Help for children from Ukraine.
55 children from Zhytomyr, each with an experience that no child should ever have to go through. No one deserves domestic violence, a reality in which a bottle of alcohol is more important than their needs, in which crying and screaming are ended by police intervention. When the children came to the centre, which was supposed to provide them with safety and professional help, Russian missiles fell on neighbouring buildings. The subsequent trauma has left them panic-stricken and terrified of the war.
Today we visited the Lwiątko kindergarten, on the Ukrainian side of the border. This is where the carers of the Zhytomyr children’s centre evacuated the pupils. They could not flee abroad because the status of some of the children has still not been resolved by the courts. We cannot show their faces, because many are still not safe. What we can tell you about is the help you have provided to children in Ukraine. We can tell you about the joy of the younger and older children in our care at the sight of several tonnes of food, cleaning products, toys, school supplies and medicines.
Lwiątko kindergarten is a small building in the middle of a Ukrainian village. There is no asphalt road here. The institution does not receive any organised help. All it can offer the children of Zhytomyr is a roof over their heads and a modest helping hand from neighbouring farms, which share what they can, although they can afford very little.
A small pot boils on the stove. Inside are potatoes, cabbage and a piece of sausage. There must be enough for dinner tonight for all 55 children in our care. The younger ones get a few sips of cream soup. They never used to know what they were going to eat tomorrow.
This changes today! Another Good Factory has just been built in Ukraine. We will stand by these dear kids until the war is over and they return safely to Zhytomyr. You will learn their stories and we hope we will all become friends with them. Tomorrow we return to Lwiątko again.
Can you help us today? Yes!!! We really need it, because the help for Lwiątko needs to flow regularly from this day on. What can you do for these kids today? Reach for a special candle which helps fund the work we are doing here! And if you want to meet us and hear about our new project, we’ll be waiting for you in front of the Ukrainian Embassy on Szucha Street in Warsaw this Thursday at 8 p.m. We’ll shine the Light for Ukraine together then! Let’s stand in solidarity with Ukraine!