FOR a final delivery of present-filled shoeboxes, the Operation Christmas Child team headed to Saki, a port city in the west of Crimea.

After being greeted by orphans at a well-established school we are split into small groups to visit more families. For myself it was a trip with three others and a new interpreter for the day, Anya.

But what our English-speaking friend didn’t know is that the home we were visiting was in fact hers.

Anya lived with her husband and 13 children a few miles from the school. Compared to some others, hers was a very tidy and clean bungalow with fruit and vegetables growing in the garden.

It’s a large family, but eight of the children are adopted.

Thanking us for bringing the presents one 15-year-old girl, also called Anya, picked up a guitar and started singing. Without hesitation, the family gathered around and joined in.

The children helped make room for 11-year-old Nikita who has cerebral palsy and walks on crutches and 14-year-old Iran who showed off his balancing skills on the back wheels of his wheelchair.

Iran was born with spinal injuries and it was after seeing another disabled young boy abandoned by his parents that Anya started adopting.

All the children are studying but Iran has a special talent.

After seeing a picture of a Star Wars character he sculpted an exact replica, correct to the tiniest detail and all made from memory.

It was a relief to see that despite the poverty and often terrible living conditions – mostly due to poor Government help and addiction to cheap alcohol, drugs and gambling – there is some hope for these poor children of the Ukraine.