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Mykolaivka Internat (Ukraine orphanage) Trip Report Sept 2006 - Part 6
Stephanie and Marina visited the Mykolaivka Internat in Ukraine from September 10 to 16, 2006 for the Life2Orphan charity.
Here is a brief introduction to Life2Orphan's Vocational Project. This blog is mainly about this program. Orphans are released from the orphanage at age 16 or 17, and are left to fend for themselves. With no family, skills or financial means it is inevitable that these children either become victims of crime or turn to crime to survive.
Over 80 teenagers were/are sponsored via Life2Orphans for $40 per month. These young adults attend various vocational school for 1 year or 2 years. At Mykolaivka Internat, the young adults can start living and attending a vocational school at 15 or 16 years of age.
"Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime"
-Author unknown
Here is part 1.
Here is part 2.
Here is part 3.
Here is part 4.
Here is part 5.
Continuing their trip report to a Ukrainian orphanage with 220 children. The children are 4 to 17 years old. Reminder Valentina is the is the assistant director at Mykolaivka Internat.
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Unfortunately, there are children who run away. For whatever reasons, the child feels that he / she needs to leave. Valentina informs the local police and they do start to look for the child. We were told that these children, either got their feelings hurt by another child. Or the child didn't get that certain attention that they desperately craved. Or they feel that their not needed by anyone anyway, so they want to see what's "better" out there. They usually do come back.
When the child come back, they do get a lecture and a talking to. But Valentina says that at the end of the lecture, she'll make a little joke, give them a hug and welcome them back. She wants the children who run away and come back, to feel welcome. That they will know this is their home. She wants them to not to run again. It's hard to imagine, what would be better out there for them. But we do have to realize that this does happen here in our own country to normal structured families.
At the mid-point of our week at Myko, Valentina, Marina and I went to visit one of the Vocational Trade Schools. We wanted to see the kids, observe their school and housing conditions. I was going to write a narrative about our time there, but decided to give you some excerpts from an email message Marina wrote to her family in California about our time there. Her heartfelt words speak volumes about what we witnessed.....
From Marina's email message:
Today, Wednesday, I think has been my most mentally exhausting day. I even broke down today and started to cry and couldn't stop, and I thought I was over my little break down, and when I had the "floor" to speak, I started talking and my voice started cracking and I had to stop and leave the room for a minute.. Stephanie maintained the whole day, until we got in the car to go back to the hotel, and broke down. Maybe it's just the reality of everything, or just the tragic state that this country has given these poor orphaned children, or maybe it was just us thinking of what is to become of them all in this reality of life.. I don't know..
Today we went to the vocational / technical trade school. The children who finish the 9th grade / class are sent off to a 2 year program that is what we call a trade school. There they are taught a skill. Be it, a brick layer, a painter / wall paper layer.. or a plumber or an electrician, or a shoemaker ... whatever it is..
Here are the young adults that people are sponsoring via LifeOrphans.
They live like in an orphanage, but they are definitely given a lot more freedom than if they lived in the Internat or Orphanage. The building grounds were actually nice from the outside. There were nice weeping willow trees and birch trees and it seems kept up from the outside.
We saw all of the new graduated students and I took photos of them all.
We went into the cafeteria area and it seemed that the food that they were being fed, was nice size portions, borsht / mashed potatoes and bread and something to drink, it smelled good, so to me that was a good sign. The kids seemed healthy looking and not too skinny, so to me I felt that they were well fed.
We went into the boy's dorm rooms. They live in what we would call a suite dorm style area.. meaning one door opens / locks and you walk in and then there are 4 other doors which sleep 3 / 4 smaller than twin beds. They seem fine with that.
We took photos of some of the boys on their beds. The halls smelled like really bad urine, you had to hold your nose. I don't know if it's because they're boys or what, but it really stunk to Steph and I, but no one else seemed to be bothered by it.
We weighed them, measured them, and got their actual American foot size.. and then had them say a few words on the video.. They all got up and like it or not / shy or not, said a few words to their vocational sponsors.. After that we gave them each a little gift / a hand towel (which Valentina said that they needed) and we still had the pouches of candy & pencils that we gave to the Internat children, and they were so happy with even just that. They each said thank you, and we said it wasn't much, and one of them, I think it was Pavlo Kravchenko said even if it is small thank you even for that..
We walked out and to the girls dorm, which was a little different, set up than the boys.. It's a long hall, and doors to each room.. about 20 rooms down the hall, but each can hold up to 5 to 6 beds.. All the girls from Myko are in the same room at Yasinovatoe..The toilet are 2 holes in the floor / no divider space between each hole, no toilet seat.. no toilet paper... the sink area had about 4 or 5 sinks / different room than the toilet / and that's where they wash up and wash clothes.. / the shower area was locked so we couldn't see that, they can only shower at night.. We took video of it all...
After we left there, we took some more photos.. and got in the car to go home (to hotel).. It was about an 1 hour 45 min drive to this trade school... When we started driving home, is when Stephanie lost it.
We're fine now, just really mentally exhausted. I know it's hard for you all to understand, unless you are here. It's just the reality of these poor children ~ they're only 16 / 17 years old... to do what in life? It's just sooooo sad. I guess the younger kids didn't bother me as much as the older ones did, just knowing that they have no other options.. at all...
Even though Marina and I had an amazingly difficult emotional time at the Vocational School, we are so glad to have gone and seen what happens to a child after they graduate from Myko. The hardest part for me was when we were standing at the car to say goodbye to the kids.
They were all hugging Valentina and crying. They were saying that they wanted to go back to Myko with her.
I thought to myself, here are these kids who are crying to return to a place that was so disturbing to me just yesterday. To them, Myko is home. And at least at Myko they have their mom and a sense of security. It was very hard to leave the children that day.