Ukrainian Life Connections

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Orphanage Report 12/07

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Team Members and Staff
Yana, Ukraine-English Translator







Orphanage Liaison
Translator

Yana lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Robert, and daughter, Nina.  She is originally from Ukraine, and occasionally returns for visits with her family.





Translator

Nelly lives with her adoptive family in Oregon, U.S.A. where she attends high school.  She has been in the States for three years.

Nelly also performs translations and activities for other charities benefitting Ukrainian orphanages.
Please see the following:  Nelly on the News

Nelly, Ukraine-English Translator
Jamie, Ukraine-English Translator




Translator

Jamie lives with her adoptive familiy in Massachusetts, USA, where she attends high school and plays serious volleyball.

Jamie was formerly a student at the Borzna orphanage, and since being in the U.S. she has returned to visit friends and family in Ukraine.






Translator

Chris's family left Ukraine during World War II, later to come to the USA after the end of the war, when Chris was a small child.
She credits her parents with keeping her Ukrainian language skills alive and intact.

Chris lives in Maryland, USA.
Chris - Ukrainian Life Connections Translator
 
 
 
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Ukrainian Life Connections, 2008
Connecting Sponsors with Orphans in Ukraine.




facts and disclosures

Ukrainian Life Connections is not an official non-profit organization. However, Ukrainian Life Connections does operate and will continue to operate NOT for profit. A $15.00 per month per orphan fee pays primarily for translations of letters, expenses of Ukrainian representative to travel from Kiev to the orphanage and back, and to take photographs, scan and email letters, etc. In addition, the expenses of some computer equipment necessary to increase efficiency of the sponsorship program will be paid for out of sponsorship fees. At the end of a calendar year, any moneys left over from sponsorship fees will be donated outright to the orphanage to be used in a program of need for the orphans in ukraine.

Ukrainian Life Connections sells no product. The main function of Ukrainian Life Connections is to help foster relationships between caring adults and needy orphans in the poorest regions of Ukraine. For these Ukrainian orphans to survive - not only within an orphanage - but also outside after graduation - they need hope. They need guidance and to know that there are other kind and caring people in the world - that there is something worth struggling for.

Some of the benefits to sponsored orphans in Ukraine:
  • Sponsored Ukrainian orphans receive hope through your letters.
  • Sponsored Ukrainian orphans receive love through your letters.
  • Sponsored Ukrainian orphans receive hope and love through your photographs.
  • Orphans in Ukraine may get the inspiration they need from a sponsor to continue fighting to improve themselves.
  • You may be the spark needed to instill an orphan in Ukraine with the drive to work and study hard.
  • When you sponsor orphans in Ukraine, you can send warm clothing and blankets and other needs to Ukraine.

Share your life with an orphan in Ukraine, and find out how easy and rewarding it is to give love and inspiration to a child who needs more hope in the world. The cost is minimal, and the time involved is completely up to you.

It is estimated that there are over 100,000 orphans in Ukraine. Some of these are "true" orphans who have lost their parents to disease or accidents. Many others are what is known as "social" orphans -- children who have either been abandoned by their parents, or whose parents have been deprived of their parental rights due to abuse, neglect, alcoholism, drug abuse, or other circumstances.

Many of the other orphans in Ukrainian orphanages  have parents who simply cannot afford to care for them properly. The International Labor Organization calculates that Ukraine's real unemployment level is nearly 7%, and almost 40% of the population lives below the poverty line. These statistics may give some indication of the life that awaits an orphan in Ukraine once that orphan has moved outside of the protection of an orphanage.

It has been calculated elsewhere that about 10% of these orphans commit suicide after leaving an orphanage and before turning 18. 60% of females turn to prostitution in order to make a living, and approximately 70% of males end up involved in crime - with many of males and females ending up finally in jail. When these orphans leave the orphanage, many are being put into the wide world, while missing many essential life skills -- not able to cook, use a bank, balance a budget -- or in any other way navigate through the complicated world outside, having utterly lost any social safety net.

Ukrainian Life Connections is asking mostly for your time, your energy, your love, your imagination. Please help us help these orphans in Ukraine.