.....is Ukraine's third largest city1, and straddles the Dnipro River. Humans have settled this area for centuries – the first people appeared here 150,000 years ago, and began farming about 5500 years ago.  Various nations came through and were assimilated: the Cimmerians, the Scythians, the Sarmatians, the Kipchaks and the Slavs.  The Byzantine monks came and built a monastery in the 9th century, and the kozaks came to fight the Tatars in the 15th century.

The city itself was founded in 1783 by the then ruling Russians as Yekaterinoslav (in honor of Catherine, Yekaterina in Russian). It later became one of the key centers of the nuclear, arms, and space industries of the former Soviet Union. In particular, it is home to Yuzhmash, a major space and ballistic missile designer and manufacturer. (For this reason, it was a city closed to foreigners.)

Dnipropetrovsk is an attractive city.  It was built along the Dnipro and among three hills; there are lots of parks and squares, and it is well known for its gardens and embankments.  We got a glimpse of the latter as we drove through the city, lovely walkways with trees and fountains along the bank of the river. And then we kept driving, and driving, and driving.....it was a long slog, as the city is quite sprawling2, and our internat and hotel were at the very opposite end.

The internat was a challenge to locate.  It was located off a small street that branched off of another small street that came off a large, busy avenue but was not sign-posted3. It was completely surrounded by tall buildings, and hard to see until you were right upon it.  We had to call the director to get step-by-step instructions. As it turns out, when the internat was originally built, it was out in the open areas at the edge of town, but urban sprawl has now completely engulfed it.

It was late in the day when we arrived, so we had time only to meet with the director and get shown around a bit.  The rest of the group was treated to a lovely supper4 , but I stayed in the office with a cup of tea – something I'd eaten at that truck stop around midnight was not agreeing with me, and the mere thought of food nauseated me.  I preferred to remain alone with a cup of tea and near the director's bathroom.... We went over the list of needs that the director had prepared, discussed which were most important, and then headed to our hotel.  It was located on what must have been the absolutely worst road in the entire city –

long, narrow, and incredibly bumpy.  It was a private establishment, very clean, the staff pleasant, and the rooms cheerful, quite decorated, and with full, comfortable beds5. After fully medicating myself with immodium, compazine and bentyl, I crawled into bed with a cup of tea, while Nellie and a few others went off to shop at the Ukrainian equivalent of Costco, «Metro» (see some of our booty in the photo left).

Our purpose in coming to Dnipropetrovsk was to visit an AIDS internat.  Donors in the States had expressed interest in helping children with AIDS, and we had heard in the past that such orphanages were in bad shape and not meeting the medical and other needs of children with HIV/AIDS. We had asked out staff in Kyiv to find such an orphanages so that we could visit and assess it on our way back from Kerch. 

Despite our expectations, this turned out to be the nicest internat we visited on this trip. It isn't actually an internat, but a children’s home, housing children from age 3 to 8. (An internat would have school aged children attending school on the premises.) Of the 74 children living at this internat, only six have AIDS6.  The staff tries to raise them so they do not feel as though they are different from the other children. The director emphasized that no child here is completely healthy, but most seemed in pretty good shape, physically and emotionally. 

Like Kerch 1, all of the children here are either legal or true orphans7.  Orphaned children of pre-school age from the entire oblast (or state) come to this home. When they get older, the staff tries to send them to an internat (for children ages 7 or 8 to 17) where they have siblings or other relatives.  The staff also tries to send them back to the town or general area from which the children originally came. 

Children are frequently adopted from this building, so this place receives more aid8 than most.  This internat receives help from both local and international sources, including German sponsors, local university students and the local bank.  They had new playground equipment outside.

Because Dnipropetrovsk and fewer children then we expected and was in the best condition of any internat we visited, we did not spend nearly as much here, although Nellie and Peggy had a big shopping night at Metro, where they bought pens, books of paper, paint brushes, paint sets, Ukrainian DVDs , four vacuum cleaners, 7 irons, 8 tea kettles9, plastic toy cars, dolls, fleece soccer balls, a puppet theater set, silverware and notebook sets for counselors. How they got it all back from the store I cannot imagine.

