In June 2009 our fund received a heart-rending letter:
“My name is Yelena Gusak, I am 38.
Till the age of 7, I used to live at my grandparents’ in Vinnitsa, Ukraine. I almost do not remember my mother at that time, my father left us when I was one year old.
In 1979 my grandparents left for Israel for good. My mother did not let me leave with them, I do not know why. When I was 11, my mother placed me in a boarding school and started arranging her own life. I stayed in that boarding school till I was 13, then my mother was convicted to 10 years of imprisonment. My father took me to his new family.
When I got 16, my father free-heartedly returned me to my mother who was released early. I could not finish school because my mother made me find a job and starts working. My first working place was a vegetable store. When I was 19, my mother was convicted again, this time to another 10 years. Released in a year, she returned and without informing me, sold our flat. I was homeless. Where she is now, I don’t know. She is wanted by the police.
Due to all those misfortunate events, my life was unhappy. When I was 37 I decided to make this risky step – I gave birth to my son. This is the only close person I have.
I have now a goal in my life. I want to take him to Israel, to reunite there with my grandparents. I want my son to have a happy life; I want him to be an Israeli citizen. Yet, I have no funds for preparing all the documents. I do not work now; my son is only six months old. I found shelter in a social center for mothers like me because I have no money to make ends meet. We are allowed to stay here until June 2010.
I think with fear of the day we’ll have to leave because we have no other home.
Please, help us leave and reunite with my grandparents.”

Yelena had a great desire to leave. She had nobody in the world besides her little son, and she had her historical homeland.
She knew she was sure that only in Israel she and her son would have support from the state, they would survive, in the land promised to them by the Lord.
Yet, she encountered several disasters on her way.
First of all, she needed to find her mother who had been missing for 7 years by that time, and have her permission for departure to Israel or show a certificate of her death. With the help of archive data on unknown women’s bodies, Yelena managed to identify her dead mother and receive the certificate through the court. Though it costs money and great efforts from Yelena, her desire to leave was too strong to break down.
While Yelena was preparing for departure, her grandparents in Israel died. The Embassy required a confirmation of their departure in 1979. The archive Yelena turned to did not want to give her the document for a long time, and it made her closer to the day she had to leave the social center. It seemed a very real prospect for Yelena to appear in the street with a baby.
In order to get a visa, Yelena needed to obtain an international passport as soon as possible, and have all the copies of documents verified by a notary and the Department of Justice of Ukraine. Regularly, all those procedures take a year or a year and a half. Yelena had no time. Urgent procedures in Ukraine cost a few times more than usual. Yelena needed more than $1.500, and she had not a penny.
Our fund sent a cry for help hoping for donors’ support for this single mother and her son. We did receive it – from Norway, UK, USA. Yelena had help from JAFI and Christians for Israel, Int. Some of them helped with finance, some – with transport in her numerous trips to Kiev.
Donors’ support and help were the only chance for Yelena to get out of the hell she was trapped in. Support from the very heart was a kind of blessing for her. It was not only material, it poured balm onto her wounded soul. Without it, Yelena would not have been in time to gather all the necessary papers and leave for Israel with her son. In Ukraine, she and her baby would remain in the street without support.
On November 23, 2009, Yelena Gusak and her little baby received their visas. Early in the morning, on November 29, Yelena and Aleks got on the special minivan arranged for them to take them to the airport where they took their plane to Israel.
Yelena and her son who was at that time 11 months old reached their dream in Israel, the dream which could come true only thanks to joint efforts of donors from other countries. They gave the little Aleks a happy childhood.
Late in 2011, Aleks would be 3. He attends a nursery school in Israel and studies Hebrew. Yelena studies the language, too, but Aleks speaks it more fluently, and Yelena sometimes needs to ask him to translate his words into Russian.
Aleks passed the circumcision. Yelena wanted him to pass it nowhere but in Israel.

Aleks is a happy citizen of Israel. He swims in the warm sea and bathes in the caressing rays of the sun. He is sure to have a bright future.

Yelena, a true Jewish mother, is tireless in her looking after her son. In order to provide him with everything, he may need she has taken up two jobs and feels happy! She has managed to get out of the hell she was trapped in!
In September 2011, Yelena and Aleks received a social dwelling – a three-room flat.

In this flat, Aleks has his own bedroom,

Yelena has her own one,

and besides that, there is a kitchen and a hall.

It is very important that for this flat Yelena pays much less than for a hired flat. Yelena is carving her new home with love. She could not even dream of it in Ukraine. Besides this social dwelling, Israel gives Yelena and her son a range of other benefits and allowances.
“I live in a paradise!” said Yelena in a phone conversation. Together with a picture of her new flat, Yelena sent us a word for all those donors who supported her and helped her reach happiness.
“My son Aleks and I are so thankful to all of you for the help and support. Thanks to you, we live in the Promised Land, in the land of our ancestors. Thank you for your generosity and kindness. Looking forward to welcoming you in Israel.”

We would be happy if Yelena and Aleks’ story warmed the hearts of our donors with a sense of being a part of a great miracle. This is indeed a miracle – to give happiness to the two miserable helpless people, give them paradise in the Promised Land. Thank you so much!
Yet, there are 12 millions of people in Ukraine living beyond the verge of poverty. 3 millions of people are starving. Yelena and Aleks no longer belong to those needy people, yet thousands of Jewish people in Ukraine are still destitute and starving. Many of them are going to make Aliyah but without your help, they cannot leave home, for Israel.
They are waiting for your help for a happy life in the Promised Land.

2017 Update:

Yelena and her son have found true happiness in the Promised Land. They gladly share their joy and their pictures.