11.05.2015, Ternopil
Almost 40 women took part in recent celebration that was organized by Caritas Ternopil on the occasion of Mother’s Day. As a tradition, an event began with a prayer and blessings of foundation director fr. Andriy Marchuk and his deputy fr. Roman Zagorodniy. They supported and blessed every mother with their kind-hearted words.
Special greetings were addressed to IDP mothers, because it is important for them to feel accepted in new cities and environment. Among the invited were also mothers from large families and single mothers that benefit from foundation assistance for some years.
Children-beneficiaries of local Caritas organized a festive concert for their mothers: they sang songs, played on sopilkas, recited poems and treated them with sweet dishes. At the end of celebration every mother received a bouquet of flowers.
“Mutual aid” club for parents has been operating for several years in Caritas Ternopil. Families are invited to participate in its meetings, but most times women find here a place for communication, experience exchange, mutual help and useful pieces of advice for daily life, relationships with the closest people and self-fulfillment. As a rule, this club gathers 15-18 participants once per month. Experts who can voluntarily provide assistance in medical, legal, social, pedagogical, psychological and other spheres – are invited for such meetings.
One mother, who is a club member, shares: “With help of meetings in “Mutual aid” club I became calmer. I am glad that there are people interested in my life. Here I can find like-minded persons and simply speak out. And what it is really important for me, by means of communication here I acknowledged the difference between punishment and violence and now use this understanding in practice. This helps me in communication with my child and myself.”
Caritas Ternopil takes care of various categories of population that found themselves in complicated life situations: kids, teenagers and adolescents
in difficult circumstances; seniors; low-income, large and crisis families; single mothers; IDP families from eastern Ukraine and also other categories of people in need can receive required social, spiritual, material and psychological assistance.
“Our Caritas defined work with disadvantaged children as a separate field of activity in 1999 and, firstly, we provided material help to children-orphans, kids from crisis large and low-income families. Later, this work involved organization of their leisure in form of summer camps. And afterwards, mobile work with children and youth on the streets was initiated, and we began complex activity not only with kids, but with their parents and closest environment.
Nowadays local Caritas provides complex and high quality assistance to 91 needful families and over 200 kids and youth. We render medical, psychological, informational and legal help and protection. Apart from securing of basic needs, we pay considerable attention to spiritual, creative and psycho-social development. Obviously, this year we put all possible means and efforts in work with IDPs, children of people who were affected or killed during EuroMaidan events and conflict in eastern Ukraine,” says Natalya Kotsyuba, local coordinator on work with children and youth.
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