On the eve of International Children’s Day, 31 May 2016, charity group “Happy Child” officially opened “Happy Home” – a children’s home, but modeled after a real family home where adopted children live together with their new parents.
Developed countries have long since abandoned the system of orphanages and have been replaced by foster families. Ukraine is beginning to undergo these same changes. A foster family, in which there are five or more foster children, receives the status of Family Style Children’s Home. In order to create these types of homes, the charity group “Happy Child” helped to establish “Happy Homes.” In a Ukrainian village in the Mikailovski district of the Zaporozhe region, the group has created a special "Children’s Village – Happy Child", which is composed of a number of these “Happy Homes.”
The construction of “Happy Home 3” started in the fall of 2013. It took longer to build this specific home because we had to start from scratch. Support was received from both Ukrainian and international donors, legal and physical entities to whom the group is extremely thankful: Aleksey (Zaporozhe), Pavel (Zaporozhe), Ginger Fund and Lyviv Educational Foundation, donation boxes at “Eva” stores, “Shlyahmi Dobra,” the organization “Zaporozhe Vector,” Denver Broyhler from the USA, program “We – a city,” Ukrainian Philanthropic Group and many other groups from Ukraine, Russia, USA, England, United Arab Emirates and other countries.
On the first floor of “Happy Home 3” Nikolai Litavi, his wife Galina, and their adopted children live – Darya, Olga, Sofiya, Dimitry and Lubov. As the children described themselves, here they feel much better than in the orphanage. They have their own rooms, personal belongings and most importantly – attentive parents that they can always talk to, find understanding and support. Together with the other residents of “Children’s Village,” they created a truly wonderful holiday with kind poems, songs and music all created by themselves. The event ended with hot tea.
The second story can house an additional family. At the moment it is being used as a storage and technical space. We still need to carry out the necessary construction and finishing work. After that is completed, another family can move in. The embassy of Germany in Ukraine has promised to donate a portion of the necessary construction equipment. We will need volunteers’ assistance with the construction, furniture, appliances and everything else needed for a comfortable home.
Similarly we need a tractor to work the land at “Children’s Village” and building materials to manufacture the children’s playground and sports areas.
Construction of “Happy Child 5”. Has already begun in the neighboring village of Lubimovka on the grounds of a former hospital. A portion of the funds needed for its construction were donated by Ginger Fund and Lyviv Educational Foundation. On these grounds, we hope to transform three of the four buildings into “Happy Homes.” There is a lot of work to be done and the charity group “Happy Child” will be very thankful for any help with the construction materials and anyone that can donate their time, energy and some muscles to help restore the dilapidated buildings.
If you would like to help us, please go to our website, write us at info@deti.zp.ua or call Albert Pavlov at +38 066 513-34-35.
