It all began when we received a call from our son-in-law Seth. He told us that he was involved in a project in Odessa, Ukraine, where there was a children’s home and school and would we like to come and have a look at was going on there.
We were reminded of the old music hall joke about Russia being like an old, ugly woman… everyone knew where she was but who would want to visit her? Truth be told, we weren’t very excited about the idea as we had this pre-conceived notion that the former Soviet Union was a depressed, dangerous place. And in any case, what was so interesting about a children’s home and school? Weren’t there many other such institutions nearer to home that we should take a look at?
After some thought we decided to take up his invitation, knowing that if he was involved it had to be something a little extraordinary.
Firstly, let us tell you a little bit about Seth. He’s the husband of our youngest daughter Hayley. They have been married for a decade and have four beautiful children thank God. About 10 years ago he started a business called Ecko Unlimited with two partners. They vowed that when the business turned a profit, the first thing that they would do with some of the money would be to help something or someone else. It took six hard years for them to reach that stage but they knew that if they stayed true to their goal it would become good sooner or later.
Coincidentally, at that time, Seth was told that in Odessa there were these amazing rabbis from Israel who had helped to rescue Jewish children from destitution, taken them in and given them love, a home, education, medical help and most of all hope.
It began in 1993 when Rabbi Shlomo Bakst was sent to Odessa to try to set up some Jewish educational and cultural programmes for the remaining Jews of Odessa. He knew that many had made aliya some years back but he had no idea how many were left or if any of them were even interested in affiliating to anything Jewish.
On arrival he put notices on lampposts and trees inviting people to a lecture on a Jewish theme on Sunday morning. Incredibly 200 people turned up and before he knew it he was organising Shabbat services in a disused synagogue in the port of Odessa and his programmes were thriving. His wife and children would come to visit for short periods of time to his tiny, run-down apartment. There was no hot water and he used the local bathhouse to take a shower. His devotion to the Jewish remnants of Odessa knew no bounds.
One day he received a visit from Sacha, the director of a state owned orphanage. The children in this institution were deprived of any proper nourishment or medical help. They were deprived of warmth and basic needs. He told Rabbi Bakst that there were some Jewish children in the orphanage who apart from suffering all the usual deprivations, were also being abused because they were Jewish. He asked if Rabbi Bakst help. Faced with this situation, what was he supposed to do? He raised funds to buy a building and started what is now the Tikva Children’s Home. Tikva is the Hebrew word for Hope.
In 2000, the original financial backers, overwhelmed with calls for help from other projects, were on the verge of withdrawing support. Coincidentally, and probably fortuitously, that was the moment that Seth came to pay a visit. He was intrigued that there were people from Israel who were devoting their lives to helping other Jews in the Ukraine and he thought that was “cool”. He wanted to check it out with no more in mind other that perhaps giving a donation. But when he went and saw the commitment and love , when he saw happy children who had been rescued from state run orphanages, from the gutters, sewers and market places being given so much affectand warmth, he decided that this was the project that he would commit his charitable focus on.
He returned to New York, told his business partners about what he had seen and they joined him in this humanitarian work. They resolved that aside from making a generous financial donation, they would establish a fundraising organisation. This they did and today they finance professional fundraisers and all the infrastructure to support their work. What this means is that every cent of every dollar raised goes directly to the children of Odessa. All of Ecko’s management team are involved in providing business advice and acumen to help Tikva become what it is today.
So, when we went to Odessa to take a look for ourselves we saw a children’s home with 160 orphaned, abandoned, abused youngsters who now live happily in a warm, family style environment. They are joined each day by a further 450 Jewish children from the vicinity in a wonderful Jewish Day School run by Rabbi Bakst and his devoted team of helpers from Israel and a host of local teachers, helpers, cooks and cleaners. We were overwhelmed by the experience and we’ve recently returned from a further visit to our “adopted grandchildren” of Tikva. We’re now planning another trip in the near future.
You may ask “Why would you want to keep visiting?” It’s a good question and the truth is this. We’ve come to feel very close to many of the children. We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have four of our own children and several of our own grandchildren. Those youngsters in Tikva are not as fortunate as our children or grandchildren. Let me tell you about just one of them.
Ira is a little girl who recently came to the home from an outlying village near Odessa. She had been living with her alcoholic mother in the most unsanitary conditions.
She was undernourished and her mother was unable to provide her with her most basic needs. When she arrived at Tikva some food was placed in front of her on a plate and she put her face into the food as she had never been taught how to eat properly. She was like a little animal. When given a banana she attempted to eat it skin and all. She is now a well-adjusted, beautiful, red headed happy little child. When we recently went to see her she ran over hugged us as if we were so special to her.
We feel that we owe it to her and lots of the other children to support them not only financially but by actually going to see them and bring them little presents. We also believe that by going there we are showing solidarity with Rabbi Bakst, Refael Kruskal – the English-born director of the Tikva schools and home - and all their team They have told us how much they appreciate visits and how it urges them on with the demanding work that they do on a daily basis.
We have found that our involvement with this project has been a life-changing experience for us. We encourage you to speak to us about Tikva and perhaps to consider making a financial donation or pay a visit… or best of all, both.
The next trip to Odessa is planned for 15-18 September 2005.Sydney and Rose are also in the process of setting up the charity British Friends of Tikva Odessa. For more information, contact 020 8209 0656 or sydney@sfaber.com
http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/special_reports/?content_id=910
