Lidia Ishchuk’s family-type orphanage is an old friend of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. The family helped 25 children set themselves up and find their way in life. After her husband died, the woman has been raising the children herself. Today, seven children and teenagers aged 6 to 17 live in her house in Kyiv. In the framework of the New Year’s Campaign Rinat Akhmetov for Children, the Foundation’s team visited the family and congratulated them on the upcoming holidays. The guests brought some gifts and held an interesting creative master class.
“During the war, this tradition of kindness and help has taken on a somewhat special meaning. No matter how hard the enemy has been trying to leave our children without celebration and holiday joys, we will not allow it to do so. Holidays and miracles will definitely happen!” emphasized Alina Klimchyk, representative of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.
Lidia, a mother and caretaker in the family-type children’s home, describes the many years of warm relations with the Foundation.
“We have been friends with the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation for a long time, even before the war. They helped us, organized holidays for the children and training activities that were useful for us, the parents. Every year, the children look forward to the holiday. These are simple human relations that warm the soul. We know that we can ask for help, when necessary,” commented the woman.
During the war, the family left for Italy. Boys and girls, interrupting each other, share how they dreamed of returning from there to their homeland Ukraine. Almost all the older children of the Ishchuk family do not leave the country either. Mother Lidia instilled love for the Motherland and family in them.
“Family is where everything starts. None of the children who grew up here actually left. There are children who are 28 years old now. They always know that there is a family where they can come on holidays, where they can get advice and support. When my husband died, the older children teamed up and helped me,” Lidia says.
She dreams of peace most of all. She admits that the children and their successes give her strength to move on. All the adopted children of the Ishchuk family study, work, and achieve their goals. And this is what warms the soul of their caring adoptive mother. The children thank her for the fact that they have a family in which love and care reign.
The New Year’s Campaign Rinat Akhmetov for Children is a good tradition of more than 20 years, which reached over a million boys and girls for now. Thanks to the Campaign, children do not lose faith in miracles and find additional opportunities to develop their superpowers and megatalents.
The Campaign continues and many meetings and greetings are ahead! Follow its progress on social networks and on the Foundation’s website