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Dnipro Kids Baby Centre

Its been a fantastic first month at the Baby Centre, with each client more than thankful to all people that help fund this Centre and the help it is able to provide.

Single mums, orphan girls, mums with many kids are very grateful that they have somewhere to come and receive any help. Each mum that comes to Centre feels that she is loved and that there are people in this world that care about her and her baby.  They are all very grateful that they can visit the Centre and leave with clothing, food and nappies for their babies. We know that we cannot sort all their problems but at least those women that do come can receive advice, be hugged and know that we care.

The situation in Ukraine is that when a baby reaches 1 year old the mums get only $30 p er month from the government. It is hardly enough to buy nappies for a month let alone feed and clothe their baby. It is almost impossible for mums, that don't have financial support from their relatives, to dress and feed their baby.

Sveta was one of the first clients of the Baby Centre. She is an orphan from the Vasylkovka orphanage in the Dnepropetrovsk region. She is one of the nicest girl I ever met that has got herself pregnant, but still has the courage to stand strong even though it is very hard for her. Without telling all the details of her life, because I don't think Sveta would be comfortable with that, I can tell you that Sveta is a student at a Teacher Training School, she is training to be a Primary School teacher. While she is studying at the school the government gives her a place to live and some financial support. When she eventually got the courage to tell the school that she was pregnant she was told that she must either leave the school, losing her accommodation and financial support, or give her baby to orphanage. Both of these options were so horrible for Sveta that she was at a complete loss as to what to do. She came to the Baby Centre for help and we are doing everything possible to try and help her in this situation. We have a volunteer at the Baby Centre called Lena who cares for her Sveta like a mum and we have another  volunteer Kolya, who is a journalist and doing everything possible to protect Sveta’s legal rights. We are hopeful that the situation can be resolved and we will keep you updated on the progress. (Picture: Sveta and Lena helping sort baby clothes from Scotland)

Another new client of the Baby Centre, also called Sveta, has a lovely little boy called Bogdan. She is not as young as pregnant Sveta but she is also from an orphanage, so has no parents or relatives to help her. She is a very good and caring mum and her baby Bogdan is adorable. Her situation is also very hard because she needs to start working to be able to feed herself and her baby. Unfortunately in Ukraine it is not that easy to find a vacancy in nursery for your  child. It is not such a problem if you have the money to “pay” but without it you can find yourself waiting a very long time for a place. One of the clients at the Baby Centre reserved a place for her child when she was just 5 months pregnant!

During the first  month that Baby Centre has been opened we already have 50 clients registered. We are managing to help most, even if it is just with a small amount of nappies, food or clothing. They are all very thankful to generosity of the people of Scotland who graciously share their love with kids in Dnipro.

Yours,
 

Ira and Natalie

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