UWCF Co-Organizes the Seminar “Charity — Good Deeds Guaranteed”

Modern charity is a multi-vector thing. It is a lifeboat for beneficiaries receiving aid. For benefactors, it is a way to show compassion, feel involved in solving problems of those in need and responsible for their lives. However, this is also a really popular way for bad-faith people to make money off other people’s misery. The issue of charity is topical for Ukraine which, unfortunately, now holds one of the bottom positions in the World Giving Index (WGI). So today’s key task is to bring up this problem as often as we can and search for ways to improve the situation.

It is for this reason that, on 9 and 10 September 2016, United World Cultures Foundation, Ukrainian Association of Medical Tourism (UAMT) and Applied Research Medical Centre of Paediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery under the Ministry of Health of Ukraine held the seminar “Charity – Good Deeds Guaranteed” participated by representatives of various charitable organizations and diplomatic missions.

Initially it was planned that the seminar would be opened by Ilya Yemets, Director of Applied Research Medical Centre of Paediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, but he could not personally attend the event. Mr. Yemets who was preparing for a complicated surgery in a month-old girl with a congenital heart defect, addressed the seminar’s participants through a live transmission right from the operating room to highlight the importance of every hryvnia transferred to the medical centre by benefactors and the opportunities to save little lives provided by such donations.

Touched by the things seen and heard, Olga Volkovych (representative of United World Cultures Foundation) made a report “Overcoming the distrust to charity organizations in Ukraine and legal aspects of charitable activities in Ukraine” and called upon all benefactors to keep their activities maximally transparent and open for the public, as well as to involve as many businesses as they can in doing charity. “What counts most,” says Olga, “is not to stand aside and focus only on your own problems as anyone of us can find a few hours a month to think about other people”.

The seminar was also participated by Samat Ordabayev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to Ukraine; representatives of Moldova’s Embassy to Ukraine; Dzvenyslava Chajkivska, Secretary General of the international charitable foundation Caritas Ukraine; Iryna Tarasova, owner of the company Value; Iryna Hutsal, Director of Ukrainian Philanthropic Marketplace; and many others.

Thus, the seminar’s key purpose – to establish links between the cardiology centre and international charitable foundations, unite charitable organizations, forge relationships between cardiologists and benefactors for participation in international programs which will help enhance trust to the institute of charity, bring together heads of Ukrainian and foreign charitable and volunteer organizations, countries’ diplomatic missions, medical tourism experts, – has been successfully reached.