On 14 October, UWCF team members and volunteers from detdom.info visited Puhachiv Residential Care Home to make a true miracle happen to a local girl, Olya, on her birthday.
We would like to thank the organizers and all the volunteers for well-coordinated teamwork in preparing this event, for your sincere help and kind hearts, for the faith you invigorate into special children!
Our special thanks go to Ponchyk the Clown (Yaroslav Beltsov) for the amazing program he made to entertain children and adults; the Mulberry restaurant for delicious sweets provided to the little princesses; photographer Yan for the beautiful pictures; volunteers Lyudmyla, Yuliya and Tetiana for the presents they brought to Olya; and the entire team of detdom.info for smooth cooperation!
Birthday is the all-time favourite occasion for every child, and being so it is a strong rival to New Year. Children are so eager to taste fabulous delicacies, have fun, attention, and all friends around, so that everyone could be happy. A birthday party is to the greater extent something special to kids. Children always try to get ahead of time, striving to become adults as soon as possible, so they feel sincere joy facing every birthday to come. For special kids, living in residential care facilities, it is the most important day of year because this is when all attention is locked on you as a birthday child. On this day, a child receives the kindest treatment, hugs and wishes for the entire year.
On 14 October, UWCF team members and volunteers from detdom.info visited Puhachiv Residential Care Home (a facility for girls suffering from mental retardation at the imbecility stage and Down syndrome, for children deprived of parental care, orphan children) to make a true miracle happen to a local inmate, Olya, on her birthday.
As usual, we were welcomed in by the facility’s director, Ms Lesya Petrenko, to start our visit by covering all formal issues: we signed relevant documents, discussed future plans, prepared papers for the girls’ upcoming excursion trip. Then, while peeling some bananas for the kids, we were found by the heroine of the festivities. All guests were pleased to start giving her presents. Olya told us that she had invited her friends to a party at Montessori Child Development Center.
The youngest volunteer, 9-year-old Oleksandr Petrenko, independently connected and set up the children’s karaoke machine brought by Charity Foundation UWCF so that all guests who came on that day and would come to the girls in the future could enjoy singing duets!
All preparations being over, the party started! The birthday girl and all her guests were in for a nice surprise as they had not expected a clown and a magician named Ponchyk (‘doughnut’ in Ukrainian) to visit them. Being a good choirmaster and a perfect psychologist, he had a keen eye for every change in the special guests’ mood. The fabulous entertainment program was a real treat for the both children and adults invited to the party. Each of Ponchyk’s performances was masterfully flavoured with good humour, pure magic and desire to create a fairy tale for the kids.
The fantastic bubble show turned the celebration into an unforgettable event for our birthday girl. Using a special device, Ponchyk showered bubbles – big and small – on everyone. It was a welcome surprise to find out some bubbles that you can touch and they will not burst, but slowly go down to the floor, gradually decreasing in size. That was a spectacular show!
The celebration program traditionally contained physical games for everyone to participate. Older children don’t usually show any interest in such kind of games and prefer to watch younger kids play. This time, however, Kostya, a volunteer from detdom.info, managed to surprise educators and organizers by getting all children to participate in the games.
As it was nearly naptime for children, the celebration moved to the festively decorated dining hall. Olya blew out the candles on her birthday cake and made her greatest wish.
Further, it was the birthday girl’s turn to treat her guests to some delicious food provided by the Mulberry restaurant. The kids were happy to eat all the sweets and in eager rivalry say when they were supposed to have their next celebrations coming. For example, Natalie, an older inmate, said that she wanted to celebrate her birthday in November, during the planned excursion to Kyiv.
At the party’s close, when the guests left, Olya initiated a fashion parade by trying on skirts and tops presented by volunteers Lyudmyla, Yuliya and Tetiana, and UWCF.
It was a positive, joyful and optimistic celebration of Olya’s birthday for all the girls: they watched wonderful performances by Ponchyk the Clown, played games and had delicious treats. So, to sum things up, everyone received a present.
«I am really grateful to everyone who has just up and come to visit Puhachiv Residential Care Home. Today, our inmate has received so many greetings. I would like to extend a big thank you to all our friends – UWCF team members and volunteers from detdom.info. Nothing of this could have happened without these people. Thank you everyone who have helped this celebration happen!», says Lesya Petrenko, Director of Puhachiv Residential Care Home.
We would like to thank all the organizers and volunteers for well-coordinated teamwork in preparing this event, for your sincere help and kind hearts! Thank you for the faith you invigorate into special children!