Kherson residents honored the memory of John Howard

 

 He lived for others and made others healthy, so it is not surprising that his contemporaries called him Howard the Philanthropist. 232 years have passed since the death of John Howard, but Kherson still remembers who he was and what important role he played for our city.
- "We come here twice a year to pay attention to the fact that there was such a person who helped our citizens overcome serious illnesses," notes Yuriy Rozhkov.



   John Howard was one of those people who saw great wealth not as a joy, but as an opportunity to help others. Therefore, having received an inheritance, he began to build hospitals, nursing homes and treat the poor for free. It was in Kherson that the Briton studied the causes of epidemics that spread among the soldiers and sailors of the local garrison.
   - If we remember the history, initially he was a lawyer, but then he devoted himself to the study of prisons in France. After seeing how terrifying the situation was, Howard devoted himself completely to treatment and study of diseases.
   At the end of the 18th century, he came to Ochakov, then to Kherson, and seeing what was happening in prisons, he stayed here, continuing to treat people, - says Ustin Maltsev.



   An outstanding humanist died at the age of 65 as a result of helping a woman with typhus, from whom he contracted the disease.
  Public figure Ustin Maltsev draws attention to the form of the monument to John Howard. According to him, to erect a monument in the form of a  sundial was the cherished desire of the philanthropist himself, which the architects managed to fulfill.
   That is why, traditionally, at the end of January, local philanthropists Ustin Maltsev and Yuri Rozhkov pay tribute to the memory of a well-known reformer of the prison system and a researcher of mass infectious diseases.
   Kherson residents are convinced that John Howard and his good deeds are worth remembering not only on outstanding dates, but also during every excursion around the city. Moreover, this place may well become a tourist magnet of the regional center.
   Yuri Rozhkov says that it is extremely important to visit this place in order to pay tribute to those people who rebuilt our city.
-"I think that if we remember the history and pass it on to our children and grandchildren, we will have a future, because there is no future without history," said the philanthropist.
-"And we must understand that our whole life is, unequivocally, service: to close people, to the nation," added Ustin Maltsev.