June 14, 2013

Posts

Alcohol, Pregnancy and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders in Ukraine

In order to improve the effectiveness of our organization, in May 2011 we surveyed 80 women and 40 men in five Western Ukrainian cities from Kosiv to Lviv. We wanted to know

  1. what people knew about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects) and
  2. the most cost effective ways of educating the public about the risks a pregnant woman takes by consuming alcohol.

We planned to continue providing support to internats (boarding schools for children with special needs) but we’d begun to realize we also needed to tackle Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder prevention. We’d begun providing Mykolychun Internat director Stephan Severylov material on FASD in 2009 after he’d complained he could find none in either Ukrainian or Russian.

But it took a meeting with the director of the Eurasia Foundation in September 2009 to convince us we needed to broaden our focus. “What you are doing is very important,” he explained. “But you could do so much more. The entire country has need of the information you’ve chosen to supply to one small school.” …read more

Our Most Recent Translation

To be available in September 2011, a Ukrainian translation of Diane Malbin’s book: Trying Differently Rather Than Harder. This translation is being made possible by the generous support of FASCETS (www.FASCETS.org) and your contributions to Ukraine Works Ltd.
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Speaking Out

Liz Kulp- “DON’T FOLLOW MY or THEIR PATH – It is TOO hard”

Liz Kulp- “DON’T FOLLOW MY or THEIR PATH – It is TOO hard”

Liz Kulp is the author of two books: The best I can be, living with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or Effects and The Braided Cord, Tough Times In and Out.

“DON’T FOLLOW MY or THEIR PATH – It is TOO hard” is the advice Liz Kulp gives to teens and young adults.

“Alcohol and babies don’t mix and hurt babies in all social classes. Live in my brain and body one day and you will soon discover it is hard. Really hard. Regardless of your color, age, sex or religion – you will be discriminated against – counted as incapable and misunderstood. Often!”

... read more
Michael Linden- “Buying vodka was so easy”

Michael Linden- “Buying vodka was so easy”

Russian speaking Michael Linden spent his first ten years living in the Former Soviet Union. Now twelve, Michael recounts his experience buying vodka as a ten-year-old.

“It was sooo easy,” explains Michael. “I asked the sales assistant in a local market for a liter, pointed to the brand I wanted. She told me the price. I paid her and left.”

“Ten minutes later I returned for a second liter. You guys must be having quite a party, the sales assistant told me, smiling as she handed me the vodka and my change.”

... read more

What’s New: a message from the director

2011-2012 Agenda based on Survey Results.

Our goal: to have the greatest impact possible given our limited resources. To do this, we plan

  • To distribute copies of the Ukrainian edition of Liz Kulp’s book The Best I Can Be to medical personnel and educators – especially to obstetricians and those educators in a position to influence women of child-bearing age.
  • To distribute copies of the Ukrainian edition of Diane Malbin’s book Trying Differently Rather Than Harder to pediatricians, psychologists/psychiatrists and schools for children with fetal alcohol related issues.
  • To translate sections of our website (www.ukraineworksltd.org) into Ukrainian.
  • To translate an English language Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder prevention video into Ukrainian and subtitle it for distribution in Western Ukraine.

To have Deb Evensen’s manual Making a Difference, Working with students who have Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders translated into Ukrainian providing there is sufficient interest in learning how to teach students with FASDs. Ukraine Works plans to survey a group of educators in September 2011 to determine if the expense is warranted.

Video created by Marika