The following day we returned to the children's home to meet the children and present the gifts. There was a big get together in the common room; the children sat in little chairs all around the edge.  We were introduced, and they put on a small show for us, with poems recited and songs sung. 

        

On our way to Dnipropetrovsk, Maryna had called her contacts in the media, and local television reporters came to record some of this day's activities.

  

I was selected to speak for UCARE (everyone else refused, I think), and we learned that the interview was broadcast on local radio.

UCARE members with the children of Dnipropetrovsk (and their new coloring books)

After these festivities, we visited the children in their rooms.  They all wanted to show us their bed, their favorite toy.  Small hands would grab at us, pulling us here and there.

    

Peggy passed out the last of the crayons and coloring books to great and obvious joy.  The kids settled down to coloring right away, and our two "students" joined in with them, quite gleefully.

We hated to leave, but there was a long road ahead of us yet.

We drove for may hours, following the course of the Dnipro north.  It was a long and tiring road, and we arrived in Kyiv in the dark. We were done with the route at last (except for the paperwork........)

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1. 1.Dnipropetrovsk is frequently referred to as "not the first city of Ukraine, but not the second either." This means that even though Dnipropetrovsk may come second after the capital, it is the center of Ukraine, both financially and industrially. Leonid Kuchma, the previous president, hailed from there, as do Yulia Tymoshenko and Pavlo Lazarenko, the current and former prime ministers, and Viktor Pinchuk, a major oligarch.  It was also the home of Oksana Baiul, the skater, Sergei Prokofiev, the composer, and Madame Blavatsky, the theosophist. 
   

2. 2.Older Ukrainian cities are built on the old European model, with a small city center, perhaps a central square, and fairly narrow streets. New construction at the outskirts tends to be huge concrete apartment blocks, and, near the center, shiny new skyscrapers.  Dnipropetrovsk was built more recently in a large, open area, and never had to build up.  Companies would simply head farther out of town to build factory/office/apartment complexes.
   

3. 3.I am no longer sure how much of the lack of signposts is due to residual Soviet era paranoia (they didn't want to make it any easier than necessary for invading armies to find their way around) and how much to the high price of metal.  In L'viv, as it was recently pointed out to me, most of the old metal signs have been stolen and sold for scrap.  The new signs are all some sort of plastic, and have no resale value.
   

4. 4.The internaty, without fail, invited us to dine with them if we were there at meal time.  We were given the same food as he children, in most cases; unlike our experiences may years ago, the food was tasty and nourishing.  It was good in that we had an opportunity to take a close look at the kitchen and dining facilities. And, of course, we had many cups of tea in the directors' offices.
   

5. 5.The government hotels often retain their Soviet "Intourist" character, with spartan decor, minimal amenities, and very narrow and not very comfortable beds, more akin to a boarding school than an international venue.
   

6. 6.Three of the children with HIV/AIDS receive "American" AIDS therapy, which is provided free through the city. The medications are provided by programs funded by the USA, and have come about in great part due to the work of the Clinton Foundation, which has been at the forefront of getting cheap generic drugs to AIDS ravaged countries. In the past the drugs were unavailable to poor children and orphans; now they are provided, and government pharmacists manage dosing and treatment protocols.
   

7. 7.Children are true orphans if both parents are deceased.  They can become legal orphans when their parents are imprisoned, are unable to care for them, or if parental rights are terminated.  Children are also sent to internaty when their families are too poor to care for them or have other hardships, both voluntarily and involuntarily. These children are not considered orphans and can be returned to their families if conditions improve.
   
                                           

   

   
   
8. 8.Children's homes are usually in much better condition and with much better amenities than internaty.  The staff strongly encourage adoptive parents to give back to the building, and most do, whether out of gratitude or guilt I'm not always certain.  Fewer older children are adopted out, so internaty get less such individual aid, although many have developed ties with European organizations, particularly those within a few hours' drive of Kyiv.
   
                                           

   

   
   
9. 9.The children live in 8 small groups. The home tries to be a real home to the children, so they live in what are more like large family groups in separate "apartments" within the building.  They eat, sleep, play, and learn within these small groups; the other children and teachers are their families.