Happy New Year 2010 !!!!
We heartidly thank our donators and friends for their continuous support all long 2009 and hope it will continue in 2010 !
Take it easy and relax during holidays in order to start 2010 full of spirit and energy.
Bonne Année 2010 !!!
Happy New Year 2010 !!!
Glückliches Neues Jahr 2010 !!!
С новым годом 2010 !!!
Feliz año nuevo 2010 !!!
LAdS Switzerland steerring committee
2009 web site survey
Update as of November 27th
The survey has shown some interesting results and thus we have decided to let the survey open for a little while longer. At the end we will post a summary of the interesting facts we learned from that survey.
2009 Les Amis de Svieta survey
If you haven’t participated yet, please do so soon. It is absolutely anonymous.
Article dated November 18th
Please participate in the 2009 Les Amis de Svieta survey. It will take less than 5 minutes to fill in those 14 questions. Your answers will help us to improve articles on this site and to better help the children in Ukrainian orphanages.
This survey will be active approx. one week.
Thank you very much!
Emergency roof repair in Makiivka
Since we realized together with LAdS France the outdoor playgrounds at Makiivka orphanage, their management now knows they could count on us in case they experience urgent problems. That’s exactly what they did last week, when they realized that water was leaking through the laundry building’s roof.
Playground in Makiivka
It was 5 years ago when we visited for the first time AIDS/HIV orphanage in Makiivka, in the name of APAEU (Association des Parents Adoptants d’Enfants Ukrainiens) and in the name of LAdS France. Back then we discussed with the management the possibility to set up and pay for an outdoor playground. Mid August of 2009 we contacted the management again and we started this project. Mid October we were able to open not just one, but two playgrounds for the Makiivka children.
Efficiency enhancement in heating system at NBH
Update as of October 15th
We managed to secure financing for the whole project. A big thanks goes to our generous donors! But this time there is a delay on the construction side of this project. Also the new heating is already in operation, not everything is finished and we are holding back payment until every last bit is finished to our satisfaction.
Flu vaccine for NBH
Winter season is not far away. Chief doctor Olga of Nikolaiev Baby House (NBH) asked for help financing flu vaccine again this year (we are talking about seasonal flu vaccine, not ‘swine flu’ vaccine!).
Thanks to a generous donation from LAdS USA, the flu vaccines needed for 2009 could be purchased and have been delivered.
Injections have been given already and Chief doctor Olga and the kids from Nikolaiev Baby House (NBH) are very grateful.
Visiting Olga Igorivna in Kakhovka
On September 16th 2009 Pascal, Vika and Olga Ivanovna (NBH director) visited Olga Igorivna (Olga) in Kakhovka. Les Amis de Svieta supports Olga for more than 1 year (and at least 2 more to go). The aim of this support is to allow Olga to learn a profession. We visited Olga for the first time in November 2006 and did on a regular basis ever since. In September 2007, Olga started her studies at technical agricultural school in Kakhovka. Our last visit to Olga took place almost a year ago, November 23rd 2008.
Olga was awaiting us eagerly and was happy to show us her new room on 2nd floor, which is in much better condition and nicer than the previous 4th floor room. Unfortunately kitchen, toilet and bathroom are still in an unacceptably bad condition (for us).
Trip report fall 2009
Saturday September 26th
Mission accomplished!
Pascal is back home in Switzerland, after 7,758 kilometers on the road. A daily average of 539 kilometers made this trip quite strenuous, but as always very rewarding and rich in experiences.
Friday September 25th
Vika and Pascal left by car from Zhytomir. Vika took a night train from Uzgorod to Nikolaiev and Pascal continued by car to Vienna, where he spent the night.
Thursday September 24th
The road from Kharkov to Kiev seemed never ending, but finally Pascal and Vika were able to drop off our friends from OBS, Stacey and Elizabeth, safely (they plan to fly back home on Saturday).
Afterwards Vika and Pascal continued to drive to Zhytomir, where they spent the night.
LAdS Newsletter 2009
We regularly inform our members on the way in which their donations are used by semi-annually publishing a short “Newsletter”. Or, to be more precise, after each trip to Ukraine.
The Newsletter July 2009 is online!
Subscribe to our Newsletter in electronic form:
At the bottom of right column, you will find a field to type your email address. We will use it to automatically send you LAdS Newsletter as new versions will come out.
Down syndrome children need support
Chief doctor Olga from Nikolaiev Baby House (NBH) is looking for our support. She would like to provide a special course of medicamental treatment for children with Down syndrome. There are 7 children at the moment and this project will last at least 2-3 years and will cost 3674 hrv (~$500) per child per year.
Total amount: US$ 3,500 per year (€ 2’700 or CHF 4’000), or US$ 10,000 for 3 years (€ 7’700 or CHF 11’500).
Any help will be appreciated by Olga and the children.
Find out how you can make your donations here and if you live in the United States here!
or just click on the “PayPal Donate” button on the left column of this page!
Ukraine needs 127 years to repair roads
In order to make total reparation of all Ukrainian roads, under conditions of current financing, it will take at least 127 years.
This is bad news, as if the roads were not bad enough already 
PABX for Nikolaiev Baby House
For many years director Olga from Nikolaiev Baby House was begging for a suitable internal communication system.
For external communication NBH uses today one single telephone line shared by three telephone sets. At present there is absolutely no internal communication system available. If director Olga or chief doctor Olga needs to reach their staff, they can currently choose between sending somebody to fetch the required staff or walk there themselves…
Vika has contacted the same supplier that installed a PABX system in Kremenchuk Baby House and asked for an offer. To satisfy the requirements of NBH, supplier proposed a PABX with 24 internal lines, 3 external lines and even the possibility to provide an intercom system with speakers. The whole system, including telephone sets, speakers, installation and all required cabling will cost at today’s exchange rate US$ 4,000 (€ 3,200 or CHF 4,800).
Happy Easter
All Ukrainian children that were helped by Les Amis de Svieta and the committee of Les Amis de Svieta are wishing you Happy Easter. We send you this heart, in order to thank you for your generous support!
Viktoriya needed heart surgery (update)
Updated news here!
Young Viktoriya arrived at Nikolaiev Baby House in November of 2006. Director Olga Ivanovna asked us to find a sponsor for urgently needed heart surgery at Kiev Cardio Center (KCC). Approximately at the same time we were contacted by Verena from New Zealand, who was looking to sponsor an orphan in Ukraine, a lucky coincidence.
Financial crisis hits Ukraine too
Ukraine is sinking into a deep depression. Yushchenko has forecast that the economy will contract by up to 10 percent in the first quarter of 2009. Tens of thousands of workers face layoffs as steel and other plants across the country freeze. Industrial output shrank nearly to 30 percent in November 2008, from a year earlier, the sharpest drop in a decade.
