Charity is built on trust.
The guests of the column will be public figures, priests, lawyers, cultural figures. Our first interlocutor was Olga Kudinenko - the founder of one of the most famous charitable foundations in Ukraine "Tabletochki", which helps children suffering from cancer.
How did it happen that you started helping children with cancer?
"By accident." It all started with the fact that I went to the site donor.org.ua where I saw a request to purchase drugs for patients of the hospital "Ohmatdet". And after I managed to help them for the first time, I decided to help further. So I learned that children with blood cancer in Western Europe and the United States recover in 90% of cases, and in Ukraine this percentage is not higher than 50. And something needs to be done about it.
What clinics do you work with and why did you prefer them?
- The main direction of our fund is to help children with blood cancer. We provide the Okhmatdet Oncohematology Center with drugs that the state cannot provide. The second and largest in terms of money is the payment for bone marrow transplant operations from an unrelated donor, which are not performed in Ukraine. And, in our opinion, the most affordable and quality clinics that do this are in Italy. Survival statistics of Ukrainian children after such operations are 70% and this is undoubtedly a great success. But, unfortunately, as practice shows, our children are sent there late. If sent for treatment in the early stages, this percentage would be much higher.
You have been visiting Russia often lately. What are the features of charity in this country?
- In Russia, there is an opportunity to raise funds by sending text messages, which still can not be introduced in Ukraine. There, in fact, all large business is socially responsible. For example, the Billa supermarket donated 2 months of proceeds from packages to charity, which is a huge amount of money. Many famous people also support charity. Their country is bigger and richer - this is a fact, but, nevertheless, the state always goes to meet the funds and provides support.
Were there any situations in Ukraine that significantly undermined people’s trust in charitable foundations?
- Take, for example, the case of Oksana Makar. All of Oksana’s treatment was paid for by the Renat Akhmetov Foundation. It is unknown what the money sent to her mother’s account went to. And this is what we are actively fighting against - donating money to the accounts of individuals. In this case, no accountability can be achieved. But this case was not the hardest blow to the Ukrainian people’s trust in charities. At one time, Kateryna Yushchenko, the wife of one of Ukraine’s previous presidents, was raising money to build the Hospital of the Future project. And, despite the fact that there is no law in Ukraine that allows you to raise funds via SMS, she made concessions. But no one in this clinic has ever seen where the money raised is now unknown.
Has the current situation in eastern Ukraine complicated fundraising for the treatment of children?
- Raising money has certainly become more difficult, as many benefactors have now redirected their funds to help the army.
What should be the state’s participation in the development of charity in Ukraine? Where would you start?
- We would very much like the protocols for the treatment of children’s blood cancer to be revised and a new Okhmatdet building to be completed so that there is a place to treat children. The current building is more than 75 years old and it is all in the fungus from which children die.