You help orphans to safety
ANOTHER 100 orphans are ready to be evacuated from Ukraine with the help of the £60,000 raised so far by People readers.
Charity Hope and Homes for Children wants to get kids to safety from five orphanages in Odessa where fighting has begun.
Its boss Mark Waddington said: “We will get them out of the country once we have permission from the Ukrainian authorities.”
Ukraine says 5,000 orphans have now left, while 30,000 have been rehomed with extended family in the country.
That still leaves 65,000 stranded in the 700 orphanages Ukraine had before the war – the most in Europe.
Mr Waddington added: “To send so many to families in a war does not seem credible. It’s a huge protection risk. If anything, it’s made us more worried.”
Reunited
Last week, the charity evacuated 52 orphans, aged six months to 12 years, from Dnipro in eastern Ukraine to Romania.
The plan is to keep them as near to their homeland as possible so they can be reunited with relatives once the war is over.
Social worker Daria Doshchuck, 40, helped to lead them to safety as they made the hazardous 50-hour trip to the Romanian border by train and bus.
She said: “When the first rocket hit near our orphanage it was very scary. But if we didn’t die from bombs we didn’t have enough food or medicine anyway.”
Hope and Homes for Children is dedicated to ending orphanages worldwide so children are with loving families, not institutions.
Sunday People readers are giving generously to our orphan appeal, which is backed by Labour leader Keir Starmer.
Some of the money will go to providing emergency relief, including food, blankets and medicines, to vulnerable families unable to get supplies themselves.
Donate at hopeandhomes.org or text HOPE 5, HOPE 10, HOPE 15 or HOPE 20 to 70300 to donate £5, £10, £15 or £20.