2007 Route

Our plans are finally falling together–falling, though, is much too passive a word, considering all of the hard work that has gone into planning this route, mostly by people other than me. We've selected the orphanages we wish to visit, gotten responses from most of them as to their wants and needs, and are organizing the acquisition of those items. Boxes have been packed and sent, paperwork filed, and tickets bought. We're just about all set and raring to go.

We will head from Kyiv first to Krym (the Crimean peninsula, the part hanging off of Ukraine down into the Black Sea):


There we will visit internaty (orpahange-schools) in Dzhankoy and Feodosia (one each), as well as Kerch (two).


We selected these sites because they get very little international aid. Most of the foreign aid organizations seem to favor (quite understandably) sites that are easily accessible, thus much of the aid seems to flow to internaty nearer to Kyiv.

This will be a two day drive for our convoy (a minibus and a truck). Krym is in the far south of Ukraine, and Kerch is the most distant town in Krym. We hope to spend a few days at each site, getting to know the staff and children, delivering the supplies we brought for them (which will include complete sets of Harry Potter in Ukrainian), and buying additional items locally.


On the way back we will stop at an internat for AIDS kids in Dnipropetrovsk, and then return to Kyiv, where Peggy and I need to interview this year's scholarship recipients, and Nellie will visit an internat in Baturyn (Chernihiv oblast).

I'm told we will be quite busy. I'm the group doctor, in charge of our health and assessing the medical needs of the orphanages, and also main photographer and, probably, main blogger. We'll see if that pans out–internet access was a challenge for us last summer in Yalta, one of the largest cities in Krym. If need be, I'll post when we get a chance, even if it is delayed.

Keep checking for updates! The route will officially begin on September 14th.....

–Luba