Recent Posts

  1. 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).

    Nikolay in Kiev

    Here you can read the first and second article about Nikolay.
    Please consider making an online donation to help Nikolay.

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  2. 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 🙂

    New LAdS car is a Mazda 3

    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.

  3. 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).

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  4. Svieta car success story

    Les Amis de Svieta Ukraine has been motorized since April 2006!

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    The car was donated by brother and sisters Verena, Christoph and Kathrin Rudolf as well as by an American family

    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.

    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.

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  5. 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.

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  6. April trip report

    Sunday April 13th
    Mission completed :exclaim:
    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 :coolsmirk:
    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.

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  7. 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.

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    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’.

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  8. 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).

    old gas heating unit for hot water

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  9. New: sign up for Newsletter

    How can I stay inform about activities of ‘Les Amis de Svieta’?
    1. I visit this web site regularly
    2. I subscribe to RSS and receive all changes on this web site that way. I need an RSS-Reader for this.
    3. New: I subscribe to the LAdS Newsletter and receive regularly information about activities and about needs in Ukraine directly delivered to my mailbox.

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  10. Trip report fall 2007

    Friday October 12th
    Pascal is back home in Switzerland.
    Pictures and more detailed reports will follow, once Pascal has recovered from this trip.

    Our car for this 6,000 miles trip with one of the drivers at the wheel!

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