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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Swiss Relatives for the Village of Lipnyky

13 November, 2012 - 00:00

Ten years ago Nika Pastor, President of the Swiss Russian Club in Basel, organized a children’s camp in the mountains for young Chornobyl victims. This year children from Lipnyky, a village in Zhytomyr oblast, are traveling there for the tenth time.

“Oh Anita, our Anita!” the children greeted the Swiss guests. The four persons in the photo are like close relatives to the Ukrainian villagers, but the fair-haired Anita Naf is idolized by the children. She is their second mother. She is married and has a son. She is a housewife and every summer she is the loving house mother of the children’s camp. She is responsible for food supplies and sightseeing trips.

Gurg Schadelin (left extreme) and Nadine Valker (center) are on the creative side, an architect and a graphic artist. And they are also very creative in propagating at home the need to do good turns to fellow human beings. They collect money, clothes, and hire transportation. In a word, they see to it that the camping children’s needs are fully supplied.

Johannes Wagner is the Swiss group leader, by age and rank. He is Vice President of the Swiss Russian Club (not related to Russia in any way, but Nika Pastor, herself of Russian parentage, asked him to work for the club). Naturally, from then on care for the children’s camp became his top priority.

Herr Wagner’s young Swiss friends came to Ukraine for the first time, and he has been here frequently, apart from the fact that he studied at Kyiv’s Institute of Foreign Languages (currently the Kyiv State University of Linguistics) in the early 1980s, attending summer Russian courses for English-speaking students. Actually, people in Basel know about Ukraine thanks to the university. Its Rector, Halik Artemchuk, spoke at the University of Basel and at the Swiss Russian Club. A cooperation agreement was signed by the universities.

Getting back to Lipnyky, the Swiss friends came to check on how the groups of vacationers were being formed and discuss the trip’s particulars. They brought presents: medicines, soap, clothes and toys for the children, wool, and fabrics, so the village girls could knit and sew clothes for themselves.

They traveled at their own expense and they are not members of any particular organization, so they have no outside funds to pay their expenses. It is just that they are humane. Their kind hearts are their only motive. There are six of them (only four came on this visit) and each has certain duties, including the propaganda of mercy. Fortunately, their activities are met with understanding in their country. They are assisted by sympathetic people and by the state. Actually, this assistance is addressed to Ukrainian children who suffered through no fault of their own.

Says Johannes Wagner, “These children have weak immunity. Living permanently in a contaminated territory is hazardous to their health. In addition to a period of rest at our camp, they must spend two month at a special sanitarium, every year. You have such institutions in “clean” areas in Zhytomyr oblast. We are not rich, but we try to help Chornobyl victims as best we can. We only wish that our wealthy fellow countrymen followed suit.”

At end Mr. Wagner told us things that were simply unbelievable. The Swiss will have to pay for the children to get from Luhyno, the district center, to Boryspil Airport and the one-way fare is $500! In other words, two-way fare (35 children plus five accompanying adults) will cost them $2,000. In previous years children’s transportation to the airport was financed by the local authorities. Now they say they cannot afford it. In other words, once again smart operators wish to grab a quick buck from trustful foreigners. Our mentality. What a shame!

The children will set off for the Swiss camp in two months. Will the transportation authorities feel a pang of conscience or the local state authorities help?

Photo:

Charity knows no borders: Swiss philanthropists help Chornobyl children at their own expense

 

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