Hibs supporters to travel back to Ukraine for Dnipro Appeal

HUNGRY and penniless, the emaciated young woman clutching her crying, undernourished baby was in a desperate situation.

Having been abandoned by the child's alcoholic father, the young family had no means of income and was struggling to survive.

She faced a stark choice – hand over her child to one of the Ukraine's overcrowded orphanages or risk her hungry baby's health and well-being.

Fortunately, she eventually found her way to a charity-run crisis centre in the city of Dnipropetrovsk which is now able to help thanks to the generosity of Hibs supporters.

"She was really thin and not able to feed herself, never mind the baby," recalls Steve Carr, a Hibs fan who helps run the charity that now plans to fund the crisis centre. "They gave the child clothes, nappies and baby food, and gave the mother a package to help her get by because she was almost at the stage of giving up."

Together with his friend Mark Strachan, Mr Carr helped to found The Dnipro Appeal, a charity established two-and-a-half years ago in the wake of a Uefa Cup match between Hibs and the Ukrainian side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.

The charity was originally established to make the lives of children living in at the Predniprovsk Tuberculosis Centre in Dnipropetrovsk more comfortable.

However, Hibs supporters have really taken the cause on board and their massive efforts have ensured that a further 50 children, aged between five and 15, living at a second orphanage, are also taken care of.

Impressively, supporters now donate around £20,000 a year to the fledgling charity, and in the last few days the decision has also been taken to expand services further to help young mothers in times of crisis.

It's a service that was originally provided by an American church organisation but then axed, leaving around 200 young families with nowhere to turn.

"The mothers and babies are in a really poor way – they are very dirty and their clothes are tatty and falling apart," says Mr Strachan, 42, a business consultant from Livingston.

"The children are very susceptible to illness, especially TB, and we provide them with clothing, nappies, creams and lotions." One of the biggest problems in the Ukraine is its spiralling inflation, making even the most basic goods expensive for people to buy.

There is also little in the way of government benefits, so those who fall on hard times end up relying on charity handouts to survive.

"Inflation is rising at a phenomenal rate in the Ukraine. The poor are getting poorer and the divide between those who have and those who don't is getting bigger and bigger," says Mr Carr. "One of the reason orphanages are needed out there is because mothers struggle to cope and just give up their babies.

"What we hope is that this drop-in centre will give the mothers the assistance they need to prevent the children from becoming orphans in the first place."

As well as purchasing basic items such as winter coats and boots for orphans in Dnipropetrovsk, funds raised at the turnstiles of Easter Road have also been used to purchase medical and educational equipment. The buildings where children live in packed dormitories have also been improved and funds have been used to buy baby food.

It's a long way from the days when the two friends were looking forward to doing a simple good turn before settling down to watch the Uefa Cup match in September 2005.

When they again visit the Ukraine Mr Carr, 42, a security alarm engineer, from Corstorphine, even hopes to impress the children by speaking Russian.

"I've just started taking lessons," he laughs. "But it's a different alphabet and everything, so I think it's going to take a bit of getting used to."

The next charity trip to the Ukraine will take place in September, when the pair hope that the improvements made will be apparent.

"We hope to see that we've made a real difference," adds Mr Carr. "On that first visit the children were running about in slippers that were falling off their feet."

It was on his first visit to the Predniprovsk TB Centre that he was particularly moved by the plight of sisters Princessa, nine, and Deana, 12.

The girls were abandoned at the centre by their traveller parents and Princessa needed an eye operation to save her failing sight. "They were both such characters, I knew I wanted to do something to help" Mr Carr recalls. "The operation went fantastically well and now Princessa can see better it's really going to help her with her school work. We were all so over the moon that we were able to do this."

Joining them on their next trip is Jim Divine, 48, another Hibs fan who learned of the charity via a fan site and wanted to use his talents in advertising the help promote the charity.

Mr Divine, of Newtongrange, Midlothian, runs 21 Nine Advertising and Design and has been instrumental in revamping the charity's website and creating a promotional DVD to attract business sponsorship.

"The conditions in the orphanages were very poor, very rundown," he says. "You've got dormitories that are just end-to-end beds, so the children have got no privacy.

"There are very poor shower facilities and the children have often got to shower in freezing cold water, even in winter. They are really tough conditions.

"Obviously we are starting to make improvements – we want to put up some dividers between the beds to give them some privacy. Some things that are really quite simple will make so much difference. It's purely done for the love of the kids."

THIRD ORPHANAGE ON THE WAY
AS well as funding the crisis centre for mothers and babies, The Dnipro Appeal also plans to help fund a third orphanage. To help them do this, they are looking for people willing to commit £10 a month to sponsor a child.

This money will ensure the children have decent clothing, access to toys and games we take for granted, proper educational supplies, schoolbags, shoes and socks, as well as occasional luxuries like a chocolate bar.

Sponsors will receive regular updates on how their child is progressing in life and also how the money is helping on a day to day basis.

Further information about The Dnipro Appeal is available at www.dniprokids.com.