Bohdan (12 years old), Darija (10 years old) and Vasilina (5 years old) came to Lithuania from Ukraine together with their mother in 2022. at the end My father persuaded me to leave Ukraine, because the children had been living in constant danger for a long time, spent most of their time in the basement, and electricity and water rarely appeared and only for a couple of hours.
After arriving in Lithuania, the family immediately settled in housing provided by "SOS Children's Villages". The children slept a lot for the first few days, after the trip and a long period spent in tension and fear, it was strange that there is no need to hide in the basement, there is always electricity and you can go outside freely, because there is no longer the danger that has become commonplace.
The children finally settled in a safe environment, but the experiences experienced during the war did not disappear anywhere, and it also took time to get used to the new environment, and later in school and kindergarten - to peers and teachers. Bogdan, who is calm by nature, became more withdrawn, began to lack self-confidence, and sleep poorly at night. Daria, who had always been active, often began to have nightmares, there was a lot of anger and inappropriate behavior. And the youngest Vasilina started to get sick a lot, became restless, often cried.
However, after three months spent in Lithuania, Bohdan, Darija and Vasilina feel much better. Bohdan and Darija attend school, Vasilina attends kindergarten. The first friendships are made with peers (both Lithuanian and Ukrainian), children are already used to their home, they have favorite family places in the city.
Daria and Bohdan attend individual and group therapy, and Vasilina attends canitherapy sessions with a dog. Both school-aged children also have a tutor and go to Sunday school - this helps a lot to learn Lithuanian and fill the knowledge gaps that have arisen due to the different educational programs of Lithuania and Ukraine and the long-term distance learning.
Join helping Bohdan, Daria, Vasilina and 257 other children from Ukraine who are currently being cared for by SOS Children's Villages. Make sure that these children have safe housing, receive the help of psychologists and other specialists, can successfully study and integrate into our society.
With your allocated funds, we will finance:
• Accommodation and communal expenses of Ukrainian children and adults raising them;
• Costs of services of specialists (psychologists, psychotherapists, humanitarian aid specialists);
• Costs of food aid;
• Costs of language learning, tutoring assistance for Ukrainian children.