I am doing management consulting and fundraising for my NGO, which turns out to be a wonderful institution that provides social and medical rehabilitation therapy to mentally and physically challenged children. Under the Soviet regime, any disability was carefully hidden and children with any kind of problem were kept at home. Consequently, there were no services or assistance available to families with disabled children. Most buildings are high-rise and only a few have elevators. There are no bus lifts on any of the local busses and wheel chair access is extremely limited. One of our projects is to convert one of the public schools so that it will be accessible and will serve as the magnet school for any of the city’s disabled students, who are currently being educated at home. This is both expensive for the city and serves to isolate rather than integrate our students into the greater society. The work is both challenging and stimulating.
There is a chapter of the professional women’s organization ZONTA in Uzhgorod. It was imported by Uzhgorod’s sister city, Corvallis, Oregon. I have met some wonderful and inspiring women who are members of this organization, including pediatricians, neurologists, English teachers, a factory owner, and the Red Cross Director. They just organized a contest to select the Grandmother of the Year and raised money for the pediatric laundry in the local children’s hospital. I am hoping that I can interest them in joining TIAW. The Ukrainian women are intelligent, well educated, and hungry for contact with the West. The problem is economic. Average salary for a doctor here is $150. So TIAW dues present an economic barrier. However, I know the value of the networking that TIAW members accomplish so I will keep extolling the virtues of TIAW.
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