Likes dinosaurs and gets ready for school. The story of a Mariupol orphan who wrote to Johnson
Svoi talked to Illia’s custodian and learned that the boy plays football, studies the Ukrainian language, and gets ready for school.
Spouses and benefactors
Before the Russian invasion, Volodymyr Bespalyi worked on the railway in Sloviansk. Maria was a professional photographer and was quite popular in her city. In addition, before starting a career as a photographer, she had worked for four years as a teacher in the social shelter for children “Winds of Hope.” In their free time, the spouses engaged in charity work.
“It all started with animals — feeding and treatment of homeless cats and dogs. It’s hard to count the number of animals for whom we managed to find families. Then we started helping the elderly, children in hospitals, orphans, children with various diagnoses,” Maria says.
Together with her husband she planned to stay in the city, but family circumstances changed.
“Perhaps we’d still be there now. But my husband’s mother, who lived in Izyum, refused to evacuate. Halyna Gennadiivna said that she wanted to serve and help others at a Baptist church, where people found shelter. However, after some time it was hit by a projectile. People stayed in the basement for more than a week without connection. We were very worried, were looking for her. Halyna Gennadiivna was saved by our military. And when Vova and I took her from the village of Dolyna, which is not far from Sloviansk, she cried that ‘we have to run away, no one will be saved, this horror is impossible to survive.’ She was very traumatized psychologically,” Maria adds.
On March 17, Maria, Volodymyr, and Halyna Gennadiivna drove to Kropyvnytskyi. She says they moved five times in three months. When the Russian occupiers had left Kyiv region, family friends offered them an apartment in the capital. They pay for utilities only.
As a child, I dreamed of adopting a child
Maria says that already six years ago, when she just started dating Volodymyr, she at once voiced her dream to adopt a child from an orphanage.
“I know males perceive this differently, they have this desire to have their own heir. When we dated, I immediately discussed this issue with Vova: if you want and if you agree with me, then we go on together. And he agreed! I can’t explain where such a dream comes from. I even talked to a psychoanalyst and he asked where this motivation came from. It turned out it’s from childhood. When I was little, I constantly told my mother that I would grow up and adopt many children. I’ve always loved movies depicting families with many children. One of my favorite ones is “Cheaper by the Dozen.” I’ve always wanted to have a friendly family with many children. My husband knew about my dream and was ready for more than one child."
They immediately got to be friends with Illia
The family also talked about the birth of their own child. People around them even thought that Maria could not have children — she was married for six years and still did not get pregnant. In fact, they postponed the birth of a child because they wanted to “stand firmly on their feet.” In order for the future child to feel comfortable, the couple moved from a two-room apartment to their own house. They also have jobs and a car. They just started to specifically prepare for parenthood when a full-scale war started.
“Back on March 2, I posted on Instagram that my husband and I want to adopt a newborn child. I was afraid that due to tough times, mothers would start abandoning their babies. We bought a lot of formulas, diapers, and clothes and waited. In the comments, people wrote that this was impossible during the war. Still, I had an opposite opinion: I believed that we would have a child. This post was posted for two months. We were already living in Kyiv when I was called and told there was a child from Mariupol. A six-year-old boy was left an orphan. It was as if he was waiting for us, or we were waiting for him, I don't know, but I was immediately overwhelmed by emotions, I had a feeling that we should take him, but my husband was sitting, worried, saying ‘Mariyka, we won’t make it financially, we both have to go to work now’ — our savings ended. But Vova’s mother said: “God won’t leave you.” And we went to Dnipro to take IIlia at our own peril.”
The boy only had his mother. According to the documents, this woman was a single mother and an orphan herself.
Maria, IIlia and Volodymyr
“I learned about this from her classmate. Their distant relatives also wrote to me: they learned about IIlia from social networks and thanked me for adopting the boy. From their neighbors I learned that IIlia’s mother is dead — she went to the bridge that was blown up.”
At the first meeting with IIlia, Volodymyr and Maria said they were his friends, and already next time they told him: “If you want, we can be your parents.” They immediately got to be friends and got along well. Maria and IIlia even look alike. She says that in social networks everyone claims that they look like relatives.
“IIlia will be 7 years old in August, he will go to school in September. He loves books about space and dinosaurs. IIlia studies every day — he writes and reads. He’s also good at logic. He didn’t speak Ukrainian, but now we’re learning it together. I read books only in Ukrainian.”
IIlia likes playing football very much
Dear Boris Johnson, I want to play football in Mariupol
Recently, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has written an open letter to Ukrainian children.
In it, he noted that “every day, Ukrainian children are teaching all of us what it means to be strong and dignified, to hold your head high in even the toughest of times,” and that he believes that Ukraine will win the war. And then IIlia decided to reply to the head of the British government.
Дорогі українські діти! pic.twitter.com/9hAuRA6QCG
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) May 23, 2022
"I suggested that he write to Boris Johnson, and he supported the idea — he wanted to share his story so that the famous politician didn’t forget about our country and Ukrainian children. He said that he would draw the flag of Ukraine and write about the cat Frosia. I published the letter on my social network page and the Shakhtar club saw it; by the way, this is my husband’s favorite club. They offered help, for example treating IIlia’s teeth for free. They also invited IIlia to the football training classes. And Darijo Srna promised to get the letter to the UK.”
Maria is 100 percent sure that IIlia is not the last child in the family.
“There were five children in my parents’ family, but we aren’t friendly, we hardly ever communicate. Therefore, I really want everything to be different in my family. Maybe Vova and I will have four children. And maybe more.”
The text of IIlia Kostushevych’s letter:
“Dear Boris Johnson! I want the war to end sooner so that people don’t die anymore. I want to play football at home in Mariupol. I would like all the children of the world not to have war. Greetings to all the children in Britain, thank you for helping us. We will win! I have a cat, Frosia. I am sending you the flag of Ukraine that I drew. I hug you tightly. IIlia, 6 years old.”
