VIDEO: A home filled with joy and happy children

The family home St. Josef of Caritas-Spes in the Ukraine

Since 2001, based on the model employed by “SOS Children's Villages”, the Caritas-Spes Ukraine organisation has helped build, equip and administer orphanages/ family homes offering a life line to children in need. The education and childcare is undertaken by trained nuns and teachers and the first house/orphanage - the house St. Josef in Kiev - was founded by Josef Holzmann (1920 - 2002) who was the long serving parish priest of Leonding, Upper Austria.

Today 11 orphans, aged from 1-18 (5 young boys and 6 young girls) live in the orphanage and are looking after by 3 mother figures.

The family house offers an abundance of support in the way of medical, social, material and educational help, where the emphasis is laid on the development of each child’s individuality and independence. For the first time in their lives the children enjoy a feeling of security and belonging. In the community they learn how to take responsibility for each other and how to deal with the highs and lows of everyday life. The children are taken care of at least until the legal age of majority: they follow the normal educational path from kindergarten through to high school, this getting as good an educational start in life as possible.

Each child has a godparent either in Austria or in one of the other EU countries, who make monthly payments, thus ensuring some kind of financial stability for the running of the institution despite the small amount of support that comes from the state.