CLEVELAND — Over the next several weeks, 18 Ukrainian children will be getting the grand tour of Northeast Ohio. 

What You Need To Know

  • Eighteen Ukrainian children who lost their fathers to the war, are spending a month in Northeast Ohio

  • They will participate in various therapeutic activities, counseling sessions, and recreational events

  • This week, they visited the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and received the grand tour

The children came to the United States for a month-long rehabilitation program, after having endured the loss of their fathers in the ongoing war. 

Ivan Hrysihchenko, 15, and the other children are participating in various therapeutic activities, counseling sessions, and recreational events, including touring the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH).

“In America I see attractions and beautiful places,” Hrysihchenko said.

The children are staying with host families, like CMNH employee and Ukrainian native Lena Hooke, for the duration of their visit.

“In 1992, I went through a similar program myself, and when I heard about this program, I didn’t have to think twice,” Hooke said. “We want them to experience things that they would not have experienced back in their country. Give them, sew some seeds of kindness, seeds of hope, love, that there is peace here, we want to show them that there is people here who still care, who have not forgotten about them.” 

President and CEO of CMNH, Sonia Winner, said she hopes the lessons these kids have learned at the museum can be carried with them all the way back to Ukraine.

“We are so committed to health, and part of health is being resilient and if you have experienced violence, if you have experienced trauma, being able to overcome that and have that tool kit,” Winner said. “So why not a fun day at the museum?” 

 As for Hrysihchenko, he said he hopes to return to America in a few years for college. 

 “I want to come back here for studying,” he said. “I think I will do it for the future.”