Supporting Kharpp, an amazing charity helping to rebuild communities in the Kharkiv Region of Ukraine

29th September 2024

Ievgeniia and Karen are both based in Oxfordshire. Ievgeniia is from Kharkiv in Eastern Ukraine and she introduced Karen to the Oxford-Kharkiv Association. As the group's website explains:  

"The Oxford-Kharkiv Association (OKA) is a voluntary society dedicated to strengthening the links between Oxfordshire and Kharkiv region by fostering personal and professional contacts and by supporting charities and other initiatives helping the people of Kharkiv in wartime, in reconstruction and in recovery.

"The initial fields of work will be in Education and Healthcare and in publicising the projects of other charities for Kharkiv and Ukraine."

At one event Karen and Ievgeniia heard about the work of Kharpp, a small UK-registered charity that works in villages in the Kharkiv Region, with a focus on repairing windows and doors. 

A few months later, Karen had the opportunity to join a conversation with Ada Wordsworth, co-founder and director of the charity. The two videos below are the result of that conversation. This is a story of people from the UK and elsewhere who wanted to do something with their language skills after the full-sclae invasion of Ukraine. They reacted quickly and adapted as they learnt about the needs of the communities that they wanted to support. 

Karen is particularly keen to support and promote the work that this charity does:

"I have been so impressed by the way in which this charity has grown, with a clear focus on working directly with the beneficiary communities. Ada explained how the materials and supplies mostly come from the local region, how the charity works with village administrations and has built trust to ensure that the greatest needs are met, and how they manage their limited finances to ensure that they don't overstretch themselves. 

I hope that many of our friends and colleagues within and beyond Rotary get a chance to watch the two videos, to learn about the charity's work and to consider supporting their current appeal for a new van for one of the village administrations."  

This is a six-minute video - from the 40 minute conversation. 

And if that has caught your interest, then please watch the full edited 30 minute conversation to learn more about Kharpp's work.