Six boys from Kharkov in Le Zion B’ Rina.

50 boys from Ukraine live and study at school Le Zion B’ Rina, which is situated near Jerusalem, in the town of Beitar Illit. Beitar Illit is a religious settlement where 5 thousand religious Israeli Jews live. The town is absolutely new, built of white stones, just as Jerusalem. The same is the new building of the school with large spaces and classrooms.

Boys from a number of towns in Ukraine study at that school, but we arranged a meeting with only six of them who arrived at Israel from Kharkov. Our fund assisted them right before their departure to Israel.
They are:
 - Vladislav and Sergey G.,
 - Roman and Valeriy K.,
 - Artyom T.,
 - Sergey V.
The conditions of life and the whole atmosphere where the boys live and study are just wonderful. Classrooms are spacious and comfortable.

The boys live in the school’s dorm in rooms for four persons. The G. brothers live in the same room with the K. brothers. They are friendly and have good relations with each other.

In their dining-rooms there are vegetables, fruits, diary, meat, fish – a wide choice to satisfy everybody’s taste.

Tutors and teachers of Le Zion B’ Rina have created an extremely pleasant atmosphere, they take care of their charge. At school, boys feel like home, they are free, confident and in a good mood. The boys have got rather a tense routine, each day they usually study till 6pm, on Tuesdays till 7.30pm. It is wonderful how determined and adult-like they are. It is obvious, that Israel and this school are a home for them.
The boys showed us a model of the Second Temple which they made during their classes of manual training.

This Temple is the thing they are extremely proud of.

Each of those boys shared his plans with us during the meeting.

Artyom T. is 16, he has been at this school since October 2007.
When in Ukraine, Artyom was a student of a musical school, played the piano and the guitar. His guitar hangs over the head of his bed at school. Artyom keeps studying music in Israel. After school he wants to enter a musical college and become a professional musician.

However, Sergey V. dreams of becoming a cook.
Though, at first he wants to join the Army of Defence of Israel. This is the way Sergey has defined for himself. He has lived in Israel for a year and a half, before his departure he used to be a student of a Jewish school, so he has never had problems with his Hebrew.

Valeriy K. (15 years) has lived in Le Zion B’ Rina for four months, but his arrival was absolutely conscious. He followed his elder brother Roman.
Roman has lived at the school for two years already. In February 2009 he will be 18, and he is going to become a citizen of Israel in order to become a real member of the society which gave him a start in life. Roman and Valeriy’s father was deprived of parental rights and has not been interested in his children’s fate for a long time. Roman has always felt he is the eldest in the family. He works and sends money to his mother in Ukraine. His dream is to be successful and take his mother to Israel.

Vladislav and Sergey G. are brothers but have got different fathers.
Their mother lives in Kharkov. She has got married for another time, finally found a job, but could not in any way provide her two sons. Vladislav is younger, he is 13, and his studying at Le Zion B’ Rina has lasted for only a year. He is a student of the ninth form, he has got used to the school quickly and studies well. His father in Kharkov was deprived of his parental rights and has never been interested in his son’s affairs. Vladislav’s mother, however, was happy her child had a chance to study and then get settled in Israel.
The elder brother Sergey is 17, he arrived at this school 2 years ago. His father died. Sergey had got no opportunities in life and knew it perfectly well.
Both the brothers, just like all the children at this school, work on Fridays. Usually, their job is cleaning. Children try to help their families because are sure their families in Ukraine are in great need.
And, of course, 100 euro for each of the boys was a real “Pleasing Surprise”. They were filled with happiness and they could not conceal it.

They stated their gratitude in Hebrew and wrote on a sheet of paper: “Thank you for our life here”. It was a pleasure for each of the boys to sign this document.