UKRAINE The Way Home Charity Fund has worked for over 13 years in helping street children to a better life. In Odessa, Ukraine it is estimated that thousands of children are living in the streets, with the main causes of leaving home being drug-addicted parents, violence within the family, and the psychological traumas which follow.

For the majority of the girls, sexual abuse, or incest, is unfortunately a common reason for running away. Those children who start a life out on the streets soon turn to drug abuse, and prostitution, as a way to make money and escape their ghosts. These children have had no education in sexual health, and run a high risk of becoming pregnant and/or infected by HIV. At The Way Home Crisis Centre, the children living on the streets can find a place to get medical, psychological, social and legal help, which they need to get back on track. The children also have the chance to learn some practical skills, such as cooking and sewing, making The Way Home a good platform for overcoming traumas and finding a way to a brighter path of life.

This is 15-year old Lena’s story:

“Before I came to The Way Home, I used to live with my mother and stepfather in a two-room flat in Odessa, and attended a sports-oriented school. When I was 13, my mother died in a car accident and my stepfather became my guardian. The financial situation in the family soon became very tough, since it was my mother who had supported the family. My stepfather had difficulties finding a job, so he began drinking. After a while, drunks, thieves and prostitutes frequented the apartment, and it became their nest. He got propositions to use me as a prostitute, which he eventually accepted. I was raped. It happened repeatedly, and thus I became the main source of money for him. Everything that happened damaged my physical, as well as my psychological, health, and I eventually had to go to the hospital to get medical attention. At the hospital some teachers from The Way Home came to visit me, and we decided that after the treatment was finished they would take me with them to the shelter. I like being here very much. I can feel safe and nobody offends me. There are many interesting classes and study groups; I go to school, and dream of becoming a children’s doctor in future.”

The photo is from The Way Home, but to protect Lena it is picturing another girl.

THE WAY HOME, UKRAINE
Project: Social support centre for street children and girls in vulnerable situations.

Location: Odessa, Ukraine
Target Group: Street children, children who have been exposed to maltreatment, vulnerable girls.

Co-operation with Childhood: Since 2006
The support goes to: Salaries to employees, school material, medical equipment.