Olga Kurylenko shines light on dire state of Ukrainian orphans
There were tons of beds next to each other with nothing besides them. There were no toys, no books, just empty beds. It looked like a cemetery. I just could not believe there were human beings there, says Olga Kurylenko, the star with Ukrainian roots, who describes her visit to Kyiv.
Olga Kurylenko, the star of "Quantum of Solace," shared with journalists from the British "The Times" about her visit to an orphanage in Ukraine. What she saw during her visit reminded her of the extreme poverty in which she herself grew up.
Olga Kurylenko on a Ukrainian orphanage
- These are kids under the age of one who have just been abandoned, she tells "The Times". - They are growing up without love, nobody is hugging them or touching them in a compassionate way, the actress recounts.
Kurylenko, who is an ambassador for the Hope and Homes for Children organization, admitted that her visit to the Ukrainian orphans reminded her of her own start in life. - I didn't have a father, and my mother had no resources. We ate grains, but we ate them together. Together we could dream and talk about what might happen when I grew up, and that perhaps I could achieve something in life. And I did, she said. - That made me realise that poverty is one thing, but living without love is entirely different. It's better to be poor but loved by someone than to be wealthy without love, added the actress.
Kurylenko, along with the charity organization, is raising awareness about how many children worldwide end up in orphanages for various reasons. The organization states that as many as 5.4 million children are abandoned.
"My mother raised me in Ukraine on her own, where single mums experience alarming rates of poverty. I was one of the lucky ones. Sadly, so many less fortunate single parents are coerced into putting their children into orphanages. Locked up alone, they can face torture, sexual violence and trafficking. @europeancommission, why are you allowing Ukraine to backtrack on shutting down its 700 state-run orphanages? They must fund new social services instead - strengthening families to stay together," Kurylenko wrote on the organization's website back in 2021.
In the same year, she posted a picture with her mom on her Instagram account.
Olga Kurylenko was born on November 14, 1979, in Berdyansk, which was then part of the Soviet Union. Her father had Ukrainian roots, while her mom, Marina, was born in Russia. Her parents divorced when she was three years old. She had no contact with her father; she saw him only when she was eight. At the age of 15, she moved to Moscow, and a year later to Paris, where she signed a contract with a modeling agency. She appeared on magazine covers and in music videos, with her film debut taking place in 2004.
