Bringing Hope to orphans in Ukraine

BILL REDEKOP / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image

Lindsay Rubeniuk (left) and Nicole Yunker with donations for an orphanage in Ukraine.

DAUPHIN -- Much to its shame, modern-day Ukraine has become one of the world's largest exporters of sex-trade workers, as organized crime in the country recruits vulnerable young people once they leave orphanages at the age of 16.

"They know these kids have nowhere to go," said Lindsay Rubeniuk of Grandview. "Eight out of 10 of these children ends up in a life of crime, drugs, or the sex trade."

She and friend, Nicole Yunker, both of Ukrainian ancestry, were moved to try to help. In the Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk, they have already been given a nickname. They are called the Hope (Nadiya, in Ukrainian).

Foster homes replaced Canada's orphanages many years ago but in Ukraine, almost 150,000 children live in orphanages or on the street. Only 10 per cent are orphaned due to death of a parent. The rest are orphans from abandonment, alcoholism or imprisonment of their parents, according to World Orphan Project.

Rubeniuk became aware of the problem while teaching entrepreneurship for the Community Economic Development Association (CEDA) in Ivano-Frankivsk, in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in western Ukraine.

She and Yunker, of Dauphin, first started a project called Boxes of Love, collecting winter clothes for young orphanage children. People across the Parkland donated good-as-new used clothing, everything from boots to parkas, and tuques, mitts, scarves and socks, most of them hand-knit in colourful Ukrainian tradition. The program has delivered 250 large shipping boxes of clothing so far, with help from Winnipeg company Meest Shipping.

But what about when the kids are released from the orphanage? Rubeniuk and Yunker toured the Ukrainian city last winter and asked nuns, orphanage executives, students and community leaders how they could help.

The children needed to be taught basic life, employment and business skills, was the answer. Learning Our Way Out of Poverty (LOWOP) was born, a program that would collate existing agencies in Ukraine as well as supplement them with their own skills. Rubeniuk has spent 15 years in community development, and Yunker 13 years helping people find jobs. They are assisted by Eric MacMillan, who has been in the co-operative movement for 35 years.

The program would last from four months to three years, depending on the individual. It would complement existing CEDA programs in vocational education in Ukraine. Many orphans don't go to school.

"At age 16, we want to give them some direction, some hope and prepare them for the world," said Rubeniuk. They are looking for a commitment of federal cash before they start fundraising.

This sounds like a program Ukraine should implement itself but its democratization took a step backward when the current regime threw former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko in jail. Tymoshenko has been sentenced to six years in prison for what are believed to be false accusations.

Conservative MP Robert Sopuck (Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette) is trying to spring money for LOWOP out of Ottawa. His wife, Caroline, is a volunteer with Boxes of Love.

Ukraine is important to Canada, said Sopuck, who chairs the all-party Ukrainian Parliamentary Friendship Group. Canada has the third-largest Ukrainian population after Ukraine and Russia, and 35 per cent of his constituents are Ukrainian.

"The larger issue is foreign aid," said Sopuck, who is Slavic but from a Czech-Polish background. "I think that's reason enough as Western democracies try to bring Ukraine into the family of Western nations."

Added Rubeniuk: "I'm Ukrainian, so I feel some connection, but I just believe every child deserves a good home and an education."

Ukraine has few of its own social programs, and people with jobs work 12 to 15 hour days. "It's a hard life in the Ukraine and everyone is just kept busy looking after themselves," she said.

The women can be reached at the email address: lowop@live.ca

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 3, 2012 A9