A bag of goodies

The following letter arrived at the office of Larysa Ivshyna.

Dear Larysa,

I am writing to you from Kuwait. My name is Vsevolod Palahin, a Ukrainian government official on temporary assignment abroad.

The following circumstances prompted me to contact you personally. Issue no. 27 of the Ukrainian version of your newspaper carried an article entitled “I want a doll and a teddy bear,” by Myroslava Sokolova, who told the story of a social orphan, a six-year-old girl whose name is Liuda Chala. Among other things, the author mentioned that the girl wanted to have toys — a doll and a teddy bear.

Unfortunately, I doubt that the girl’s relatives will be located very quickly. But even if they are found, there is no telling whether they can afford this present for the child. Therefore, I would like to make her a little happier: I have bought her toys and some other items that she’ll need in school — crayons, a drawing book, etc. The postage from Kuwait would be very expensive. On top of it, the article did not provide an address to the girl’s shelter. So, yesterday I passed this package via my friends from Ukraine, who, I hope, mailed it today from Boryspil Airport to the address of The Day’s editorial office to be forwarded to its destination.

In view of the above mentioned facts, I would like to request your personal assistance in this matter. After all, Myroslava must know the girl’s whereabouts. Perhaps you would be kind enough to pass my modest present to Liuda Chala through Myroslava or any other correspondent who is visiting those parts on business.

One additional request: I would like all the items intended for the girl to be delivered specifically to her. I do not mean to offend anybody, but it’s an open secret that sometimes only crumbs reach such children, especially since the shelter is taking care of other children (the photo caption in that article said there are 16 children), who would also like to receive presents.

For the sake of clarity, I enclose a photo of the parcel’s contents. The thing is, I have selected matching items (the parcel contains a special bag for the child to pack her things, a doll, a teddy bear, a pen in the shape of a little girl, a framed picture, a drawing book, pens, and a ruler). The package also contains a brief letter to the girl from my wife and me.

This is all I wanted to ask of you.

Finally, let me say a few words about the newspaper. I believe that The Day is one of the most thinking newspapers with a conscience in Ukraine.

Please accept my heartfelt thanks for your work and that of your staff.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Vsevolod PALAHIN

The little girl’s big dream has come true, thanks to the Ukrainian government official Vsevolod Palahin and his wife Maya, who are presently living in Kuwait. Liuda Chala can’t read the letter by herself yet, but she listened attentively as our correspondent read it to her.

Hello, Liuda!

We learned about you from an article in The Day and decided to give you a small gift: a doll and a teddy bear, which you wanted, and something else: a bag in which you can keep your things, crayons, a drawing book, etc.

Liuda Chala now lives in “Dobro” [Goodness] the Vinnytsia municipal shelter for children. Here is where she learned to do things that many children learn as a matter of routine. She reads her favorite poem by Lina Kostenko, counts to 200, and tries to print letters, but she has yet to master the complete alphabet.

The girl’s story is tragic. Several years ago she was kidnapped by gypsies, who forced her to panhandle. The police brought Liuda to the shelter on Sept. 29. This date was recorded as her birthday, and doctors estimate that she is eight years old. The girl calls herself Liuda, but Chala is not her real last name: red tape and bureaucratic intricacies prevailed over Liuda’s wish to have the last name of Kostenko. She heard it from her teacher, who often helped Liuda memorize the poems of Lina Kostenko. None of the kids in the shelter know as many poems as Liuda. She also likes to draw. She picked up the foreign-looking box of crayons from the Kuwaiti parcel and asked in confusion: “What is this?” Then she smiled and said:

“I will draw flowers, the sun, a cloud, and a house — a big one, with doors and windows.”

The girl says this is a picture for auntie Maya from Kuwait, who is shown in the photo holding a rabbit.

My wife loves animals. In this picture you can see her holding a bunny rabbit, and at home we have a cat and a tomcat called Cleopatra and Havrosh.

Liuda says that a ladybug lives in her drawer. When the heating was switched on in the shelter, it crawled from under the window pane. In the shelter Liuda has a friend called Maya. She’s a 16-year-old girl, who lives here temporarily and is teaching Liuda to read. The little girl is very curious, and although everybody here pays her as much attention as possible, the shelter is no school. Liuda was supposed to be transferred to a boarding school at the beginning of the school year, but the traditional red-tape requiring numerous certificates has delayed her transfer. However, the shelter administration is certain that Liuda will be transferred to a boarding school and will start attending classes any day now. At least, the girl now has a birth certificate. She has also been baptized. Even the shelter’s director does not know her godfather: it must have been someone from the church staff. Meanwhile, her godmother is Larysa Ivanivna, Liuda’s favorite teacher, who stood by her from her first day at the shelter. Since our last meeting in summer 2005 the girl has grown a lot, become more outspoken, and started to smile. “Soon I will go to school. I will study and grow up to be a doctor,” Liuda said with certainty.

Kuwait, where we live, is a very rich country, but very small and hot. Kuwait is located on the shores of the Persian Gulf. Summertime temperatures exceed +50 degrees Celsius, and the sea is also very warm, heating up to +35. But the water is very salty, so much so that it hurts the eyes, although it is not as bitter as the Black Sea. We went swimming in the Gulf even in the winter, although at this time the water is rather cold: +8 to +10 degrees Celsius. There are many kinds of fish in the Gulf, even sharks. The one you see in the photo was photographed not in the sea, but in a large aquarium located in a local research center.

This is what Kuwait is like. However, our Ukraine is much bigger and more beautiful; and our vegetation is much richer, even though we do not have palm trees growing on the streets. But what forests Ukraine has! That’s something Kuwait does not have and will never have. Don’t be sad, Liuda. Be a good student. After all, this year you begin your education. We wish you luck in your life.

This is how the Ukrainians in Kuwait ended their letter.

Liuda looks at her doll for a long time. When it was time to say goodbye, the girl whispered in my ear: “I will sleep with her.”