KP HOLIDAY WISHES SERIES
OTHER STORIES IN THIS SERIES:
Looking for mercy, teens turn to Kyiv Caritas shelter
Oleh Kravchenko puts the listener at ease with his contemplative speech and old-world manners. The deputy chairman of the Ukrainian Association of Retired Personsand chief editor of its various newsletters and publications, Kravchenko learned how to use a computer only 10 years ago.
Now he can’t imagine life without one. “I started learning how to use a computer after a comrade eight years my elder shamed me for not wanting to learn,” the 71-year-old Kravchenko said. “Now I’m mastering Adobe Photoshop.”
But that’s not all he’s trying to do.
Kravchenko says Ukraine’s 15 million retired persons – one third of the nation — are fed up with “systemic discrimination” of the elderly. Ignored by politicians and policymakers, treated with skepticism at hospitals, and undervalued by employers, many elderly feel estranged from their own society.
“It gets under my skin whenever I see [employment] want ads in the paper stipulating age limits, especially when they need ‘experienced’ people that age can usually provide,” said the former newspaper man.
Indeed, Ukraine’s elderly not only face the psychological pressures of having to adapt to changing times and instability, they also are confronted with social isolation. It is a feeling that Fyodor Dostoevsky once referred to as being among the “insulted and injured,” an affront to their human dignity.
“It’s a sin for a normal person in our country to ignore the plight and poor state in which our pensioners live,” said Volodymyr Dzyobak, 41, the association’s founder, describing the group’s raison d’etre.
The eight-year-old organization has 31,000 members and is represented by branches in all 24 oblasts and Crimea. Far from feeling sorry for themselves, the organization is channeling the older generation’s resentment into action.
With help of members who are lawyers and even former Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko, the association drafted anti-discrimination legislation. They seek enforcement of constitutional rights to equality, quality medication and social security. But the proposal has so far gone nowhere in the dysfunctional Verkhovna Rada.
“How would you like to be denied treatment at a hospital because of your age,” Kravchenko said. “The most frequent responses [from doctors and nurses] to ailments is: ‘What do you want, you’re just old?’”
The eight-year organization lives by the Christian maxim of “helping others learn how to fish instead of distributing fish.”
The seniors’ group teamed up with First Insurance Company in 2004 to offer affordable medical insurance to senior citizens in five oblasts after 17 other companies refused. Clients pay Hr 20 per month and benefit from the “Apteka” program, which provides reduced-price medicine.
The year before, the association partnered with the First Ukrainian Credit Union to provide its constituents with cheap, micro-credit loans while offering them interest-bearing savings accounts. In the first 10 months of the year, the UARP-affiliated credit union issued 894 loans worth Hr 5.2 million. Loans usually are taken out for remodeling, purchase of furniture or durable goods, or small-scale farming and livestock care.
“We have war veterans who keep just enough money to buy a small bottle of vodka in their savings and take it out on Victory Day when they meet with their fellow veterans,” Kravchenko said.
Annual dues are Hr 27. The price includes a membership card which is good for discounts of up to 30 percent at more than 1,500 places, including private medical clinics, pharmacies, supermarkets (the Silpo chain), dental offices, optical centers, law offices and restaurants.
The discounts help. Kyiv teacher Svitlana Donets wrote this letter to the association: “For two years I, my family and colleagues have benefited from the discounts we receive with our membership cards, especially on medicine and at the grocery store … and we enjoy receiving tickets to the theater, which many of us cannot afford.”
Also included with the membership is a free subscription to the association’s two newsletters. The non-profit group organizes outings to museums and theaters. The “generational dialogue” program is designed to promote interaction between young and old through talent shows or other social events.
Recently, the European Senior Citizens’ Union sent over computers from Germany, which the Rivne UARP branch donated to a school on the condition that students teach their elders how to use them after school hours.
Like most non-profits, the association coulduse money. A few sponsors keep the organization afloat. Other money comes from membership dues, advertisements and grants.
A person’s time is also welcome. “We’re always looking for volunteers to spend time with the elderly on social outings or to conduct visitations,” Kravchenko said.
The group’s most ambitious project to date was when its Zhytomyr branch lobbied the local government to allocate a plot of land to build a housing unit for members. Ground was broken in 2007 on the outskirts of Zhytomyr.
Kravchenko emphasized the organization is not affiliated with any political party and is open to all ages, but is most popular with people 50 years or older.
HOW TO CONTACT UKRAINIAN ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED PERSONS:
Oleh Kravchenko
71 Nyzhniy Val, Kyiv 04071
Tel: (044) 417-2428; 417-5260
TO DONATE:
VAT “UKRAINSKIY PROFESIYNIY BANK”
Bank account number: 260013406
MFO: 300205
Vse-Ukrainska Hromadska Orhanizatsiya “Vse-Ukrainska Assotsiatsiya Pensioneriv”
Identification Code: 25884649
