Sasha was nine years old when his mother suddenly died. Now, living alone with his alcoholic father in the Mogilov region of Belarus, Sasha stopped attending school and gradually withdrew from those around him.
“That’s when we visited him,” explains one area coordinator in Belarus. “We distributed shoeboxes at Sasha’s school and then suggested we visit any children who couldn’t make it to school.”
Turning up to Sasha’s tiny house, the team sat with him as he opened up his shoebox.
“His face lit up immediately!” laughs the area coordinator. And that’s when the team heard the whole story. Sasha hadn’t been attending school because his alcoholic father could not afford the stationary he needed. But with a huge smile on his face Sasha pulled out the pens, pencils and paper and exclaimed “Now, I can go back to school!”