The City of Goodness: Hundreds of Сhildren’s Lives are Changed Here Through the Support and Love They Were Deprived Of. Sevgil Musaieva reveals.
7 kilograms at six years old – that’s Kostiа’s weight. A boy found in a critical condition. He was literally eating himself because there was no one to give him food, warmth, or care. Social services failed to help him in time.
Ilona – a girl whom volunteers found nearly on a trash heap, in the yard of the house where her family lived. Her oxygen saturation was at 50. She has a severe heart defect and needs a transplant.
Klymentiy and Volodymyr – 13-year-old twin brothers, evacuated from the Pokrovskyi district during shelling. They were fed by their younger brother Platon, who, when asked, says: “I’m grown-up, not a child.” He had to become an adult at 10 in order to save his brothers.
Sergyiko, from the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region, used to compete in judo tournaments and was full of life. One day, he and his friend were swimming in a river when his friend started drowning. Serhiy saved him – but was pulled under by the current himself. Fifteen minutes underwater, brain death, resuscitation. He saved a friend at the cost of his own health.
Vovchyk, from Bucha, was a healthy and happy child. Then the Russians came to his city. During evacuation, they threatened his family, beat his mother with a rifle butt because she couldn’t calm her son, and staged a mock execution. After that, Vovchyk stopped speaking. An unspeakable fear took hold in his eyes.
These are the stories – the lives of the residents of the “City of Goodness,” founded seven years ago by Marta Levchenko. Each child here could fill an entire book with their story.
Marta’s center initially helped single mothers with children. But after the full-scale invasion, it became a refuge for palliative children – those who often have nowhere else to go. That’s how the “Butterfly House” palliative care center was born in the City of Goodness over the past three years. Today, more than 50 children are cared for here, brought from different regions of our country.
What is palliative care? No, it’s not just care in the final days of life. It is comprehensive support for children with incurable or severe illnesses that limit the length or quality of life.
It’s about care, psychological support, and giving a child the chance to live each day with dignity. It’s about unconditional love and acceptance.
Yet in Ukraine, palliative care remains almost invisible to the system. There are no reliable statistics on how many such children need help – or even how many there are in the country.
Very often, it’s the parents – or volunteers – who search for solutions to urgent medical issues themselves, like securing a shunt for hydrocephalus, which costs 30,000 UAH. Many of these children reach care centers too late, after the medical system has essentially “given up” on them. When there’s nothing left to be done and the countdown begins in days – but had they been placed in reliable and caring hands earlier, they might have had a real chance at recovery.
Palliative children are not numbers. Not statistics. They are living souls, and every single day of their life matters.
Palliative care is not just a medical issue – it’s a matter of humanity. And when you see these children, you understand: the suffering of hundreds more with similar diagnoses could be eased.
The people who work at the City of Goodness are changing the lives of hundreds of children. They give them the support and love they were once deprived of. They are transforming the system with their own hands and hearts. But they need the help of caring people, and they need changes – in legislation and in approach.
This center is built on love. A unique world, home to incredible souls – and when you come into contact with it, you feel grateful to fate for the chance to cross paths with them in this lifetime.
When you are near them, the pain fades. You feel a love that melts your heart and proves that kindness truly can change the world around us. These children, and the people beside them, teach unconditional love and acceptance.
How can you help?
1. Palliative children need nearly round-the-clock care. The center is looking for long-term donors. This can include both medical equipment and financial support.
2. You can become a family for these children. Yes – many of them are adoptable, and they deeply need love.
3. But there must also be a shift in state policy regarding palliative care for children: creating a national registry of palliative children, revising treatment programs for severe illnesses.
The City of Goodness is ready to share this experience. In August, they are planning to hold another conference on pediatric palliative care. If this cause matters to you – reach out to the center directly.
Visit the City of Goodness website for more information on how you can donate for the goodness.
