The boy who cannot live with his family (From Daily Echo)

The boy who cannot live with his family

2:31pm Friday 16th January 2009

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ALTHOUGH it won’t help them meet the costs of heating their single room home this winter the shoebox delivered to 14-year-old Slava in the poorest part of the Crimean capital Simferopol certainly brought some hope to the teenager.

As with the thousands of shoeboxes, including around 50,000 donated by families and children across Hampshire, the gift of a child’s own toothbrush, bar of soap and pack of colouring pens seems to make a huge difference in their lives.

Living in a small, cramped house with his aunt Anya who adopted him to live with her three other children, Slava, is one of hundreds of youngsters who are supported by relatives after being taken from a mother who was a problematic drug addict.

Those growing up without a close family include his brother Andrei, who was born with HIV and was not allowed to move into the family home despite Anya’s wishes.

Now he is a six-year-old living in an orphanage and cared for alongside eight other children with the condition that could easily take their lives if they were to fall ill or injure themselves.

And after finding him and delivering the donated shoeboxes to him and his classmates, it is clear that the gifts really are worth the small effort from people in the UK.