Bogdan needed urgently a heart operation
Olga Ivanovna, the director of NBH in Nikolaiev, has contacted us in July and requested urgent assistance for newborn Bogdan. Due to heart deformity ‚tetralogy of Fallot’ his life was in danger.
The health status of Bogdan was so unstable that he could not move from maternity home of the hospital to NBH. Chief doctor urged a speedy operation in the Kiev Cardio Center (KCC).
Call for donation and news about Nikolay
Updated news as of July 27th 2008 can be read here.
Updated news as of June 15th 2008 can be read here.
Updated news as of May 28th 2008
In March 2008 Nikolay was taken to the Institute of Urology. The doctors were glad to see him again and admitted that he had made unexpected progress in physical development (the boy really has grown a lot). The chief doctor of the hospital called several other doctors, they had a conference and they came to the conclusion that Nikolay can be operate in Kiev. The operation will take place on May 12th.
Nikolay will be accompanied and looked after by a nurse. Transportation to Kiev, operation and accomodation for two months will cost approx. $ 4,000 (CHF 4,000 or € 2,500).
Here you can read the first and second article about Nikolay.
Please consider making an online donation to help Nikolay.
Bathroom renovation in Nikolaiev Baby House, funding needed!
Updated news as of July 15th, 2008 can be read here.
Nikolaiev Baby House (NBH) consists of 12 groups of children from 0 to 4 years of age. Last year, thanks to a generous sponsor, NBH was able to replace all old windows in the children’s bathrooms of each group.
In 2008 Director Olga Ivanovna from NBH would like to repair the children’s bathrooms, replace all water pipes and all sewage pipes as well. This project costs a total of 78,000 US$ for all 12 bathrooms, or approximately 6,500 US$ for each bathroom.
As soon as we have sufficient funds available for the first bathroom we will start and then as we receive more funds continue with a bathroom at the time. We are asking for your kind help to start this project now.
Donations can be made here.
Please consult our list of ongoing projects in Ukraine.
Thank you very much for your kind support!
New pictures of Montessori outdoor playground
The children of Nikolaiev Baby House can now enjoy the fully equipped Montessori outdoor playground and enjoy the beautiful weather too.
Latest pictures can be found here.
LAdS has got a new car
Previous LAdS car was sold successfully. Thanks to generous donations Les Amis de Svieta Ukraine and Vika are motorized again 
Our Mazda is a 2nd hand car that has been sold by a bank. It is two years old and has just 40,000 kilometers.
Further pictures of new car can be seen here.
News of Nataliya and Ilona
Updated news as of June 30th, 2008 can be read here.
On November 4th, once financing was secured, we took Ilona and Nataliya by car to the orthopedics in Evpatoriya (Crimea).
Svieta USA officially registered as non-profit
Les Amis de Svieta USA, Inc. has officially been registered as a non-profit organization in the United States and has opened a bank account allowing sponsors to send their donation tax free.
Please read here how Les Amis de Svieta USA, Inc. was established.
Check to be made payable to:
Les Amis de Svieta USA, Inc.
Attn. Jim Smith
302 Orchard Lane
Clarkesville, GA 30523
Bank contact is:
Habersham Bank, in Clarkesville, GA
It’s also possible to wire money by contacting Jim Smith,
Svieta car success story
Les Amis de Svieta Ukraine has been motorized since April 2006!
The Peugeot was registered in Ukraine in the name of our local representative Vika.
In two years we traveled 35,774 km, we visited numerous orphanages, baby houses and boarding schools and we transported many children to hospitals, e.g. Nikolay, Vitaly, Irina, Natascha, Illona, Vika, Julia, Ekaterina and Olga.
Thanks to this car our association was much more mobile in Ukraine and we could reduce travel expenses while at the same time increase our efficiency by at least a factor of two. We simply couldn’t have done all the things we did.
Pictures of this success story can be seen here.
Due to changes in Ukrainian car registration law we couldn’t continue to drive and use this car and Vika had to sell it, which she managed successfully.
What do we do now without a car?
We are looking to purchase an other car, one that satisfies Ukrainian regulations, one that is big enough to travel savely with two nurses and two children, one that is reliable enough to cope with Ukrainian weather and road conditions, one that is save to drive, one that is clean and doesn’t use too much petrol to save money. In other words, we are looking for a rather costly car, considering Ukrainian used car prices.
Help required for final Montessori certification in Nikolaiev
Updated news as of May 28th 2008 can be read here!
In order to complete Montessori certification in spring 2008 Nikolaiev Baby House needs a kit of special Montessori educational toys. Cost to buy those Montessori toys (called “standard” kit) is US$ 1,000 (~ € 750 or ~ CHF 1,200)
Before final Montessori certification NBH staff needs to attend a final training course in Kiev which costs for travel and subsistence US$ 300 (~ € 220 or ~ CHF 360).
More about Montessori pilot project can be read here and here.
Pictures can be seen here und here.
Price surge in Ukraine
Ukraine’s consumer prices soared at their highest rate in eight years in March.
Read the full article from KYIV POST here (in English).
An economic adviser presents explanations and his suggestions in a second KYIV POST article (again in English).
April trip report
Sunday April 13th
Mission completed 
Pascal and Vika have arrived late at night in Nuremberg, after extremly long queing at the Ukrainian - Hungarian border and after some mechanical problems with the car. All is well that ends well.
Thursday April 10th
After they resolved the last tiny details they are now ready to drive to Germany 
Wednesday April 9th
Finally, done! They have obtained all the necessary papers to drive back to Germany by car. After endless discussions and long hours waiting they have received just what they were entitled by law anyway, nothing more.
LAdS Newsletter 2008
We regularly inform our members on the way in which their donations are used by semi-annually publishing a short “Newsletter”. Or, to be more precise, after each trip to Ukraine.
The Newsletter 2008 is online!
Subscribe to our Newsletter in electronic form:
At the bottom of right column, you will find a field to type your email address. We will use it to automatically send you LAdS Newsletter as new versions will come out.
Irina and Vitaly
Updated news here!
Last week director Olga Ivanova of Nikolaiev Baby House sent us 2 new cases. Irina (13 months) and Vitaly (7 months) both have a cleft palate problem.
The story of a girl from Zurupinsk continues…
Olga Igorivna has found a new school and has started on September 1st, 2007 to study at Kachovsky state agricultural technical school. She decided to go to this technical school in Kachovka, rather than to the school in Snigurivka, because it is closer to where she used to live.
Olga is doing a preparatory year before starting technical school. She takes lessons in math, physics, Ukraine and English language, Ukraine and foreign literature, chemistry, biology and world history. Quite a comprehensive list of subjects, isn’t it?
In 2011, when she will graduate from Kahovsky State Agricultural Technical School, she will have a diploma as ‘технолога пищевой промышленности’ which translates to ‘technologist of the food-processing industry’.
Gas burner project at Zeleniy Gay
Updated news here!
Last year, we carried out a project to supply well water to the specialized orphanage of Zeleniy Gay (Kharkov region). We made a control visit last April and can state that everything functions in the best way and thanks to this project, the orphanage could save half of operating expenses for fresh water supply.
This brought orphanage director another idea: consider a similar operation for its two ancient gas-burners (one of which doesn’t even run anymore).
