It has been a busy couple of months in Dnipro. Behind the scenes our Ukraine based workers, Natalie and Irina, are working frantically trying to organise the October trip to Odessa, whilst still organising orphanage visits and birthday trips. Here are a few things that have happened since the last update.
Hasanskaya Classroom
If you’ve been following our updates you may remember that Ludmilla and Yuri had been building a “halfway house” for the kids that were going to be leaving.
Well they’ve made the decision to turn one of the rooms into a study room for extra classes for the kids. We have been supporting the kids at Hasanskaya for the past year with tutors for extra support in Maths and English, and the orphanage parents decided that their kids (and those at the nearby Shevchenko orphanage) would benefit greatly if the tutoring was done in a better environment.
Dnipro Kids supported this venture by purchasing some chairs and a blackboard for the study room. Here is a photo of the classroom chairs and blackboard arriving.
It’s a great idea, and we hope it’s as successful as Ludmilla and Yuri are hoping it will be.
New Arrival At Svyatkova Orphanage
The Svyatkova orphanage has taken in a new boy. Yaroslav is a six year old boy, whose mother abandoned him in the hospital at birth. He has spent all his life in baby homes and orphanages, but it is hoped that he will now find a more permanent family home at the Svyatkova orphanage.
Vasya and Lena asked for some Dnipro Kids assistance, and we were happy to oblige and purchase a new bed for Yaroslav.
As it happened, the visit to the Svatkova orphanage coincided with the birthday party for little Katya.
It looks like everyone had a great time at the party in the garden.
Birthday Trip To Dnipro Water Park
For the autumn birthday trip the kids and parents had asked if they could utilise the sunny weather in Dnipro and have a trip to the water park.
Normally we save the present giving to the end of a birthday event, but as they were going to be spending the whole day at the water park we decided to give out the presents first.
Nastya is going to be leaving the Ionova orphanage soon, so she asked for an iron for her college dormitory.
Dasha, Dima and Katya asked for nice backpacks.
Lera wanted new trainers, Maxim a remote controlled car and Masha wanted a mobile phone.
Nikita asked for a small bike, Pasha wanted a pair of trendy jeans and Sasha asked for a new watch.
Nastya asked for a new table to do her drawings on, hopefully orphanage dad Vasya will help her build it. Yaroslav wanted a new jigsaw, but more importantly a table lamp so he could see better when doing his puzzles.
The kids loved the gifts that they were given, but I reckon they were receiving them with one eye on the water slides in the background!
It looks like the kids had an amazing day at the water park.
And the orphanage parents also seemed to enjoy the opportunity to relax in the sunshine.
Everyone said a huge thank you to Dnipro Kids for the birthday trip and their birthday gifts.
Surprise Visit To Shevchenko Orphanage
Just last week we organised a visit to the Shevchenko orphanage. The orphanage thought it was just a random visit to see how the boys were getting along, but we had a wee surprise up our sleeves. The Shevchenko orphanage is a fairly new addition to the fold, and it was mentioned at a committee meeting that they had missed out on the new bikes that we had bought for each of the other orphanages around this time last year. Everyone agreed that we should also do the same for this new orphanage.
So the task was set to Natalie to organise this, and to make it a surprise. Once again our cycling friend in Dnipro, Misha, was more than happy to help us choose a good quality bike .. and to assist with the delivery.
So Natalie, Irina and Misha turned up at the Shevchenko orphanage for a ‘random’ visit.
They brought along some football tops for the boys and after handing out the gifts were invited inside.
They had a look at the new beds in the boys’ room…
…and then sat down in the kitchen to enjoy the lunch Nadya had organised…
…with orphanage parent Sergei banished to the garden to take care of the barbecue.
After lunch Misha excused himself from the table and nipped outside … and after a short while Natalie invited the family outside for some photos. Little did they know that there was a surprise waiting for them on the porch.
The boys were so shocked that they just stood there looking. Eventually the oldest boy, Sasha, moved forward and took a hold of the bike .. but the youngest were still too shy to go near it.
Eventually all the kids were round the bike with big grins on their faces…
…and the emotion of it all got a bit too much for mother Nadya who broke down in tears.
Have a look at the reaction from Sasha in the video below, when he sees mother Nadya crying.
All the orphanages always give a big “thank you” to Dnipro Kids, but this particular thank you was both emotional and from the bottom of their hearts.
Odessa Trip
Planning is well under way for the upcoming trip to Odessa. The plan is to take the kids on a four day excursion to Odessa in the second week of October. With seven family orphanages involved on this trip it will be our biggest ever excursion for the orphanage kids.
It’s also going to be our most expensive, so if you can spare anything towards the funding of it we would be very grateful for your support.
Please Support Our Work
If you don’t make a monthly donation but would still like to contribute towards our fundraising efforts, you can do so here.
Many thanks,
Steven Carr.