Kharkov Orphanage, Ukraine
Thank you to all of our supporters who made generous donations to the visually impaired children of the Kharkov Orphanage, you made this project very successful!
There are 217 orphaned kids from age of 6 to 16 with different levels of visual impairment. They live and study in the orphanage, where a specialized team of caretakers and teachers help them to develop and receive adequate education. The main profile of the orphanage is social adaptation of kids, rehabilitation and education. Most of the kids are living far below the poverty line.
This time around we focused our aid on helping the kids that need it the most – kids who don’t have parents or relatives, and kids with visual impairments ranging from 0% to 30% sight. These kids were in need of the basic necessities – winter coats, pants, dresses, shoes, winter boots, sweaters, socks, scarves, mittens, hats, and even underwear. Dima Skorikov, who initiated conversations with the orphanage principal, Alexander Belousov and our passionate volunteer in Kharkov, Olga Riabinina, have determined the exact list of needs for specific children.
Oleg Alekeev, Age 6
Beginning in December and lasting until late January, almost on a daily basis, Olga Riabinina took the kids individually to shop. Each child was able to get exactly what he or she needed, perfectly sized. Plus, it was a real treat and one of a kind experience for the children. These were happy moments for Olga, but also highly emotional, evidenced when a six year old Oleg Alekseev, with 0% vision, who has no parents or relatives, asked Olga to describe what was painted on the gifted t-shirt.
Additional scarves, socks, mittens and other goods were shipped by our generous supporter Tara MacIntosh and her family and friends.
Because of you, these children have received very special attention this year; the kind of attention they could only dream about!!
Your kindness continues to make a lasting difference in the children's lives!
Kids Are Thankful For Your Generosity!
In these photos you will see some kids posing in their new beautiful jackets and coats, sweaters, jeans and boots.
The names of kids who were outfited in cool new clothes. More kids in the orphanage have also received complementary I Will T-shirts.
- Svirkach Roma, vision 10% (only light sensitivity), 9 years
- Vazhnicheva Vera, vision 20%, 9 years
- Alekseev Oleg, vision 0%, 6 years
- Otroshko Andrey, vision 10%, 8 years
- Savchenko Valeria, vision 30%, 13 years
- Berchenko Yulia, vision 20%, 13 years
- Sharkadi Tania, vision 0%, 11 years
- Begal Ivan, vision 20%, 13 years
- Tkachenko Viktoria, vision 35%, 13 years
- Shevchenko Yulia, vision 20%, 13 years
- Shevchenko Ira, vision 20%, 11 years
- Moskalets Tolik, vision 30%, 13 years, has disabled farther
- Medveduk Sasha, vision 10-30%, 14 years
- Ruban Yana, vision 0%, 17 years
- Skibin Igor, vision 10%, 17 years
- Skibina Alena, vision in one eye – 20%, 18 years
- Datskaya Tania, vision 20%, 18 years
- Sidorenko Ivan, vision 0%, 17 years