Please excuse me for any inconvenience caused by this message.

My name is Valentin, I'm 20 years old and I'm a student. I live with my mother and brother in the city of Kaluga, Russia. We had two grandfathers, but they died during this year. My mother is an invalid. She cannot see and she receives an indemnity from the government very rare which is not enough even for supporting our lives.

My brother is an invalid, too, since the accident happened 5 years ago. A big part of his body is paralized. The government does not pay any indemnity to him and to many other Russian invalids.

Since several years I take care of my mother and brother. The Russian government does not help us because of the current crisis and the corruption in Russia. I have a small piece of land in the forest where I grow vegetables during the summer, but this summer was very hot and it was not raining, therefore all the vegetables became dried.

I'm very afraid that the cold winter is setting in and my family has nothing to eat afterwards. The last winter was very cold and the temperature was minus 25-30 degrees Celsius. It seems that all of us are doomed to the starvation and death.

The only chance we have to survive is to use the free public access to the internet during the evening at the High School when it is possible. I have found several e-mail addresses, including yours, that is why I have decided to appeal to you directly for a small help. If you have anything that is possible to eat, as well as any old warm clothes sized as L and XL which you are not using anymore, I would be more than happy if you could send it to our home address is:

Valentin Mikhaylin, Ryleeva Street, 6-45 Kaluga. 248030 Russia

If you think that it would be better or easier to send some money, please write me back and I will give you the details for sending it safely if you agree. That way to help is also very good because of the crisis foodstuffs in Russia are not expensive.

I hope to hear from you very soon and I pray that you will be able to help us to survive this winter. I also hope very much that this hard situation will get better very soon in Russia.

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2003. I'm sending to you many thanks in advance for your kind understanding. Please excuse me, once more, for any inconvience caused by this message.

God Bless You,