High school seniors walk under a baloon arch. They will have to take their finals still and then have a graduation party. Most importantly, and sadly, they all will have to move out of the orphanage as they go to trade schools and colleges. This is hard for me to get used to, knowing that, according to statistics, the odds are against them. Within five years 75% of orphanage graduates in Ukraine end up behind bars, in prostitution, addicted, or dead. Before they graduate, orphanage caretakers work hard to find them a trade school, community college or university that would take and accomodate them: since they are orphans, dorms and education are free for them, but not all schools are willing to take that on. And, as far as we can tell, there is very little, if any, comminication with graduates once they leave the orphanage.
The orphanage principal addresses the children and the guests.
Here are the seniors with "2011 Graduate" saches.
Raising of the Ukrainian flag.
To show continuity, first-graders are usually invited on the stage. This group had a poem to share.
Awards are given.
Seniors are listening intently...
They, too, had a poem that spoke about how they will miss the teachers, the caretakers and the friends they made during these years. While some students were excited to be moving on to a new stage of life, it was an emotional moment for some of them.
Where will they be in five years? Is there anything we can do to lower the statistics?
Timmy and his friend from the orphanage Vova (short for Vladimir).
Some of the children from our Sunday School class and their teacher (in green). The lady beside her, Olga, is one of the caretakers of "our" group of children.
Our teammate Melinda and some of the children and their teacher, whom she got to know over the years.Each summer brings a flurry of event for orphanage children. Every year they go to a summer camp by the Black Sea. They are usually gone for ten or so weeks. Some children will go to the USA or Italy to spend one month with host families. Several children from our group have done that in the past, and some will be going this summer. They will first go to camp, then they will be picked up from the camp and taken to the airport in Kiev, and upon their return they will go to the summer camp again. The camp starts in mid-June. Until then the children are busy cleaning up their room and other orphanage facilities, enjoying their free time and sometimes going for walks around the city with their caretaker. Some children are taken to stay with their relatives until the summer camp starts. All of the children from our group have parents who lost their parental rights, but sometimes there is an aunt or an older sibling who can take them for a while.
Two of the children from our group are being adopted. I met their new mother after the Last Bell ceremony. The caretaker, Olga, was very cautions: she kept saying, "I hope this is real." As it turns out, some couples adopt children from the orphanage, but after a while they return them, unable to deal with issues. This is especially true with older children, she said. It would be so heartbreaking for a child to be rejected the second time! Olga did not say it directly, but she implied that some people adopt children for more than altruistic reasons. Adoptive parents receive 2000 grivnas ($250) a month for taking children from the orphanage. While it might not seem like a large sum for a westerner, here it is a lower end of an average salary.
I will finish this post on a positive note. We will see the children from our group a few times before they leave. Our church is planning a boat ride up and down the Dnieper river next week. And there are still a couple of Sunday school classes left!
