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December 2003
Berdyansk is approximately 700 km from Kiev in the Zaporizhia
region. The boarding school was built in 1961 and is in disrepair. It is home to
about 300 children ages 3-7.
SRC called the orphanage director, Rudenko Valentyna
Mykolayivna, to inform her of the donated funds from the Hathaways who adopted
children from this boarding school. We told her that children from an American
church had raised $200 to get toys for the orphans and that $1000 had been
donated to buy shoes. The director was very happy to know that she would get
these items before the New Year. She said that she would like toys for the small
kids and shoes for the older children.
Liberty International offered good quality winter shoes made
of leather at a better price than could be found in the market. They also
offered an assortment of toys: mechanical toys for developing motor skills, toy
cars, and dolls.
Since the items were not heavy but took up a lot of space, we decided to send
them by bus. One of our translators, Sergiy, picked up the items at the bus
station in Zaporizhia and delivered them to the boarding school in Berdyansk by
taxi. He arrived the evening of December 15, 2003 and was met by the director.
The director has been working at the boarding school since
1990; she remembers the Hathaways and the children they adopted. She was very
grateful for the donation and was pleased to show Sergiy the boarding school.
The director was deeply touched by the fact that the American children
participated in raising funds for the donation program and gave them her best
wishes.
The director was very proud of the achievements of the
orphanage children during the last few years. She said that the orphans had
participated in the Ukrainian National Festival for Gifted Children "Step
to the Stars" in 2002. They took the main prize and were invited to
participate again in 2004! The children also participated in art exhibitions in
Kiev and had their works exhibited in several art galleries. On top of that
there was a sports competition with 40 boarding schools participating in
November 2003; the children from Berdyansk boarding school took 6th
place.
The director told us that they are badly in need of shoes and
clothes for 280 children. They would also appreciate donations of soap, shampoo,
and toothpaste. The daily ration of a child is roughly 6 UAH (about $1.12). The
average orphanage salary is 200 UAH ($37.38) per month.
The director and Sergiy talked about adoptions and the
director said that there were fewer adoptions in 2003 than last year. There were
about 10 adoptions - mostly by parents from Italy, Spain, and the USA. There
have also been cases of adoption by orphanage workers in the past.
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Over
6 years experience & 300 completed intl. adoptions
