
treatment since they had no equipment at all and they had no means
to take children to the hospital because of monetary insufficiency.
So, the children had no treatment at all.
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GETTING THE ORPHANAGE
SUPPLIES
| We then called to “Liberty International” and
asked for advice. They found out that it would be impossible to
afford new equipment the sum of money donated, since it costs
starting from $8,000 USD. I called the orphanage director and she
said that they would be okay with the used dentist equipment, since
the orphans were in the serious need of treatment. So, the
“Liberty International” staff started looking for decent dental
equipment. Soon they realized that $1,200 is not enough to purchase
such equipment, so they decided to donate $300 more from their
company for our project, but only without delivery to Ooglygorsk.
They acquired proper dental equipment for $1,516 and delivered it to
Kiev.
Here is the final and complete list of items
purchased for this project. It includes only the price paid by
“SENSE”. The currency rate is 5.4 UAH to 1 USD.
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Items
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Pieces
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USD
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Total
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1
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Dentist equipment
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1
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$1,216
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$1,216
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Since the equipment
is very heavy (about 1 ton) we decided not to go by our van but to
hire a truck for $200 to transport the equipment to Ooglygorsk.
The orphanage needs were completely satisfied.
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PLANNING THE
HUMANITARIAN TRIP
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The trip was
planned for November 26, but due to unforeseen circumstances we
rescheduled on November 27. So, the truck was loaded on the morning
of November 27, morning, and started on its way. Yuri Safonov went
to Donetsk by train, leaving in the evening on the same day. He
planned to meet the truck driver at the orphanage.
Ooglygorsk is
situated about 800 km from Kiev. The road trip took approximately 10
hours so the truck driver arrived there early morning and was
waiting for Yuri.
Yuri arrived in
Donetsk on November 28 in the early morning. The driver who used to
work with us in Donetsk picked up Yuri then they went together
to Yenakiyevo to pick up the Bartels. They all then traveled
on to Ooglygorsk, about a one hour trip.
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OOGLYGORSK ORPHANAGE HUMANITARIAN
PROJECT
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At 11 am, November 28, Yuri and the Bartels arrived
to the orphanage and met the truck driver, then they were shown to
the Director’s office. Having explained who we were, the Director,
Gorobets Nelya Olexandrivna, the chief accountant and the doctor
said that they had been waiting for us and were extremely glad to
see us, and to receive the donation so necessary for children. The director is a very nice lady. She showed us the
boarding school - the many rooms, gymnasium, and of course the room
meant for the dentist office where we ultimately placed the
equipment. The director and the orphanage staff were very grateful
for the donation. They have a dentist who will make use of
this equipment and starting from now they will organize the
treatment. |
| The
Chief Accountant, Gorobets Nelya Olexandrivna, & the
Doctor |
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We have also saw the room where Margarita Korepanova,
adopted by the Bartels, used to live, and we took some pictures of her
classmates and another group of children in the crafts room which
had hand-made stuffed toys . Margarita is a 10 year old girl who is very
excited about her adoption right now: she told everybody in the orphanage
that she’d been adopted and that she would go to the US with her new mom
and dad, and she said good bye to all her friends and the orphanage staff.
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The director said that there had been only 2
adoptions in their orphanage: the first adoption was accomplished by
a French couple, and the other one was by the Bartels. The French
couple described the situation in the boarding school as
“respectful poverty”. In the boarding school they have their own
boiler-room to warm all the school.
They are very proud that they try to set up a family
environment for children in the boarding school: one of the
classrooms was decorated as an imitation of a flat, where children
live and learn how to launder, to clean rooms, to make the bed, to
cook, etc. |
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| This is meant to help children understand what the
notion of family is and to make them familiar with the family
environment. They also have a winter garden and a nature room where
you can find different species of animals: 6 species of carrots,
African frogs, fish, turtles, guinea pigs, canaries, sparrows, etc.
The boarding school children participate in various sports
programs and competitions: ping-pong, football, dancing. By the way,
Margarita was participating in dancing. Some of the children attend
the musical school of their own afford.
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The director also
told about their needs.
The children there are well supplied with the
food. The daily ration of a child is estimated 5.5UAH (about $1.02).
They have meals five times per day: breakfast, brunch, lunch, snack,
and dinner. The menu changes every day.
So, they have no problem with the food supply.
A big problem is the furniture. It's very old
and there is no money to have it mended. The clothes are in the same
situation, and the worst lack is that of medical supplies. |
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| They also have problems with
the building materials, since they have to support three 3-4 storied
buildings. The local officials appropriate funds of 5 000 UAH ($926
) per year. This is not enough even for minor repairs.
The orphans who have grown up and left the
orphanage regularly come to visit their teachers and caregivers;
sometimes they ask about their origin and their biological parents.
There was a case when two orphanage boys left
the boarding school and at the age of 18 they tried to find their
parents. They had found out about their mothers, and unfortunately
their reunions were not pleasant.
There is another sad story about a girl from
the boarding school who left, and then at the age of 16 got
pregnant, gave a birth to a child and left it in the orphanage.
All the staff are very devoted to their jobs
not only because of love but also because the boarding school is the
only place in Ooglygorsk where the teachers are well paid. The
average salary of the operating personnel is estimated 168 UAH
($31.11) and the educators’ salary is 270 UAH ($50). The situation
with jobs in town is very tense: the local citizens steal coal and
other materials from the orphanage in order to support their own
families.
The general impression of our trip is very pleasant: there is the feeling
of having done something important because the director and staff
were really grateful for the equipment. The director seemed to be a
very nice, helpful, and open person, and she invited us to visit
them again.
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Over
6 years experience & 300 completed intl. adoptions
