The long-awaited day has finally arrived: we are visiting our little friends we have been missing. On 21 September 2019, a group of students of Medical Faculty No.3, Pediatrics Department of the Bogomolets National Medical University, together with detdom.info volunteers and Charity Fund UWCF, made another visit to the inmates of the Communal Institution Puhachiv Psychoneurological Treatment and Residential Care Center (Berezneve village in Korosten District of Zhytomyr Region), for children suffering from mental retardation at the imbecility stage and Down syndrome of the 3rd and 4th disability categories.
We should say that both, the children and us, look forward to Saturday – the day we come to visit the girls we have been patronizing for almost 13 years already. When you see their eyes – sometimes happy and sometimes sad – they make you wish to do something good for these kids, and no matter what you do, it will mean great joy for them. The more you visit them, the more you learn to appreciate the life and everything around you.
Short-haired girls run toward us, happily smiling, to hug and say how they love and miss us. Every girl is telling us something (in her own understandable language), holding us tightly and looking into our eyes. The best gift for children is the time you spend with them.
The girls like handicraft: beadwork, painting, shaping various figures of modeling clay and doing crafts. Unfortunately, the children lack necessary materials for their favourite activity: modeling clay, paints, paper, and other stationary…
Our team has visited every class, saying hello to all girls – sometimes just stroking their hair, and some girls wanted hugs and laps and were very satisfied; everyone received a little present and bananas. Later, having discussed with the care center administration, we decided to let some grown-up girls taste chips for the first time. The little princesses were impressed! We thank the benefactors of the Kyiv City Charity Foundation “Food Bank”. That was a real pleasure… a new taste along with a new experience. They ate all chips and asked to bring more next time.
The team of UWCF’s project “Our Health Is in Our Hands”, as part of our program “Walking to the Health Land”, handed over SHIV-MEDFARM herbal cream for skin inflammation donated by Indian Herbs to the care center medical staff.
The inmates of the residential care center were deprived of many joys in their lives: nobody read them bedtime stories or sang them lullabies in their childhood, they sleep 5-6 persons per room, they rarely get hugged and kissed. They appreciate any attention you give them and remember the names of all benefactors and volunteers who visit and take care about them. They often ask us to say ‘hello’ to those volunteers who visited them long time ago.
We really hope that the children got many positive emotions. I thank our team for the visit, and all who share love and warmth with these children!
The girls lack the most important – love and attention. Therefore, we invite everyone who wish to join us in these visits of kindness!
