A ticket to life for boarding school graduates

The war, which brought with it unprecedented problems, destruction and misfortune, continues. Many people suffered irreparable losses, moral and material damage. Therefore, those who, even before the war, had to fight daily for their own survival, who had a much harder time than others, are not at all sweet for them now. In particular, teenagers and young people who have recently left boarding schools and are faced with the cruel realities of the "outside world", and even in wartime.

More than 100,000 Ukrainian children do not have a family and adults who would take care of them, help them in the difficult process of growing up and, especially, in adapting to an independent life after they leave the walls of orphanages and boarding schools.

What awaits them in the "big world" when there are no parents, guardians or other reliable adults who are ready to give advice, give a helping hand and support behind their backs? They cross the threshold of the institution, which from early childhood was replaced by their home, practically helpless in the face of such a strange life for them. How to live further? What kind of education to get? Where to look for a job? How to make a living?.. The list of questions is endless. 

But how can the adaptation of these orphans be mitigated? How can you help them develop as individuals and protect them from bad choices and problems with the law? The workers and volunteers of our foundation have been dealing with children and adolescents from boarding schools for many years, they know their problems, pains, fears. They also know how to help the sad future of such single children who face adulthood after living in a boarding school. 

That is why we started building a shelter, a temporary home for boarding school graduates. They will be able to arrive there immediately after they cross the threshold of the boarding school for the last time and leave its gates. They will be able to live in the shelter for about a year or a year and a half, learn self-service skills, housekeeping, budget planning and shopping in stores, they will be helped with training, etc.All this will help them socialize, get on their feet, learn to interact with other people and cope with difficulties. This adaptation will help them get on the right track, start their adult life right, get an education and learn how to honestly earn money for a living. 

But now, in order to complete the construction of the shelter and equipping the living quarters, we do not have enough funds to purchase construction and repair materials and household items necessary for arranging rooms and bathrooms. The shelter will house 10 graduates of orphanages and internally displaced graduates of boarding schools, who themselves or with their comrades fled from the war to safer regions of Ukraine and ended up in the Khmelnytskyi region.

Therefore, we appeal to those who, like us, are not indifferent to the fate of these abandoned children: help them, because no one will help them except us!