A Rose in the Dacha
The Dacha is a home operated by Soleterre and its Ukrainian subsidiary Zaporuka. It is located in Kyev and offers hospitality and support for young cancer patients and their families, while the youngsters are being treated at the Cancer Institute and Pediatric Neurosurgery of the Academy of Sciences in Kyev.
Since July 2019, our Foundation has borne the costs of the Dacha, which welcomes an average of 70 families per year. Visitors stay at no cost and are given psychological support, physiotherapy, recreational activities, plus some financial support through an emergency fund.
Year after year, the quality and effectiveness of the services has been growing.
From 1 January 1 to 24 February 24, a total of 29 families were hosted, whose children were undergoing chemo and radiotherapy in a day hospital, and were either having a break between chemo cycles or returning to Kiev for follow-up examinations.
The average length of stay in the Dacha is eight days. Most of the children are housed in the Dacha with both parents; other relatives (grandparents, brothers and sisters) can visit them regularly.
The level of satisfaction of the guests with the services offered and the feedback received through anonymous questionnaires can be summarized by comments left by one family: “The Dacha is our second home. Thank you so much for the chance to stay here in the hardest moment of our lives”.
Then came February 24, the day that changed the lives of all Ukrainians, including the families at the Dacha.
The evacuation of the families began immediately, who were first hosted in Ternopil (Western Ukraine). On March 3, after the neighborhood was hit by missiles, the Dacha was closed for an indefinite period.
Since then, funds from the project have enabled the children to be relocated to other health facilities in Europe: from Ternopil to Rzeszów (Poland), and then flying to Italy and other countries in western Europe. Over 80 pediatric cancer patients have been moved to specialized hospitals in order to continue their treatment. Families have also been given some financial support.
Since that moment, Rosa Prístina’s commitment to Ukraine is to help in the emergency through the generosity of many donors, which led to an extraordinary effort to provide ambulances, medicine, and life-saving devices .
However we are already working on the reconstruction. The war has forced millions of Ukrainians from the eastern regions to migrate to the more western regions: with Soleterre and Zaporuka, we are working on a project to house many dozen families.
