Dear Sponsor,
My name is Arina and I’m 12 years old. I live in the city of Khmelnytskyi. I have a brother named Stanislav. He’s really funny, and we always have the best memories together. I also have a best friend, Olha. We’ve been friends for five years. We mostly talk online, but sometimes she visits me and we hang out. She always supports me, and we like playing games together.
At Christmas, I love eating mandarins and watching New Year movies. In the summer, I usually go for walks with my friends, or sometimes I walk alone while listening to music. I’m in 7th grade, and I walk to school. I stay there for about seven hours. My favorite place at school is the sofas because my classmates and I sit there during breaks to rest and talk. The only thing I don’t like is that we get a lot of homework. My favorite subjects are math, English, and art.
My favorite foods are shawarma and fried potatoes, but at home I usually eat whatever my mom cooks. In my free time, I like using my phone or reading books. When I grow up, I want to be an interior designer or an actress.
Thank you very much, dear sponsor. I’m excited to hear from you.
Your friend,
Arina
Caseworker Comments:
Arina is an energetic and positive girl, gentle in her shyness and deeply kind at heart. She is sincere, thoughtful, and full of creativity. Her imagination is vivid, and she loves expressing herself through drawing and reading. She also enjoys studying English and mathematics, showing strong potential in both. At home, Arina is responsible and helpful—she completes her chores, assists with cleaning, and does everything she can to support her mother. She is a healthy child, bright in spirit and full of promise.
The family, however, has been living under difficult circumstances for many years. Arina’s parents have been separated for more than five years. Her mother was forced to leave the father with the children due to a real and immediate threat to their safety. The home environment had become dangerous because of domestic violence; the father struggled with alcohol abuse and physically harmed the mother. Since the separation, he has not taken part in raising the children and provides no financial support. Although he is employed, he continues to abuse alcohol and remains absent from their lives. The family’s financial situation is so strained that Arina’s mother cannot afford the legal assistance required to file for divorce or child support.
Today, Arina lives with her mother and her older brother, Stanislav (born in 2009), in a modest rented two-room apartment in the city of Khmelnytskyi. While the apartment has basic amenities—central heating, electricity, running water, and an indoor toilet, it is simple, old, and not their own. Nearly all of the mother’s disability pension goes toward rent and utilities, leaving the family dependent on Stanislav’s disability pension just to cover food and daily needs. The children’s bedroom is sparsely furnished, and the furniture is worn from years of use. Despite their best efforts, the family’s living conditions remain fragile and uncertain.
Arina’s mother is unable to work due to serious health complications. Over the past year, she underwent three major surgeries on her throat related to a thyroid condition. During these procedures, her vocal cords were damaged and later had to be stitched. For a long time, she could neither speak nor eat normally. Although her condition has stabilized somewhat—she can now speak quietly and eat—she is still far from being able to return to work. She receives a disability pension of only 3,323 UAH (approximately $77), which is not enough to support the family.
Arina’s brother, Stanislav, was diagnosed with diabetes this year at just 15 years old. He now requires continuous medical care, special nutrition, and regular monitoring. He has also been granted disability status and receives a pension of 3,250 UAH (approximately $75). The family receives no additional social assistance.
Yet, despite all these hardships, Arina remains a bright, open, and hopeful child. She continues to draw, learn, and dream. She communicates warmly with others and maintains a positive outlook on life. Her mother, too, is doing everything she can to stay strong—she has begun attending a Bible study group, seeking spiritual support, encouragement, and hope during this difficult season.
Given the mother’s serious health challenges, the brother’s medical needs, the absence of the father, the extremely low income, and the burden of living in rented housing, the family is in urgent need of support. Arina’s participation in HART’s Child Sponsorship Program is both timely and essential. Sponsorship would help provide her with basic necessities—nutrition, stability, care, and safety—while also giving her the opportunity to grow emotionally, spiritually, and creatively.
Supporting Arina means giving a resilient, talented, and kind-hearted child the chance to thrive despite the circumstances she was born into. It means offering hope to a family that has endured hardship with courage. And it means investing in a future where Arina’s gifts, dreams, and potential can flourish.
