Ukraine's first medical and social rehabilitation center for the homeless and former convicts was opened in the town of Alchevsk, Luhansk oblast, founded by Rev. Ihor Tsiatsko of the Christian Glory Church, aided by the Alchevsk City Council.
The premises are a former children's daycare center, the repair of which is almost complete, and there are seven homeless registered. Under existing procedures they will be able to stay here between 30 and 90 days, in which period the management will find them jobs, furnish them with identity papers, and help renew contacts with their relatives. The center also seeks to foster their mental and social rehabilitation.
At the same time, every resident must fulfill certain conditions: drinking and cursing is forbidden on the premises on pain of immediate expulsion. For many this alternative is forbidding enough, since the center is the only place where they are looked after and cared for. Every homeless person is disinfected, bathed, given clean clothes, and hot meals three times a day. The asylum is sustained by parishioners' contributions.
The place can accommodate 20 persons, and word about its appearance spread quickly through basements, dumps, and abandoned structures. Today one can see lines of homeless waiting for a chance to receive a place to live, even if only awhile, along with the attention and sympathy they need most of all.
Photo by Volodymyr Rasner, The Day
