2007

 
 
....is a poor town, with poor sign-posting, a wonderful location on the coast, and, I am told, generally horrible accommodation.  Nellie and Maryna had discovered one very nice hostelry on a previous trip, Pani Tamara's place.  Once we found it, we were and fed well and settled in for the night.  In the morning Andriy (right) showed me where a previous team had painted the UCARE logo on a concrete wall.

The Ochakiv internat had once been a horrible place but, with a good director and newer staff, had changed for the better.  On an earlier visit, the truly horrible condition of the beds had been noted, and we had promised to help them obtain new ones.  The 100 we bought had been installed, to the delight of the children. The staff told us the children had become so accustomed to sleeping on deeply sagging beds that when they slept on our new beds, which stayed horizontal when the children laid on them, the kids rolled out!  We took many photos of happy kids on their beautiful new beds1.



An orphan from Ochakiv enjoying his new UCARE bed


The embroidery teacher at Ochakiv was also delighted to show us all of the embroidery work her children had done since last year, when we delivered a bolt of embroidery fabric.  



Among their other traditional handcrafts was this lovely bowl of pysanky and krapanky:


The geography teacher was absolutely thrilled with the maps we brought from Kyiv, especially the big ones. 



Many of the children remembered UCARE from the 2005 Hearts for Arts program, and were thrilled to see us again. One little boy kept asking for Peggy.  We noted quite a few of the heart pillows on their beds. 


Peggy and friends

And the staff also invited us to celebrate the internat’s founding day, which we learned is an important holiday at every internat2.



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  1. 1. They replaced the boys’ beds first, which had been in the worst shape, first  Every boy we asked said the beds were the best.  They thanked us and one boy said he can finally sleep through the night! Ochakiv still needs 130 more beds, which we hope to provide them as we collect more money for Buy-a-Bed.

  2. 2.In fact, we were told that an internat’s founding day is the most important holiday of the entire year for the children living at that particular institution.  The children prepare dances or concerts, and local organizations, such as the police or other civic groups, may bring gifts to the internat or its children, to celebrate the internat’s special day. 



Pillows from the Hearts for Arts visit

 

Ochakiv