Kalinovka Orphanage Project, Ukraine – An ongoing project to change the lives of 120 people with special needs stuck in remote institution in southern Ukraine.
Journey to Kalinovka 2010
This first year’s journey was predominantly a reconnaissance mission to Kalinovka institute for orphans with special needs. Vinca Petersen, Simon Dyer and Zena Merton flew to Kiev then took an over night train to Zaporozhia and then hired a car for the final 2 ½ hr drive to Kalinovka.
The aim of the mission was to befriend the director of the home in order to secure an invite for the FYP bus full of volunteers to come and stay in years to come.
We coordinated with Albert Pavlov who is director of Happy Child, a local charity with access to the state-run orphanage. We became convinced he was the right man to work with – an extraordinary man whose kindness and vision make him the perfect partner for FYP’s project in Ukraine. He introduced us to Nicolai the director of Kalinovka who then invited us to stay at the orphanage.
We spent our three days with the children and adults living in Kalinovka and documented our experience there. It was obvious to us that we could help the orphanage change from a run-down dead end place into something much better.
( read more about Kalinovka on our Current Projects page )