7thof May 2019 – buying fruit for the orphanages
We stopped and a local fruit and vegetables market to buy fruit to the children we were going to visit next. At the first sight it looked like a car and tractor workshop surrounded by high steel walls but when we entered the building we saw piles of wonderful fruit and vegetables. We bought several boxes with apples and bananas.
77hof May 2019 – Orphanage Anatoshka in Kramatorsk – 120 orphans age 0 – 4 some of the children were very sick, injured or hospitalised.
It was devastating to visit this fantastic orphanage due to the very poor condition of the building and the poor and old equipment and the lack of modern tools and resources. On the bright side were the fantastic, devoted and passionate staff. The director and her employees welcomed us and we started by handing over our boxes from Sweden, a certificate and a table flag from Grand Priory Ukraine.
After the welcoming they showed us the medical department and some very sick and injured small children. That was very hard to see and taking photos, but they really wanted us to take photos and show the world. By doing that they exist outside eastern Ukraine.
After that we visited the sleeping and resting rooms, rehab rooms, pre-class- and play rooms. Some of the very sick small children were shown to us. They were all in small treatment rooms with glass and one staff per children.
The condition of this house, home for many children and a workplace for all the employees, were devastating. You could smell the smell of wet concrete or mold and there were crack on the walls. The equipment were also in a bad shape and most of the technical equipment were very old (and non-functional).
While having a tour in the building we visited rehab rooms, educational rooms, common rooms and dormitories.
Finally we had a meeting in the director’s office and she told us about when the Russian soldiers invaded the orphanage and threatened to take all the children and bring them to Russia. As human shields the staff succeeded to remove all the soldiers and after that they painted cotton sheets with text saying “Don’t kill the children, This is a house of peace” etc. As a symbol of gratitude and wish to show it outside eastern Ukraine, we got one of the five remaining hand painted cotton sheets.
When we left we walked there their backyard garden and saw some very nice figures, made by plastic bottles, concrete and imagination.
Author
Chev. Mikael Hagansbo, COSJ Chancellor Grand Priory of Sweden