Odessa Ukraine, Charity and Helping the Needy
How to help the needy in Odessa
Odessa
is a city of contrasts. Many young people in Odessa
have mobile phones and chic European clothing. Odessa
also has many ongoing construction projects. Many of
the people in the restaurants look affluent. BMWs and
Mercedes are common sites. You may be mistaken that
Odessa is a thriving European
city.
But if
a person looks a little deeper, this image is slightly
tarnished, you cannot help but notice the incredible
number of homeless people. Elderly and the disabled
beg for food, drug addicts and alcoholics are passed
out on the street, large numbers of people hunt through
trash cans, and dirty street children sleep in the
parks.
The reality is that official unemployment hovers just
over 1%, but the International Labor Organization has
placed this figure as high as 34% when including
workers on unpaid/involuntary leave and unreported
separations. A significant part of the Ukrainian labor
force has migrated to the shadow economy, taking up
service jobs such as taxi drivers, waiters, and
traders - anything to ensure economic survival. Wages
remain very low by Western standards. In Odessa the
average salary is only USD 29-37 per month, or
less that $500 a year. Pensions for the elderly are
around $15 a month.
There is estimated to
be over 5,000 homeless children in Odessa alone. These
children are often fleeing physical and sexual abuse
at home. Many become drug addicts and prostitutes.
Plagued with
corruption
There is no easy way to help the needy of Odessa.
For the past two years we have participated in the
non-profit community, in several nonprofit
organizations in Odessa. The level of corruption and
theft is phenomenal.
For example, in 2001
we met a gentleman who had come to Odessa on business.
He saw the poverty and wanted to help.
- First, he gave a
retirement home some money and it was embezzled.
- Next, he physically
gave these elderly pensioners money. Later he found
out the staff forcefully stole it from each and
every pensioner.
- Finally, he
purchased heaters for the pensioners. They were all
stolen and sold.
This story is not
uncommon, a religious group had humanitarian aid
containers held up in customs and then pillaged. This
group never received the containers. Another volunteer
gave the money from a grant, over $2,000 to an
orphanage director and the director later denied that
she ever received it.
But this corruption in
no way lessons the need of the people that require
this aid the most. It is simply wise to be aware of
the epidemic problems that exist in Odessa.
If you want to help
In two years of working with several non-profits,
and being in contact with dozens more, there is only
one charity that we can guarantee will use any aid
honestly:
Kostya Swab
Salvation Army representative in Odessa
Tel: 67-93-10 (home)
Sanya
Kostya's English translator
Tel: 65-33-04 (home)
Children's Center
Kosmonavtov 68 (Космонавтов) #2
Kostya
runs a children's center in the
Malinovsky
district for neighborhood poor children. These children
are some of the poorest in Odessa. The US coast guard
and US embassy rebuilt this children's center with
Kostya. He is incredibly dedicated to this project,
most of his apartment furniture is in the center.
In the summer of 2002 he took the children to a summer
camp.
Beggars in front of Preobrazhenskaya
70 (Преображенская) by Galen
Frysinger
Other charities
which we cannot guarantee the honesty simply for lack
of knowing the organization well:
Svetly
Dom
(not to be confused with the Svetly Dom on Dobrovolskaya)
Bazarnaya 2/1 (Базарная)
Tel: 21-78-62
25-85-73
Email: sdom@farlep.net
www.svetly-dom.org
Svetly
Dom is a famous children's orphanage ran by Father
Alexander, a Catholic Priest. His orphanage was the
sole beneficiary of a celebrity night on the Ukrainian
version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire".
Macdonald's Restaurant remodeled the orphanage lunchroom.
The United Sates Navy and US embassy remodeled the
kitchen and bathrooms. Although their is a really
spirit of love in this orphanage towards the kids,
unsubstantiated rumors (sometimes the non-profit world
in Odessa can be very backbiting and envious) and
questionable accounting practices make me unable to
recommend this charity fully.
The losers of capitalism
Center
for the Rehabilitation of Invalid Children
Pushkinskaya 51 (Пушкинская)
(Corner of Bazarnaya (Базарная))
Located at the Golden Angel monument on Pushkinskaya
Street (Пушкинская).
No personal experience with this organization. Has
a good reputation.
Tips for
giving:
- Unless
it is Kostya Schwab's children center (above), never
give cash. Purchase items to give the needy at a
local bazaar.
- Do a
"needs assessment", make sure what you
want to give is what the charity really needs.
- Never
promise unless you are ABSOLUTELY certain
you WILL deliver. Ukrainians views on verbal agreements,
no mater how causal, are much more binding than
most western cultures.
Blind woman singing for money
Adoption
requirements are available on the United States American
Embassy web page at:
usinfo.usemb.kiev.ua/amcit_adoptions_eng.html
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