Ukraine

Jenny Frost, a teaching assistant at Beech Green Primary School in Quedgeley, Gloucester, designed herself a beautiful shoebox hat which she succeeded in wearing for an entire week, raising funds for her trip to deliver shoeboxes to children in Crimea this coming January.

From school assemblies, shopping at Tesco’s and a doctor’s appointment, Jenny collected money, smiles and funny looks for her outlandish new hat! 

BRINGING presents to sick children in hospital is something that takes place all around the world at Christmas.  But for the youngsters of the Bobrov Children’s Hospital in the city of Yalta in the Ukraine, a visit by the Operation Christmas Child team was a very special occasion.

After a two-hour journey to Feodosiya on the other side of the peninsula, we joined a local church group who is already prepared to give out dozens of shoe boxes to needy children. Arriving at two children’s homes, the group performs a number of musical numbers, including a dramatic portrayal of the life of Jesus and a traditional Ukrainian Christmas folk song.

 Today we are taken to a tower block on the outskirts of Crimea's capital Simferopol to deliver the next batch of boxes with Operation Christmas Child. Children play outside in the snow as we are led up a stairwell into a cramped, two-room apartment that is home to a family of seven.