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Needy get some mercy
By: Evgenia Mussuri
Kyiv Post, OCTOBER 26, 2000
Marina Besko, 73, needs all the help she can get.
Living alone in her one-room apartment in Podil, she survives
on a Hr 60 a month pension.
But thanks to something called the Mercy Campaign, a
government-sponsored relief program, Besko and thousands of pensioners
like her will receive help this year.
For the second year running, the Mercy Campaign,
organized by the Ministry of Employment and Social Policy, will reach out
to Ukraine's elderly to ease the burden of winter for those in need.
The program is funded through private donations
supplemented by government support. It sends food, clothing, medicine and
other necessities to the homes of senior citizens who have been classified
as the city's most needy residents.
"Last year I was given a warm sweater and a couple
pairs of socks," Besko said. "Also I received some food during
winter. This is not much, but it is not so difficult when you know that
not everybody is indifferent to you."
Those who want to contribute money, medical support or
clothing can get a list of the city's needy and deliver it to the person
themselves, or they can drop their donation off at the center. Many of the
elderly on the list are handicapped or suffer from medical problems, such
as cancer, according to a spokeswoman at Kyiv's department for social
security.
According to the Ministry of Employment and Social
Policy, of the 14 million pensioners in Ukraine, 2.4 million are
handicapped and around 11.6 million are war veterans.
Today the elderly make up 20.5 percent of Ukraine's
population, or about 14 million people out of the nation's 49.7 million
people.
"At present in Ukraine, there is one working
person per pensioner," according to Lidia Kachan, a spokeswoman from
the Employment and Social Policy Ministry.
Ideally, there should be about one-and-a-half or two
working people per pensioner."
It is expected that by the year 2015, senior citizens
will comprise 22 percent of the population. By 2025, Ukraine's population
is expected to range between 38 million and 44.5 million, demographers
say.
The previous 1999-2000 Mercy Campaign collected money,
medicine, clothing, shoes, food and fuel worth about Hr 74.6 million and
assisted about 2.6 million pensioners.
Officials estimate that there are about 3 million
elderly in Ukraine who either are not capable of taking care of
themselves, have nobody to help them or are in need of financial support
to survive.
"I am an old woman, and I have lived my
life," Besko said. "The only thing left for me is to wait. I am
tired of even thinking how unfair the state is to its people. I know there
are some elderly who are dying of starvation. I am lucky."
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