Minibus for displaced children in Ukraine

Minibus for displaced children in Ukraine

There are about 40,000 Ukrainian children who have fled war in Ukraine currently living in the country's Western region of Lviv.

The charity Ukrainian Foundation for Public Health is doing some incredible work to support them. By February 2024, some children will have been away from their homes for nearly two years. The charity is supporting every need: housing, schooling, food, clothes, health, and importantly, helping them relax and play like children should.

The charity is seeking help with a very important piece of equipment: a minibus!

Ukrainian Foundation for Public Health is struggling to transport about 5,000 children they care for in a car they have that keeps breaking down. They want a minibus to help move children and their families to accommodation, to take them on outings, to holiday camps or sporting opportunities. The bus will help children with special educational needs who need to go to appointments. And the bus will also be able to transport vital humanitarian aid around the region, along with staff looking after the children, including psychologists.

The bus will help children like Ilonka, Kemal, Emir, Ilya, Nazar, Danylo and Vitalik, who are among ten children aged from ten to 17 years who were living in care in Lysychansk when the war began. Some of them are orphans, while others were taken into care when their parents could no longer look after them.

They spent a month hiding in a basement when shelling in their region became very bad. Eventually in April 2022 their carers evacuated them to the Lviv region. They left everything behind. After they had left, their home was bombed and everything destroyed or taken by occupying forces.

They currently live in Rava-Ruska city where the children are trying to settle into a new way of life, getting to know new people, growing vegetables in their garden, and attending creative workshops and other activities nearby.

It's a high fundraising target, but I'm not working on this alone. In London, UK, a journalist is also fundraising for the same cause.

Gabriella Jozwiak is an award-winning freelance journalist who specializes in writing about policy and public affairs, particularly those affecting children and young people in the UK and in developing countries. I got in touch with Gabriella after hearing her podcast about the needs of children in Ukraine and being deeply moved by the cause and the impact made by her efforts.

In 2022, Gabriella got to meet some of the children while she was working in Lviv as a journalist, and saw the work charity Ukrainian Foundation for Public Health was doing to support them first-hand. In 2023, she helped coordinate the delivery of used laptops to children in Lviv, so they could do distance learning.

We have teamed up to try and raise the funds so the charity can buy this bus.

Here is the link to to her fundraiser page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/minibus-for-displaced-children-in-ukraine

We had to do it separately because I'm raising in US dollars and she is collecting in GB pounds. But we will combine our funds to reach our target and updating how we're doing together!

Thank you!

Saanvi and Gabriella