Providing aid to children, families and schools affected by the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster.

Director Valiantsina

Valiantsina, school director in the
village of Lipova.
Lipova School's Director Valiantsina is a great asset to the Hope for Chernobyl's Child program. She has been the school director-or principal-for a number of years. She has said she will retire, but whenever we visit she is still there!

Each one of the 219 kids who attend that school have a second mom in Director Valiantsina. She knows what's going on in their lives at home and in the classroom. She encourages each child to do their best and goes out of her way to find ways to help make their lives better. She and some of the teachers visit each child's home in the fall to make sure they are ready for winter. If they need heat, food or clothing, she tries to help them find it. In the summer, she works hard on the school building upkeep and in her own large garden. She sells vegetables from that garden to fund school projects.

A garden and pond built by Valiantsina
two summers ago.
When HCC wanted a list of needs for the sponsorship children, Director Valiantsina worked on that list for months, making sure that each child's specific needs were represented. Often, she responded to daily phone calls from our translators as they endeavored to help us meet these children's needs and required more information to do so.

Valiantsina and husband Adam (an ER doctor with a van supplied by a German group) live in a second story flat with no hot running water. Water must be heated on the stove. When we visit, we stay with her in Lipova. Morning and night, after she has cooked for us, we all wait in line as she heats and provides water for us to bathe. She is a wonderful hostess, helping with our projects, guiding us around town, gathering parents and kids together so we might visit with them, taking multiple phone calls from Lipova parents who have unending questions.

Director Valiantsina with her husband, Adam.
Adam is an emergency room physician.
Valiantsina's focus continues to be on the kids. At the conclusion of our visit with her last fall when we selected and interviewed the 36 children that she thoughtfully had placed on the sponsorship list, Valiantsina wiped her face and tears with her hands and said, "For the first time, I have hope for these children." We cannot thank her enough for allher work on behalf of these children, our next generation. She is definitely part of the "Hope" for Chernobyl's Child team in Lipova!