Dear Future Sponsor,
Hello! My name is Vasylyna, and I’m 11 years old. I live in a small town in the Volyn region. My mom is on maternity leave. I have a younger brother named Nazar, and he will start first grade soon. My best friend is Anna, and we walk to school together every day.
At Christmas, my family makes lots of yummy food, and my favorite is holubtsi (cabbage rolls). Last Christmas, I went to church, and they gave me a present. I also loved watching the Christmas play. In the summer, I help my mom take care of my little sister. I also like walking to the lake and taking naps before lunchtime. I’m in Grade 5 and walk to school every day. I study English, math, art, and Ukrainian. Math is my favorite! I also love reading, and I have a few friends at school. Pizza is my favorite food, but my mom makes delicious borscht, buckwheat, pasta, and rice. On holidays, we make Olivier salad and stewed cabbage.
In my free time, I like weaving with rubber bands and going for walks. When I grow up, I want to be a hairdresser because I love braiding my sister’s and grandma’s hair. I would be so happy if you could help me and my family. I’d also love to learn more about you.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you!
With love,
Vasylyna
Caseworker Comments:
Meet Vasylyna, a bright, creative, and athletic 11-year-old girl who has a natural ability to connect with others. Despite the challenging circumstances she faces, she has developed strong intellectual abilities, thanks to the support of kind-hearted people, good teachers, and the chance to stay with her mother instead of being placed in an orphanage. Vasylyna enjoys watching cartoons, drawing, making crafts with rubber bands, running outside, and playing with younger children. She’s more sociable than her mother and helps by babysitting her younger siblings. She also loves spending time on the monkey bars and playing at her school’s playground. Attending church is very important to her, and she’s actively involved in her youth group.
However, the challenges this family faces are profound, involving social, emotional, and financial struggles.
Ivanna, Vasylyna’s mother, grew up in an orphanage, lacking the nurturing care of parents. Now, as a mother herself, she faces immense difficulties. Her husband is absent, and he manipulates the situation with threats, warning that social services might take their children away. This constant intimidation, combined with financial hardships and the lack of stable housing, leaves Ivanna living in a state of fear and stress.
The family’s living conditions are far from ideal. They currently live in a room provided by Vasylyna’s grandmother, located in a former dormitory building. The grandmother has a history of instability and has not been a consistent caregiver for her own children, including Ivanna, who spent much of her childhood in institutional care. Sadly, this pattern continues, and the grandmother shows little interest in supporting her grandchildren.
For children, the environment is filled with uncertainty. They’ve witnessed frequent conflicts, struggles with alcohol, and mental health issues within the family. These conditions pose serious risks to their emotional and physical well-being, as well as their ability to develop social skills in the future.
As a result of these concerns, the family is under the watch of social services. The children have often gone hungry, and the lack of stable housing only deepens their vulnerability. Our team first connected with Ivanna’s family through a collaboration with social services. During our initial visit, we brought food and small gifts for the children to help break the ice and begin building trust. To our surprise, we discovered that they live near another family involved in our child sponsorship program, and their children play together. This connection helped us quickly establish trust with Ivanna.
Ivanna is naturally cautious and deeply ashamed of her circumstances. She lives in constant fear that her children might be taken away. However, despite her fears, she welcomed our visit, and we could see how much she loves and cares for her children, wanting the best for them.
Growing up without a positive example of motherhood, Ivanna is doing her best, but she struggles to meet her children’s needs and navigates parenthood effectively. Though her journey has been full of hardship, she remains determined to give her children a better life.
Ivanna cherishes the memories of the kindness she received from church members in the past. Their support helped her, and it encouraged her to allow Vasylyna to attend church activities. This shows Ivanna’s deep desire to see her daughter grow up with more opportunities and a brighter future.
We are committed to providing this family with the support they need. Through HART, we aim to offer not only practical help but also share the love and hope of the Gospel with Ivanna and her children. We pray that Vasylyna will not follow the difficult paths her parents and grandmother have faced, but instead find a future filled with hope, joy, and the love of Jesus.
The family’s living conditions are challenging. They have a single room for sleeping, cooking, studying, and eating. Each family member has their own bed, but they share one table for meals and other activities. There’s not enough space for proper storage, and their clothes are piled on their beds, covered with blankets. While they have basic kitchenware, the children only have a small collection of toys, donated by kind-hearted people. Their room needs significant repairs: the windows need fixing, the table, doors, and floors need to be repainted, and the wallpaper, which the children have torn off, needs to be replaced. Installing running water would be a great improvement.
The refrigerator they have is broken and should either be repaired or replaced with a working one. The children also need a dedicated space to study and do their homework, as their current living conditions make it hard to focus on schoolwork.
Creating a proper shower room would greatly improve their hygiene, but we need to consult specialists to determine if it’s possible to install plumbing and sewage systems.
Though their situation is difficult, there are small improvements that could significantly improve the family’s quality of life and create a more stable, nurturing environment for the children. They are burdened with debts for utility bills, rent, and garbage collection, but they do manage to pay for electricity, which is a small relief in their struggles. The family is in need of material assistance, including food, clothing, and help improving their living conditions.
One of the most urgent needs is supporting Ivanna with her emotional and social rehabilitation. She struggles with trusting others, stemming from her own difficult past and the manipulative behavior of her husband. She doesn’t even recall the birth dates of her children or fully understand their health needs. There’s a real risk that her children could follow the same path as Ivanna and her mother, but with support, they can be given the tools to break this cycle.
Working closely with this family, offering psychological support, and promoting their social development is crucial to helping them build a brighter future. We hope to see them grow stronger, healthier, and more connected with a community that cares for them.
