Shpola Internat

The Town of Shpola is the official geographical center of Ukraine . Shpola Internat is one of three main orphanages in the Cherkassy District, Ukraine. This is an ‘intermediate' school for children who have difficulty keeping up with regular school program for their age group. Many kids here were runaways and homeless for some time, thus they are set back in their education. Shpola Internat was designated as a historical monument. It has a rich history and housed many orphans for almost a century.

History: Shpola Internat is currently located on the territory of the former summer residence of count Aboza. It was built almost 230 years ago. Count Aboza was originally from Moldova and served Russian tsar in the Kavkaz region, back then, the hotly contested area of what is now the Republic of Georgia . The land was granted to the count for his service, hence the name "Daryevka" - meaning a "present", "grant". Count has made massive improvements to the locale by extending a railway, building roads and creating a sugar plant to process locally grown sugar beets.

Count Aboza was quite a personality. As the local legend says, during one mild winter he desired to take a sleigh ride. Because snow was in short supply, local peasants had to spread sugar over the road to create proper appearance. The iron columns that support the balcony of the main residence building were cast in St. Petersburg and the columns from the other side of the building were imported all the way from Italy . Current gym originally housed all the servants to the count. Internat's auditorium still has the original oak floors that were laid there 230 years ago.

Following the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, Ukraine was engulfed in the civil war. During the civil war several generals from the White Guards resided here. After the civil war, the residence was converted to an orphanage for many kids who were left without parents after the bloody conflict. During the time of Stalin's Purges, in the 30s, many children lost their parents and were housed here as well.

In 1940's, dark cloud of the WWII came over Ukraine . In 1944, here was the command center of the Nazi's 88th division. The land had seen an incredible amount of fighting and human suffering. About 20 yards away from the main building is the grave of two Red Army scouts who were captured and executed. Near by, there is a mass grave of many Jewish civilians who were murdered in cold blood. Not too far away, there was another mass grave of German soldiers. Almost 70 years have passed but locals still discover munitions and live rounds from the WWII era, during spring planting season.

After WWII, Shpola Internat resumed to house more orphans. Up to the present time, the times have changed as did Internat's names and classification, yet whatever the reasons; there is never a short supply of children left behind.

Present Time: Shpola Internat currently houses 182 children. The number of kids varies as some arrive and some are transferred to other internats or graduate. At times, the number can swell to over 200. Toward the winter, various municipalities tend to organize raids to round up homeless; many of them are kids who are transferred here. At the internat, children's ages range from 6 to 18, with most of the kids being in 12-18 age categories. Children come from various backgrounds and circumstances. Some are orphaned through loss of parents, some are abandoned for variety of reasons and for some the state has determined that their parents are not fit to raise them. Quite a few kids do not end up in the orphanage immediately, but are found homeless, living on the streets.

As one can infer from the word "Internat", this orphanage provides both housing and school education. Typical day starts with 7:00am wakeup call and morning calisthenics. After breakfast, children attend classes in the schoolhouse which go well into afternoon. There are no funded after school programs due to shortage of money. In fact, internat's budget for this roughly equals to a box of 60 crayons for the entire internat, for the entire year. Children also receive personal spending money which amounts to an equivalent of a dollar per year, which is not enough to buy a cone of ice cream.

Shpola Internat does receive some government funds; however the need to house, educate and care for so many children is far greater than provided funds. Internat's leadership has been extremely resourceful in maximizing available money. Internat has plots of land where children grow vegetables. They also maintain livestock to augment their food. Internat tirelessly lobbies for support from all available sources and local businesses. Its staff is an extremely dedicated, tight knit group of people, who are grossly underpaid and who multitask by taking part in repairing old buildings and in making children's living quarters more bearable.

While most basic necessities are barely met, internat is in desperate need for many things that are not luxuries. Structurally, there is a need for repairs and renovations. In some places, paint is the only thing that holds bits of rotten wood together. Showers resemble a dungeon from a horror movie. They are dark, most tiles are broken off, water pipes repaired with wires, rubber hose replaces a shower head, and paint has long peeled off. There is absolutely no equipment to dry or to iron laundry, so it is dried over hot water pipes, near the boiler room. There is only one working washing machine that handles the needs of the entire internat. In the sleeping quarters, the beds are old spring beds from the early Soviet era. That's actually inch thick springs that are stretched along the iron frame of the bed, just like many beds were in early 19th century. There is just enough money to replace few of the falling apart headboards and not beds themselves. The walls in the living quarters are mostly bare. Teachers chip in money to buy paint and spruce up the walls for the youngest kids or to draw a mural. There are many kids at the orphanage who are very talented but have no outlet to express themselves. Many kids do not have activities to occupy them in the free time, in the confines of the internat.