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KHARKIV REGIONAL ORPHANAGE DONATION TRIP
AUGUST 2003
Kharkiv regional orphanage is located about 500 km from Kiev.
It specializes in children with special needs such as cerebral palsy and central
nervous system disorders. The orphanage has about 140 children ages 1.5 months –
4 years old and has 260 employees.
When the orphanage director, Marobyan Roman Vladimirovich,
heard about the donation, he said that they would like to get an electric stove,
a refrigerator and a unit for sterilizing plates and dishes. SRC purchased the
sterilizer, refrigerator, and stove from Liberty International for $1100.
Yuri and Nikolay arrived at the orphanage at 10 AM, August
16th, and met with the Chief educator. They spoke with the director by phone
since he had the weekend off. The orphanage staff were waiting for us and
grateful for the help. The director said that they know the Louder-Valentine family that funded
this donation trip and the orphanage staff remembers them as nice people who
still keep helping their children. They also remember the child that the family
adopted and were happy to see that Yuri brought photos. They all said hello to
the family and wished them the best.
The Chief Educator showed us the orphanage and told us that
since 1996, 330 children have been adopted by Ukrainian families and 90 by
foreigners (40 by US families, 10 by Spanish families, and some by Italian and
Swiss). There were even some cases of adoption by the orphanage workers. But,
the chief educator mentioned that there were fewer adoptions this year than last
year.
The children have enough food and have a daily ration of about
5 UAH (1$). However, the situation with clothes, linen and furniture is not so
good. The main thing the orphanage needs is money for repairs and building
materials. They also need an ultrasound unit that costs about 34,000 UAH
($7000).
In spite of this, they are proud of their rehabilitation
department where they have special therapy/medical equipment. This orphanage is
considered to be the best one in the Kharkiv region and this year the orphanage
was able to hire more medical staff. Most of the staff enjoys working in
the orphanage and has an average salary of about 220 UAH ($40) per month.
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Over
6 years experience & 300 completed intl. adoptions
