CREATE HOPE in the WORLD
More than 100,000 women and children are living in Kharkiv city and the Kharkiv region under rocket attacks and bombing. The Rotary Club of Kharkiv Nadiya (Hope) is helping these children with the Rotary Resort program.
Kharkiv is one of Ukraine’s larger cities. It is within a few miles of the Russian border and has been under constant attack since the invasion began over a year ago. Many women and children have fled from the occupied areas. The children are under heavy stress and seriously traumatized.
For the last several months the Kharkiv club has been working with Rotary District 7630, Eastern Shore of Maryland and Delaware, on the Rotary Resort program.
The Rotary Resort is a special program for mothers and their children. This program includes special activities for psycho-trauma prevention, physical and emotional recovery, classes of basic education with the Ukrainian curriculum for children, training on behavior and how to live in areas with thousands of land mines. The program is conducted in a safe area in the southern part of the Kharkiv region.
It is a fifteen day program where twenty-five mothers and their children (ages 4-15) are brought from the devastated territories of Kharkiv region to this safe area. Preference is given to families of combatants and volunteers, families who lost their homes and children with special needs.
The first two Rotary Resort programs in July.3-17, 2022 and June, 11-25, 2023 were very successful. Twenty-two women and thirty-one children participated and showed good results after the program. Their level of stress decreased by half and mental resilience increased by 10% after the two-week program (Karen-Lappert test). Subjective feelings of anxiety also decreased. Every participant noted the psychological and physical relaxation, normalization of sleeping, and restoring faith in the future.
A third Rotary Resort program began August, 13 and will finish on the August, 26. There are eleven women and thirteen children participating.
“We are so thankful USA District 7630 for their support with the DRF RI grant.” luliia Pavichenko, President, RC Kharkiv Nadiya
Signs for Mines, Protecting the Children of Ukraine
There are over 155,000 square miles of Ukraine that have been covered with land mines. It will take years, some estimate over seventy years, to remove the land mines and make Ukraine safe for her children. In the mean time we need to keep the children out of the mined areas and teach them how to identify mines and how to stay safe.
On Wednesday, September 13 the eClub State of Jefferson and the Rotary Club Kharkiv Nadiya are presenting a program to help you understand this huge threat to the Ukrainian children and how you can help.
This is a live presentation from Kharkiv with the experts in charge of the massive demining effort. You will get to know a little bit about the Ukrainian culture, hear their music and experience their deep patriotism. Hear from the experts and talk to people in an active war zone. An event that very few people will ever be able to be a part of.
