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Give Little Orphans a Home of Their Own

April 12, 2012, 9:00 9835 Author: Ekaterina Chelengyr, translated by Daria Sukach www.deti.zp.ua Nine boys with special needs have already been living in their new “Happy Home” in Kalinovka village. Let’s try our best to create one more Happy Home for seven more orphans!

This way will the "Happy Home-2" look like in the future

Report on donations and expenses

What has already been done for the “Happy Home-2”?

We have already signed the reconstruction project agreement of the “Happy Home-2” family-type adaptation group: page 1, page 2, page 3.

The reconstruction of the “Happy Home-2” has already started.

First Foster Family house in Kalinovka

In “Happy House -1” foster house for 7 orphans was created

We have some great updates on children’s being in Kalinovka – Foster Family House was created on the base of “Happy House -1”. Now seven of the wards who were living in Chernigovskiy orphanage in Kalinovka are in foster family, their mother-caregiver is Natalia, who was working with them for some time.

During these couple weeks we can see the obvious difference in children’s state and behavior – they are satisfied with better food and conditions they live in, are more active and smiling.

Artyom learns writing letters, counting; Maksim develops his lexicon, together with Oleg they are drawing small detailed pictures; Zhenya and Katya are worse in their development – so now actively learning skills of self-dressing and self –care, Vera is learning shapes and parts of objects, Varya is learning how to control movements.

Also for long time three adult wards Sasha S., Lesha R., Sasha K., were living in this building together with these children, in better atmosphere. That’s why we decided to support them and managed to solve all formal problems of their staying in happy House. Officially they are on vacations now and don’t receive any support from government. Anyway they have their own needs, like nutrition, diapers etc.

The family does a lot for these children, but still they have lots of needs and are very thankful for all support that was provided.

It would be great to bring a part of your care to these orphans – so we will appreciate any help!

After the winter break, our house builders finally removed the stumps, which rooted deep into the foundation of the building and could lead to its destruction at any moment. Now it is necessary to complete the rows of bricks, some of which fell out, and cement the gaps that appeared after the stumps have been removed. After it is done, the recently updated schemes will be used for finishing the column to fix one of the walls. Later the pavement and the inter-floor covering will be done.

These construction activities which are to take place in the nearest future will cost us UAH 35.000 (approximately 4,290 US dollars). After it is done, we will be able to start working on the roof. Besides, very soon we will need your help to make the front of the house, which will cost UAH 46.000 (approximately 5,640 US dollars), and the flooring (UAH 85.000, or approximately 10, 416 US dollars).

There are sewer system works being done these days. We have already completed water supply system and heating. The roof is to be completed within this week. The next step is to finish the floor works. According to the preliminary calculations the floor will cost approximately 100,000 hryvnyas (12,510 US dollars)

The whole civilized world has already given up the orphanage and boarding school practice in favour of family-type homes since they have turned out to be more effective.

Fortunately, more and more children in Ukraine are adopted into loving families instead of going to orphanages. However, there are also children who are very unlikely to find their own family - these are the orphans with severe mental and physical disabilities. These special children are usually destined to spend the rest of their lives in so-called barracks-like orphanages among the same disabled mates. This results in an absolute absence of an individual approach to each child. Such children do not have any chance for further development and proper rehabilitation. Quite the contrary, we often see mental and physical degradation of such special needs children. We’re well aware of the fact that we are not able to cure these children, but it’s definitely within our powers to help them.

The hardest first step towards reforming the system of the orphanages for disabled children in the Zaporizhzhia region has been already made. On December 1, 2011, on the campus of the Kalinovka orphanage for disabled children (Chernigov Children’s Home) the first “Happy Home” was officially opened. This project was successfully completed within fifteen months thanks to Ukrainian and foreign donors as well as to the cooperation of our charity foundation with the Department of Labour and Social Protection of the Population.

Reconstruction of the building that became the “Happy Home” for the social adaptation group…

The walls of this spacious, light and warm “Happy Home” have welcomed nine promising boys who now have an opportunity to live in a family-like atmosphere. This is definitely not “barracks” but a real sweet home for each of these nine children. This social adaptation group is mainly focused on children’s mental and physical rehabilitation.

“The Happy Home” social adaptation group is just the start of our great journey. There is a former bakery nearby that can also be renovated and turned into another cozy “Happy Home” for an additional seven orphans with special needs.

These girls from the Kalinovka Orphanage can be future dwellers in the “Happy Home-2”:

Both buildings are closely situated and can become a joined complex with mutual territory and a playground where children can communicate with each other.

Slide show of the future “Happy Home-2”

What should one do for creating the “Happy Home-2”?

We should invest a lot of effort in making the children’s big dream of their new “Happy Home” come true:

* Purchase all the building materials;

* Install such core utilities as water closet and heating system;

* Make a building layout;

* Provide heat insulation for energy saving;

* Build a light porch;

* Renovate the terrace and the yard area.

How to help:

* Transfer Donation;

* Donate some building materials for the building reconstruction (gypsum plasterboards, coating, tile, radiators, metal-plastic windows, etc.);

* Assist with the transportation of designers and building materials;

* Help with reconstruction and renovation of the building.

You can support this project by using convenient ways of donation (PayPal, MoneyGram, Western Union, Webmoney, etc.)

Report on donations and expenses

Report on donations and expenses

The “Happy Child” volunteers will be glad to answer all your questions

Happy Child foundation - effective help to the most needy children of the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, since 2004

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Our expenses in 2024
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