Every so often we get a story from Ukraine that brings a huge smile to the face. The ‘Boat Trip’ story further down is one of those, so be sure and read the update right to the end.
Children of War Project
There have been a number of issues with this project, from the Ukrainian side, but we are hopeful that things can be resolved to get the project back on track. The main issue has been that, despite promises from Ministry of Ukraine of funding for visa applications, flight costs and travel within Ukraine, these funds have not been forthcoming. This created major delays, and the failure of Ukraine to hold up their end of the agreement created some serious doubts as to whether it would actually happen.
Thankfully, we’ve had a sponsor in the UK agree to cover the visa costs, and we are hopeful that the flight situation can be resolved by the end of next week.
The date for this trip has now been set for the first week in October, with children arriving in Edinburgh on the 1st and departing by the 10th.
Due to the date change we have lost a couple of host families, so are looking again for families, or couples, that might be able to host the children during their stay in Scotland. Contact us on the emails given below if you think you can help, even if it’s only as an emergency back-up family.
We are also still looking for ideas for activities, especially discounted ones, for the children while they are staying in Edinburgh.
If you have any activity or fundraising ideas then please contact us on e-mail: steven@dniprokids.com or ukrchild@outlook.com
There is also a separate fundraising page for this project
Boat Trip
I have to be honest and say that this excursion for the children totally caught us by surprise!
When our helper, Irina, suggested that we take the kids on an overnight boat trip we thought it would be on a cruise boat with an overnight stay in a holiday park. Given the location of Dnipro on the large Dnepr river, I suppose we could be forgiven for making this assumption, but how wrong we were!!
This became apparent when we received the photographs from the trip. As this was a totally new type of excursion, with limited places, there were just three orphanage families involved with some of the older children. It was an early 7.30am start but instead of boarding a boat on the river Dnepr (as we had imagined) they were actually picked up near the train station by a large minibus.
An hours drive later and they were at their starting destination ready to receive instructions on their ‘boat’ trip.
And it turns out that the boat was somewhat smaller than expected!
After receiving comprehensive safety instructions, and fitted with life-belts, everyone set off on their boating adventure.
Maybe not as wide as the Dnepr river, but certainly a lot more scenic.
And there was no telling what was waiting for them round the next corner.
Even the occasional stops were attracting attention from the locals …
Eventually they reached their destination.
The first task was to set up camp…
…the second to sort out a healthy scran…
…and with both of those out of the way, it was time to play…
Whatever was decided though, the kids really enjoyed it…
…and everyone on the trip said they’d like to say a huge THANK YOU to Dnipro Kids for making it happen.
Orphanage Excursion
For the orphanages that chose to do something different from the boat trip, Dnipro Kids organised an overnight stay at a small holiday park in a nice scenic area to the north east of Dnipro.
After getting picked up in the early hours by the tour bus they headed off to the village of Pishanka, with a couple of scheduled stops organised on the way.
The first stop on the route was at an interesting museum and grounds.
The next stop was at a small zoo-park called The Three Bears.
Eventually they arrived at the holiday park and checked in.
It wasn’t long though before they were heading down to the beach…
the boating pond…
or just taking a stroll round one of the countryside walks.
No campfires or pots of stew on this excursion, all the meals were served in a comfortable dining room.
And after dinner there was entertainment and dancing, for those with any energy left!
As with the boat trip the kids, and the orphanage parents, really enjoyed this trip and all said a huge thank you to Dnipro Kids for making it happen.
Please Support Our Work
If you’d like to make a donation towards the work that we do, and help to fund excursions like this, then please use one of the links at the bottom of this email to make an online donation.
Visit Our Website
Be sure to make a visit to our website, where you can catch up on previous updates.
We also have our video section where you can see videos such as our ten year anniversary video….
Many thanks,
Steven Carr.
