Students Develop Outreach Services for Disabled Youth in Ukraine

As in many countries, Ukrainian children with physical disabilities find themselves left out of important parts of their local communities and struggle to integrate themselves into society at large. Motivated by the year she spent studying in the United States and her experiences working at summer camps for disabled children, Olga Mangusheva decided to confront this issue. An alumnus of the 2002-2003 FREEDOM Support Act Undergraduate Program (now the Global UGRAD Program, a program of Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State), Olga applied for an ECA Alumni Small Grant and created “World Open to Everyone,” a community service project in Zhytomyr, Ukraine that coordinated events for disabled children and their families.

The primary goal of “World Open to Everyone” was “to educate disable children about the world and help them make friends, but also to promote social awareness and acceptance of people with disabilities by the community.” Over the course of 10 months, Olga recruited 59 student volunteers from local high schools and universities to help coordinate and participate in various field trips, lectures, and celebrations for children with disabilities.

Through the course of the project, the volunteers began to establish close friendships with the children. Field trips to local parks and shopping malls became learning experiences for volunteers and children alike, many of whom had never been to these public places before. Olga developed a short, English-language video of the project to give others an overview of World Open to Everyone and the impact it has (video available below).

Although the project has been completed, the lessons learned and friendships formed by children and volunteers alike remain strong. There are plans to create a new volunteering organization at Zhytomyr State University, and meetings between “World Open to Everyone” members are likely to continue.

ECA alumni help disabledIn the words of one volunteer, “Before my participation I didn’t know what life was like for children with special needs…but once I became acquainted with such children I opened a new world for myself – where people have different values, where a good word and a kind smile is worth more than any expensive toy. I have learned to love with my heart, not my eyes.”