A life in a little town is so monotonous and boring: all the local sightseeing cannot surprise you anymore and all the streets are well-known. So you gradually start longing for new vivid impressions, especially when you’re just thirteen years old and spend most of the time within the four walls of the orphanage...
But there are still warm-hearted people with unconventional ideas in this world. Such people instead of enjoying their holidays at exotic islands, travel to the children orphanages of Zaporizhia region and bring much joy into the lives of many kids.
And just thanks to one of those “eccentric” people, the kids’ Saturday turned into one of the brightest they have ever had!
On Saturday, September 11th our city welcomed 24 kids and their teachers from the Boarding school of Gulyaypole who came here on an excursion.
We knew that most of the kids had never been to our city before. Our heartfelt desire was to bring some fun and joy to these children!
We met our little guests at the entrance of the Children’s railway station. The kids quickly got off the bus. After greeting everybody, I told the kids about their excursion program and all of them seemed to be looking forward to the upcoming adventures.
A few minutes later our company was joined by two more people – Kevin (who kindly sponsored this event) and his interpreter Tonia.
Then we headed for the terrarium, aquarium and winter garden. Like all kids, they could not take their eyes off the fish, snakes and the crocodile. Afterwards our big and friendly company got on a train, which arrived at the station at an unscheduled time, what makes us feel deeply grateful to the staff of the Children’s Railway station.
During our train trip, some of the kids were joyfully chatting with Kevin, and some of them were enjoying the views out of the windows. Then we had a visit to the Zoo. The kids scattered in all directions of the Zoo territory. They were touched by tiny pigs, laughed at a big wild boar wallowing in mud, were cross with a “bad-mannered” lama who spat at them and enticed the raccoon out of his cage.
After that we went to see the horse show. Khortitsa Island welcomed us warmly and made us feel very comfortable during the performance of the horse show and gave us discounts on the horse riding. If you could only see the way the kids smiled while riding horses. The children were taking pictures with Cossacks and constantly asking: “Are they real Cossacks?” We greatly appreciated the warm hospitality of the Khortitsa Island.
When the horse show was over, we visited the Zaporizhian Cossack Museum. The guide told us the history of Zaporizhian Cossacks, so the kids were keenly interested in seeing the museum exhibit items, the diorama, the paintings of Ukrainian hetmans (commanders) and majors. And then we attended the Folk Festival which took place at the Zaporizhian Sich. We had such a great time there! All the festival members were wearing the Ukrainian traditional national dresses. We enjoyed Ukrainian folk songs, stirring hopak and other Cossack whip dances of the band “Zaporozhetc”. This bright dance performance brought our excursion to an end.
The day was drawing to its close, so we had to say goodbye to Khortitsa Island and the bus drove us along the dam to Lenin Avenue. When we got to Pushkin square, we said goodbye to Kevin and Tonia. How wonderful it is for the kids to meet such kind people like Kevin, who bring lots of joy to children who need it so much!
If you have a sincere desire to help these kids or kids from other orphanages, you may financially or organizationally support kids’excursions and walking tours, visit a child in an orphanage, or help in a purchase of developing toys, construction sets, books and sporting goods.
But the biggest dream of these kids is to find their family. If you would love to adopt this child or other children into your family, please read the memo to the potential adoptive parents, the guardians, the foster parents or contact us.
