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2009 Ukraine Trip

May 2009

I just got back from spending 3 weeks in Odessa, Ukraine. We helped lots of kids with medicines; sanitary pads; giving out juices, cookies and fruit. We bought brooms, 100 rolls of toilet paper and bleach for Orphanage #4. Shelter #2 needed slippers, socks, and underwear, so we purchased those. Alexandrovka needed a new TV, antennae and iron. #34 was asking us for more bead tools, sewing machine oil and thread and pins. Many places were asking for more yarns and crochet hooks and knitting needles. We bought a lot of stuff there for the kids and staff at the orphanages, and left money for more. I usually try to send yarns and needles a few times a year from yarns donated, as the boys and girls love to knit and crochet.

Linda and I worked with several orphanages doing a variety of crafts with the children. The children always love beadwork, so we try to do that at a couple of places. The mental hospitals have trouble with small items to work with, so we try to do a craft that is coloring or something with large pieces. It is fun to do the crafts and seeing the children’s faces as they have completed something. I try to find crafts that are not easily available there.

As it was Easter, on April 19th, we bought Easter Breads for all of the orphans at #34, #4, #5, and #7, Shelter #2, Lastischka, Alexandrovka, and Slobodka. That was a lot of Easter Breads! The children all love them and it is a custom to give Easter Breads when you go somewhere at Easter Time. Easter is the most important holiday in Ukraine we have been told.

It is always such a pleasure to go to Odessa and work with the children. We never know what will happen and things never go exactly according to plan. This time Igor’s van broke down and then he got sick, Irina had a conference to go to so we ended up using Peter Panin for a lot of our time there. He speaks good English and has a car, so we were set. He took us to various orphanages and to markets to buy crafts and school supplies for the kids. I remember my German grandmother saying “Bend like a willow or break like an oak”, so we try to be flexible with whatever happens in Odessa.

We were gone this year from April 1 – April 23. Now that I am home again in California, I wish I was back in Odessa. The kids enjoy us coming out to see them and we enjoy being there with the children and being in Odessa is great. It is a beautiful city with beautiful parks and wonderful people. Now, I can start the process of raising funds and sending donated items over there.

Check out www.uacukrainerelief.org/blog for our trip and information about UAC.

To contact UAC: www.uacukrainerelief.org.
To contact Frontier Horizon: www.frontierhorizon.org.
Please contact me if you have any questions concerning my trips at mtnlady@mtnladyarns.com.

Read about my previous trips to the Ukraine and learn more about how to help: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008.