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Weekend rally: HAPPINESS, GLADNESS, KIND AND FAMILY WARMTH WISHES

The girls of the Borispil orphan home made such a whish to the boys for the fatherland defender's day. Here, and also to the specialized orphan home of the Gadiach city in Poltava region, the detdom.info command went with performance, gifts and sweets February 23.

65 kids live in the Gadiach specialized orphan home. This orphan home was founded after the Second World War. At that time it was of mixed type and was situated in the Belbivka village of the Gadiach region. Then a new placement was built in Gadiach. Repair was made using the home's own resources. 40 years passed from then. Now the building needs reconstruction: it is necessary to change doors, windows, the roof; refresh the playground and the wooden outdoor playset.

"Some time ago 240 kids lived there: deaf and poor hearing", - Alla Pentc, the housemaster, is telling. Now preschool children from 3- to 7-year-old with mental retardation and retarded children are fostered here. Developmental pediatricians and psychologists work with these kids, as well as the health group workers.

- Each child has its own story. There were sisters whose mother and grandmother drank heavily. They had no meal, so girls went to neighbors, spent the night on farm, in straw. In the morning workers came, milked cows, and gave them some milk. The oldest 5-year-old girl was unsociable, looked at us with fright, but then she became a good girl, started to play and study. The girls were adopted.

Sisters of 3 and 4 years old were in our orphan home. Their mother's live-in lover violated them.

There was an incident when a 3-year-old boy who was brought by a dog. Vanja lived in a kennel, ate meal that the dog brought. For a long time he could not understand what a spoon, a plate and a bed are. He whined for joy, could not speak. We had to teach him all things.

Not long ago a kid, that burnt on a bed was brought to our orphan home. Now this child is in hospital.

- Miss Alla, how do children after they leave the orphan home live?

- We oversee children, make a correction job. If we see improvements, a child will continue studying in a general school. If development stays at the same level, we define that as a delay of psychological development. If we see degradation, a child continues studying in a school for mentally retarded.

Children are adopted, they are taken in foster homes. After this year one child is adopted, another one is prepared to be adopted.

Parents send letters, pics. We keep relations with biological parents. Those who are in prisons, write letters to their children, and children draw and make applications. We read parent letters. Children are very satisfied. Then they return and say: "Mum (they call us mum), please, hide, in order to other children can't take it".

- Do Ukrainians foster children gladly?

- Usually foreigners adopt children. Our Ukrainian families want a health child that can sing, dance, draw, sew and knit. But a child has delay, you must help him to reach this level, to treat it. It is hard work. There was a pretty girl, which was adopted. After some time mother calls us and cries, that the girl does not want to study, beats the mom, demands money. What can we recommend, if this girl is 17 years old?

- Do Gadiach people visit children?

- Yes. One man, who did some maintenance work in the orphan home, told about our children at home. His 6-year-old daughter heard him and then asked: "Could I gather toys which I do not use and we present them to the children?". They came to us, presented toys, played and communicated with children.

The children always wait for such meetings. So a visit of our guests from Kyiv was a real occasion.

And inmates of Borispil orphan home "Bereginja" waited for the performance. This orphan home was founded in 1999. Now 16 school aged children, mainly from problem families, live there. Since 2007, children from social and functional incapable families have been started to be adopted to the orphan home. They stay at the house for a year, while social services carry explanatory work with their parents. If parents change their behavior, their child returns to the family. In other cases the parents are deprived of the parents' rights.

Jaroslava Shulgach, a deputy principal on educational work, is telling us about foster-children whose mother threw her third child away to a garbage can:

- The oldest boy did not attend school lessons, looked after the father stricken by paralysis, while the mother was busy fixing up her life. He was brought up by the street. The youngest sister was only 3 years old. The mother was wanted, served time in jail. The boy came to us disappointed. He started to make up his leeway, and then continued his studying in a military college. Now the boy graduated from the college and you should have seen our Vovka! It is not known what could have happened with these children if they had not appeared in our house.

But I do not want to hide that we have has some bad experience as well.

There are the following sections in our house: sewing, fine art, "Fantasy" (netting from beads), computing, cooking, etiquette, artistic job. Children attend sport school.

Graduating students are frequent guests, Viktoria Zhivaliova, a teacher, is telling. De jure children have accommodation, but cannot live there.

- A child does not have a place to live. For example, a child does not have a mother, or a father drinks hard. Where will this child live?

Irina Reshetilova is finishing the 9th class of the evening school and will continue studying in Perejaslav-Khmelnitskii vocational school.

- Ira, what do you do in the morning?

- I get points. We pill potatoes, clean our house and get points for this. Then, in an orphan house shop we can buy different things using these points: sweets, cards, watches, radio and even guitar.

The best friend of Irina, 14-year-old Jana Ignatenko together with her 7-year-old sister Lilia have lived in the child house for three years. Jana studies in the 8th form of the secondary school, likes singing and dancing, dreams to be a doctor.

-For the fatherland defender's day we have created costumes by ourselves in our workshop. We often play in Borispil. Our boys were present and teletubbies and ballet dancers. For March 8 we are also preparing a party. We will dance to the Tina Carol's "Kewpie" ("Pupsik") turn.

- Your sister's name is like a flower name ...

- I called her. My mum proposed to name her either Luba or Lilija (Lily). I like these flowers, so I called her as a flower.

- Do you have mother?

- She was disqualified. But she visits us at weekends.

- How do you live in "Bereginja"?

- There is a friendly atmosphere here. We call each other brothers and sisters, and Tatiana Vjacheslavovna, our director - mum. We live in "Bereginja" as in a big family.

Olga Skripkina