Tetiana KONDRATIUK: “Charity is a factor of social progress”
According to unofficial statistics, currently about 10% of Ukraine’s population enjoys a high level of income. In accordance with the same data, practically everyone believes that Ukraine can “enter Europe” only by relying on the internal resources of its own society and thus do their best to facilitate its success. One of the principal indicators of the level of democracy has always been the ability of the citizens to care for the socially unprotected and unprivileged. The level of readiness of the Ukrainian nation to engage in charity was the subject of our talk with Chairperson of the Diya (Action) All-Ukrainian Women’s People Democratic Union Tetiana KONDRATIUK.
Ms. Kondratiuk, The Day has repeatedly informed our readers on various spheres of your organization’s activity. Along with political and educational work, Diya actively conduces to involving sponsors and donors into extending aid to the needy. Could you tell us why in this complicated time the Diya Women’s Union focuses on such problems?
Primarily because over 20,000 women united in Diya share the same credo: one cannot live only according to the principle of attending to own business and ignoring everything else. We believe that if each of us gives just a shred of humanness to his/her fellow beings, the world around us will certainly be the better for it.
Today Diya women are aiding 110 wards of Kyiv oblast’s Boyarka orphanage, finding opportunities to provide health care for children from low-income families at Pushcha Vodytsia Health Care Complex. On the eve of the International Day to Protect Children Diya became one of the sponsors of a charity auction aimed to collect money for building a country foster school of so-called school-life type for autistic children. Incidentally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank again those who donated their personal belongings for sale: first President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk, People’s Artist Tayisiya Povaliy, first Ukrainian astronaut Leonid Kadeniuk, Klychko brothers, and everyone who contributed to this auction for supporting this good deed.
The auction was the first charity action in Ukraine conducted in such unusual form. What do you think of it at this distance of time? Do you think it contradicted the proverb that the first pancake always comes out bad or were their any arrears?
Much of the preliminary work had been done before the event; many businesspeople and politicians had been informed about it. We shot a film, some promotions on celebrities giving us their personal items (to assure the people willing to buy such things that they really belonged to the advertised owners). This could not but play its role: the event aroused interest not only in Ukrainian media but the Russian. Besides, I would like to stress that the sponsors’ goal was not so much fundraising to build foster homes as attract public attention to the existing problem. And we enjoyed complete success: we have received a response from the Ukrainian diaspora, and also from many contractors with offers of help in construction. As a result, public utilities will be built and basements laid for the school on the money raised.
A foster school for autistic children is something very necessary. Such children are not susceptible to social adaptation and require much care and attention. Sometimes it takes years to teach them to attend to themselves. When one of the school-life pupils went to a regular school, it became a holiday for all the mothers who had already lost all hope. Parents cannot help autistic children by themselves. To make him/her improve, even if slowly, constant care and a professional approach to education is necessary. Taking part in building a school is only a start. Since our first attempt was successful, we decided to organize annual charity auctions on the International Day to Protect Children.
What you say seems to make it possible to conclude that charity should not be a one-time action for those able to give assistance to deprived people.
Absolutely. It has to become mass and systemic. Society should not be allergic to the word charity. Sooner or later all of us must understand that it as a normal common phenomenon, since there have always been categories requiring help. Mutual help in the best meaning of the term is the keystone of affluence and well-being. We will be able to build a developed democratic society functioning on principles of social partnership only if basic Christian values, charity, and compassion become common standards. I wish that those who can help the needy understood this.
Why, in this case, are the same names mentioned as sponsors and contributors at various charity auctions? Is this evidence that not all Ukrainian businessmen have reached such a perception?
Fortunately, this is untrue. It’s just that many businesspeople do not have time in their daily routine to think about specific recipients who need their help. We have quite enough openhearted people. The problem is in the lack of time and information. And it is Diya that functions as an intermediary in this chain, giving information to public, so that, roughly speaking, donors find their recipients.
