January 2004
The children’s home in
Pervomaisk is situated in Mykolayiv region. It is the specialized
preschool children’s home for the children with the psychological and
CNS delays. The children’s home was established during the II World War
in 1941. They have been in the present building since 1997. It is home
to around 50 children aged 3-8 years old at any one time. There are 40
orphans in the children’s home right now. Among them there are 14 girls
and 26 boys. This orphanage had been identified by our staff as one of
the most needy we had seen, and so the FRUA chapter of Central Virginia
had elected to send a sizeable donation to this particular children’s
home.
The dedicated staff of
64 persons includes 3 doctors, 2 nurses, 21 caregivers, 25 teachers and
educators, all dedicated to giving the children the good start in life
that prepare them for their life ahead – this could be being returned to
their families of origin, national or international adoption, or
progressing to the next orphanage in the system.
CHILDREN’S HOME NEEDS
I called the children’s
home director Lyubov Vasylivna Khylkevych to inform her of the donated
funds from the FRUA chapter in Central Virginia, along with some
additional funds from a family who adopted from this orphanage.
There was a New Year
coming so she asked to get toys to give them as the presents to all the
orphans and to bring decorations for the New Year tree. She wanted to
make children happy on the New Year.
GETTING
THE SUPPLIES FOR THE CHILDREN’S HOME
I called to the “Liberty International” and asked
for help. They offered the assortment of toys and decorations of foreign
production and of very good quality. There were both developing games
such as meccanos for developing motor skills of children, puzzles and
also toy cars, dolls, small bikes, etc.
Here is the final and
complete list of items purchased for this project.
|
# |
Items
|
Pieces
|
USD
|
Total
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
Decorations for the New Year
tree |
assortment |
400.00 |
400.00 |
|
2 |
Toys |
assortment |
800.00 |
800.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
1200.00 |
There were a lot of
items purchased for this project so we decided to go to Pervomaisk by
car with our driver Nikolai.
PLANNING
THE HUMANITARIAN TRIP
Pervomaisk is situated
in Mykolayiv region that is 700 km far from Kiev. The trip was planned
on January 9, 2004, Friday morning. Yuri and Nikolai loaded the car and
started the road at 5:30am. The weather was nasty and foggy. It was
snowing. The roads were ice-covered and in poor condition.
At 11:30 am, January 9,
2004, we arrived to the children’s home. The director, Lyubov
Vasylivna Khylkevych, and the orphanage staff were very happy to meet us
and to show us to the director’s office.
New
Year’s party for the children in Pervomaisk
The director told that
their children are mostly orphans, foundlings or those whose parents
were deprived of parental rights; anyway they are all with the very
difficult destiny. The most children are ill with oligophrenia, mental
weakness, cerebral palsy, and also there are HIV positive children. This
is the reason why there are not so many adoptions from this orphanage.
Ukrainians never adopted from the orphanage and foreign couples referred
to this orphanage by the National Adoption Center just come to see
children and leave without children. Last year there was only one
adoption by the US couple. The couples that come to see the children are
usually from Italy and the USA.
As the director says it
is very hard for children to get used to the family because they do not
understand such a word meaning as “family”. They write letters they
never send to the parents they’ve never had.
The director also told
about their needs. In the New Year night they got their boiler broken so
that’s why it’s necessary to get new one. It would be also useful to
renovate the shower rooms. For this purpose they will need to buy tiles.
There is need to get small refrigerator and sterilizing unit for their
medical department. The orphanage building requires the major repairs
and they would need 1000 USD because in one of the rooms where the
children stay in the floor had rotten through. They need carpets for the
rooms as well. The director said it would be great to start getting new
clothes and shoes for children.
The director has been
working in the children’s home for very many years and as Yuri says she
seems to be extremely nice person and devoted to children. She is very
sensitive and attentive to the children’s problems and she is the born
manager so she can handle the staff giving them reasonable instructions.
They were all so
grateful for the donation so the orphanage children can really benefit
of the items purchased, and they sent a big thank you to the families in
Virginia who contributed through FRUA of Central Virginia!
|
Over
6 years experience & 300 completed intl. adoptions
