SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL OF ISRAEL
אגוד ארצי של מועדוני הסורופטימיסט בישראל
רחל שלון
Rachel Shalon נשיאה מייסדת Founding President
Rehovot Club

                                                                                                                                  21.10.2003

Dear Soros in our friendship links:

 

Re: Lviv Project- Rehovot, Israel and Peine, Germany

 

 

In 1995 large quantities of toxic materials (fluoride, salts, chemicals and heavy metal) contaminated the water of SOSNOVKA in the Lviv area, Ukraine. As a result of this more than 2000 children suffered various ills including severe dental damage. Since then, children aged 11-18, have been under the care of dentists and the Lviv University Dental Dept. The children badly need treatment and vitamins to repair the damage done to their teeth which are a dark chocolate colour and the girls also need psychological counseling. Most of them are from poor mining families and cannot afford the treatment, a fact which further depresses them; they need their teeth treated and whitened, plus vitamin supplements for anemia, breathing difficulties and bone damage, all the result of the contaminated water.

 

A Lviv soroptomist, Prof. Nina Smolyar, agreed to treat 74 of them free if we (Soroptimists) could supply the necessary medicines, materials and vitamin supplements and so we in our Rehovot club adopted this as one of our projects.

 

We suggested they approach the European federation Action Fund for help, which has been done successfully and also our German friendship link in Peine has raised money in Germany to help this really worthwhile project.

 

I am enclosing the letter from Lviv:

 

Dear Sylvia,

 

Yesterday our President Valentyna Hladilova received a message from Marita Draheim, the President of the Club of Peine. She informed her that Dorothea Leupold, the former SI/E Health Coorditator gave her 100 USD for our project which she got from your club at the Kenya Governors meeting.

 

Thank you very much! We shall write to you who of the children will be treated for it.

Our things are going more or less fine. German Soroptimists visited us in May. They brought money raised for our project in the whole Germany, then our Godmother clubs from Switzerland also sent some money. We were given a grant from the Action Fund but could not receive the money because we did not have a bank account. Our Swiss Godmother Katharina Streuli-Gerber managed to open a bank account for us in Switzerland. So we shall not have these problems of transferring the money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the bank address she gave us:

 

Versemet pour (Einzahlung fur)

St. Galler Kantonalbank

9001 St. Gallen

Switzerland

En faveur de (Zugunsten von):

PIB Rapperswil

2650641 .926-00

Soroptimist International Club Lviv

K. Streuli-Gerber

8730 Uznach

 

The treatment of teeth of 23 girls have been already successfully completed. We had to do some changes in the project as some children have more spoilt teeth and some less, some need more complicated treatment and some not. Our club member Professor Nina Smolyar decides what to do and for whom herself. And there also arose one problem: our project was intended for the girls only, but boys also want to have their teeth restored. So Nina Smolyar helped two most requiring dental service little boys. We think it is fair.

 

Some of the money brought by German Soroptimist was spent on the stationary goods, bed linen and shoes for the children in Boarding School for the Children with Mental Health Problems in the Town of Lyubin Velykyy. They suffer from specific diseases (like enuresis, for example) and they need a lot of bed linen, detergents and means of personal hygiene. They live under very difficult conditions and have to keep their own cattle to have some dairy products, a large kitchen garden where they grow vegetables, their food is not proper and nutritious, so this a small help we could do for them.

 

We still go on supporting the orphanage for the little children aged 1 month-3 years having CNS diseases. Now we are equipping a "music hall" (a special large room where they learn to sing, dance, where they have parties, and where they watch performances of the puppet theatre) for them.

 Love,

Olha 

mailto:olhaburova@org.lviv.net

 

This is letter from Lviv is a reply to our modest efforts. I know that every club has its own charities nearer to their hearts, but this seems really worthwhile to me and any help would be gratefully received. As you see they now have a European Bank Account and if any of you would like to help you can get in touch with them directly. Any help would be very much appreciated.

 

 

 

Sylvia Flowers- Friendship Coordinator Rehovot Club