Mary’s Meals supports street children projects in Kharkiv and Odessa.  We began working in Ukraine in 2005.

Some estimates say there are as many as 3 million children living on the streets in Ukraine. Many live in a twilight world in the underground tunnels and pipes of the larger cities. These children are desperately vulnerable to cold, hunger, violence, exploitation and terrible loneliness.

Street Children Project in Kharkiv
Mary’s Meals supports an outreach project in Kharkiv.  A minibus travels through the city taking food, first aid, and advice to the city’s homeless children. The first stage is befriending them, and meeting their basic need. The second stage is to invite them to use the Day Centre where they will receive support and the chance of a basic education. As well as receiving food the children can wash, and meet with the lawyer and / or psychologist. This service is reaching out to children and young people who have no one else to turn to for help.

Street Children Project in Odessa
In Odessa Mary’s Meals supplies meals both to the children staying in the Way Home residential unit and children who use their drop-in centre. Approximately 40 children benefit regularly, with many others benefiting on a sporadic basis. Street children’s lives are unpredictable, making them hard to reach, so much effort is invested in building up relationships with them.

 

 

BOSNIA FACTS AND FIGURES
Population - 3.8 million
% population that is undernourished - 8
% population living below poverty line - 25
Infant Mortality Rate per 1000 live birth - 9.10
Adult Illiteracy Rate - 1
Primary Enrolment % - 90.5

Bosnia-Herzegovina is in South-eastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea and Croatia. The country declared independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1992. This led to a devastating civil conflict.  A peace agreement means the country is currently under international administration.  The war displaced around 2 million people and left the country’s infrastructure and economy in ruins.

UKRAINE FACTS AND FIGURES
Population - 45.7 million
% population that is undernourished - 3
% population living below poverty line - 37.7
Infant Mortality Rate per 1000 live birth - 8.98
Adult Illiteracy Rate - 1
Primary Enrolment % - 97
Survival to last grade of Primary of those enrolled % 98

Ukraine is in Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland, Romania, and Moldova in the west and Russia in the east.  Ukraine became independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.  It is one of the poorest nations in Eastern Europe.