‘Mother’s Day’ in a women’s colony

On 13 May 2009, a team from the Luhansk Regional Charitable Foundation ‘Teenager’, the Leninsky district centre for social services for family, children, and youth in the city of Luhansk, and students of the Luhansk State University paid a visit to the Sverdlovsk correctional colony No. 68. This is the first trip in the Foundation’s history to a women’s colony. Over the past 10 years, the foundation’s volunteers have been actively and fruitfully working in the Perevalsk educational colony for minors.
Before the women serving their sentences, the Chairman of the Board of the Luhansk Regional Charitable Foundation ‘Teenager’ and director of the Leninsky district centre for social services for family, children, and youth in the city of Luhansk, V.L. Honcharov, spoke with congratulations on the holiday of ‘Mother’s Day’. And the leading specialist of the Leninsky district centre for social services for family, children, and youth in the city of Luhansk, E.E. Gordeeva, told the story of the origin of this holiday.
At the beginning of the meeting, V.L. Honcharov spoke in detail about the goals, tasks, and main directions of the work of the ‘Teenager’ Charitable Foundation and the centres for social services for family, children, and youth. He focused specifically on the forms of assistance for those serving sentences and those who have returned from places of deprivation of liberty. He spoke about the services and methods of work with this category of clients that the team of specialists can provide.
Continuing the meeting, the leading specialist of the Leninsky district centre for social services for family, children, and youth in the city of Luhansk, E.E. Gordeeva, focused in detail on this holiday. And its history is as follows: in 1908, a young American, Anna Jarvis from Philadelphia, took the initiative to honour mothers in memory of her mother, who had died prematurely. Anna wrote letters to government agencies, legislative bodies, and prominent figures with a proposal to dedicate one day a year to honouring mothers.
Her efforts were crowned with success – in 1910, the state of Virginia was the first to recognise Mother’s Day as an official holiday. Although, in essence, it is a holiday of eternity: from generation to generation, for everyone, a mother is the most important person to her children.
Undoubtedly, Mother’s Day is one of the most touching holidays, because each of us, from childhood until our final days, carries in our soul a single and unique image – the image of our mother, who will understand everything, forgive everything, always pity us, and love us selflessly no matter what.
V.L. Honcharov also spoke about the video library of films that the Foundation has available (ranging from the prevention of smoking, alcoholism, and drug addiction to stories from people who have committed crimes and their repentance). Volodymyr Honcharov spoke about the ‘Teenager’ Foundation’s printed publications, which reveal the main problems of persons who have returned from places of deprivation of liberty and show ways to solve them. During this meeting, handouts were prepared for the women serving their sentences, including the brochures: ‘We work to listen, support, suggest, help...’, and ‘Children’s rights are your rights’.
Volodymyr Leonidovych gave an example of a 23-year-old young man who found his mother, who is serving a sentence in a place of deprivation of liberty. A guy, an orphan from an orphanage, came to the appointment. The young man had not seen his mother for 11 years, and she had also been deprived of her parental rights. Having learned the surname, name, patronymic, and date of birth of the mother, V.L. Honcharov contacted the deputy head of the Administration of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences in the Luhansk region, S.V. Khil, who reported which colony the young man’s mother was in. By contacting the head of the colony and receiving support, permission was obtained for a visit with his mother on the territory of that colony. The guy, having learned about the visit, immediately ran to buy train tickets. And three days later, the head of the colony called the Foundation and reported that the mother was refusing a visit with her son and did not want to see him. And here we observe social partnership: Volodymyr Leonidovych worked with the young man, providing him with various kinds of social services, and the head of the colony conducted work with the mother.
Two weeks later, the guy ran to Honcharov’s home, with a trembling hand handed him a letter from his mother, and allowed him to read it. The mother had changed her mind, and now was looking forward to meeting her son.
There are enough such situations with positive results in Volodymyr Honcharov’s team. In these matters, the joint work of educational colonies, specialists of centres for social services for family, children, and youth, and representatives of public organisations is very important.
A woman sits in a cell (and for the majority of them, their children and family have remained ‘outside the colony gates’), and such an important meeting with loved ones can be conducted for them by specialists from the Centres for social services for family, children, and youth or non-governmental organisations that the ‘Teenager’ Charitable Foundation can contact.
But the main task of this meeting was to define the list of difficulties and problems that women serving sentences in places of deprivation of liberty face today.
Continuing this event, students of the Luhansk State Medical University performed together with their teacher, S. Shtepa. They presented them with songs and dances in their performance, charged them with positive emotions, and brought a small holiday into their hearts.
This concert made an unforgettable impression on the women serving their sentences. Almost everyone had eyes glittering with tears, and in their sad gaze, one could see that in their thoughts, they were not in the colony, but next to their children and families.
At the end of the meeting, the director, Volodymyr Honcharov, noted that the ‘Teenager’ Charitable Foundation is open to everyone and is ready to provide assistance in solving any questions and difficulties that arise; we, working with you, want you to become better for the sake of your children and your families.
Olga Makeeva
Specialist 1st category of the Leninsky
district centre for social services for
family, children, and youth in the city of Luhansk