Help amidst heartbreak in Transcarpathia

This orphanage and children’s home, built in 1995, is in Nagydobrony, as known by Hungarians, and Velika Dobron, as known by Ukrainians. It is a pleasant village, very much in full sun when I bicycled there recently from the border in the high heat of the day, following the swirling dust on the route through the mesmerising Bereg flatlands before eventually arriving. – Guest author: Alexander Stemp:

I had visited once before, with an Uzhgorod Film Festival group last year. This time I met one of the founders and present-day Hungarian director László Katko, a former engineer. Also, his English-speaking son, who shares the same name and is the foundation’s relations administrator. Together, they are meticulous in their running of this organisation, its farm and guests, giving me a closer insight of this remarkable, self-governing place.

There are 58 girls from three-years-old upwards, often from very poor families who have no means of looking after them, or with no families at all. They live in a community similar to a hostel arrangement.

When first established this was an orphanage for handicapped girls only, as well as a care centre for disabled children from elsewhere. With help from nearby medical services, the Good Samaritan Children’s Home now provides care and assistance programmes for anyone in need.

Some of these children have been through many traumatic experiences, whether abandonment, abuse, alcoholism or death, and they need much care and assistance to help pull them through. They receive professionally prescribed therapies and treatments, and much encouragement.

The children find eventual confidence to walk, speak and generally reach out, inspired by the care and dedication of the specialists and staff. There is much hope as they engage with activities they like, take part in social events and obtain an education.

Those children who can, walk along the village lanes to nearby local schools. Special arrangements are made for those who cannot, with the state occasionally providing teachers to visit the Good Samaritan.

I was fortunate to meet Donald Fraser, a teacher originally from Scotland, who works at the local Reformed school and has lived in Nagydobrony since 1998. He has contributed greatly to these children’s needs over the years.

From a religious perspective, the children have devotions and are raised within the Christian faith of the Calvinist church, similar to the Presbyterian denomination. There are other associations to which the children’s home is connected, such as the Hungarian Reformed church in Budapest and Debrecen.

In addition this organisation provides many hands-on, behind-the-scenes jobs for locals, such as caretakers, kitchen staff, farm labourers, construction workers and so forth. With this in mind, the environment is geared to providing much of the resources needed, such as fruits, vegetables, dairy products and meat, and producing their own variety of paprika.

They also provide for other orphanages and schools close by, which brings in some essential income.

The Good Samaritan has various outside connections and professional volunteers sometimes assist the local recruits. I also had the pleasure of meeting Dr. James Waite, a dentist from Kentucky, US, who is a great friend of the home and whose treatments there are assisted by special dental equipment brought in from America because it is sometimes difficult to obtain in this region.