Ela is a lovely 18 year old orphan teen girl from Ukraine.
She was born with congenital malformations, due to her
parent's exposure to the radioactive cloud from the nuclear
accident in Chernobyl .

In her case, deformed hands and feet, she was rejected at birth
and she has been in an orphanage all her life.
I met Ela in 1998 when I spent one month at the orphanage
for deformed children in Tsyurupinks, Ukraine.
She was very bright, sweet and we became very good friends.

I had gone to Ukraine to adopt Nikita and Dimitri, both born
with extrophy of the bladder, also the result of radioactive
exposure by their parents. both of them "Chernobyl Orphans"

Ela came to me, and told me she was " like a sister"
to my boys, they had grown together, could I adopt her too?
I promised her that when the medical treatment for the boys
was finished, I would return to adopt her and bring her back
to California to have her hands and feet operated.

We have continued to write each other for these past years
and we feel like Mom and Daughter.

Mellowswan Foundation will make Ela the first child to
come to California.

The statistics in Eastern Europe are sad, the majority of girls
leaving orphanages at 18, find themselves with limited options,
unprepared for the "outside life"alone and poor, with limited education.
Sadly, prostitution, drugs, homelesness and suicide are usually
the options that these girls are faced with, as they try to survive in the unfriendly and dangerous street world.

In Ela's case, with her handicap, she will encounter even
more challenges, so I have made it my mission to save her
and provide her with medical, dental care, education and
most important, a mom and a loving family.

Unfortunately, when I was able to adopt ELa, Ukraine had closed adoptions
for several years. When they lifted the ban, Ela was over 16 and "too old to be adopted" under American Adoption Laws.

But we at Mellowswan Foundation want to help Ela with her corrective surgery.
So we have created "Project Ela" by requesting a Humanitarian Visa to the Department of Homeland Security and with the support of our friend, Congresswoman Lois Capps ( D) of California, who has writen a letter on Ela's behalf, so she can came to the USA for a year and have medical care.

Once her visa is granted, we need to fly to Ukraine to pick her up
and bring her here to California. 

But we need your help. To read more about Ela please visit

http://www.projectela.blogspot.com/  

DONATE HERE

If you want to donate, to help us bring Ela to California, please click on this Guide Star link below and once the page opens, type Mellowswan Foundation and you can use your credit card,
we will get your donation in a safe and secure online manner,

or if you prefer using Paypal, click on this button

Ela summer 2004

If you want to read more about Ela's story, please visit this link, where our

friends have made a wonderful page for Ela, there you will be guided to a video we

made for Ela.

 http://www.ukraineorphans.net 

If you want to help us by becoming a volunteer with  "Project Ela", 

 please write to Sonia at

Mellowswan@aol.com  ( subject; Ela )

Thanks.

PARA LOS AMIGOS DE HABLA HISPANA 

Ela tiene 18 años y nacio con manos y pies deformes, fue rechazada por sus padres debido a sus deformidades y abandonada en un orfanato toda su vida, nosotros en Fundacion Mellowswan, queremos traer a Ela a California para operarla.

Pachi queria adoptar a Ela, pero cuando ella aplico, las adopciones estaban cerradas en Ucrania por varios años, cuando abrieron las adopciones Ela tenia mas de 16 años y era "demasiado grande" ya no podia ser adoptada bajo las leyes de adopcion Americanas.

Por eso hemos hecho el "Proyecto Ela" para que la Fundacion Mellowswan traiga a Ela a California para su cuidado medico.

DONE AQUI

Hagan click en el siguiente link rosado aca abajo que dice "guidestar"
 una vez que la pagina se abra, escriban Mellowswan Foundation
en el cubito de busqueda y hagan click en el cubito que dice
"donate now"  usando sus tarjetas de credito.

http://www.guidestar.com

 O si prefieren donar usando Paypal,
hagan click en este boton aca abajo que dice "Donate"
 cuando se abra la pagina hay una cajita arriba a la derecha
donde se puede cambiar el idioma a Español.
Ahi pueden seguir las indicaciones.
Gracias!

Hemos hecho una pagina para el "Proyecto Ela"
Si quieren leer mas acerca de la historia de Ela, por favor presionen en esta linea

 www.proyectoela.blogspot.com

  Si quieren ayudar en Sud America, haganse voluntarios, escribanme a Mellowswan@aol.com  ( sujeto Ela)

Gracias!

Sonia Paz Baron-Vine
Presidente
Fundacion Mellowswan