Team Videography

We saw off our fantastic videographers, Matt and Adam, off today at 5am for their 7am flight out of Odessa to Canada. It has been a great week and a bit, though very busy. Thanks, guys, for your hard work and I look forward to working with you in the upcoming months on putting all this footage together! (Heavy task, don't think about it just yet!) :)

Orphanages (Иптернаты)

We went to two different orphanages these last two days. It was incredibly interesting to visit them and understand the situation a bit better. We were also able to gather very useful information for our Life Skills Curriculum. We were unsure what facitilities we would be able to use, when we would be able to run the program, how often, who would be able to help, what kind of materials would be available, how many kids, etc. Many of these details were sorted out and, I think, we have a much better idea of where to go from here with the curriculum!

The two orphanages were very different though, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Sergei, the WHU Executive Director, explained to me that the Director of the orphanage makes all the difference. Luckily, both of these orphanages had Directors who were very keen to work with us and seemed to have the best interests of the kids in mind. 

The orphanage we visited on Monday was about 2 hours outside of Odessa, located just outside a very, very small village. The pro of this orphanage was that is out in the forest, with lots of space for the 114 kids who live there. The Director has worked hard to develop the facility and tapped into as many resources as possible. The kids had up-to-date beds, a nice recreational facility, both indoors and outdoors, and a decent educational facility. The director was full of dreams of what could be done, including developing family-style living on the orphanage complex! The Director also did everything within his power to reduce the dependence on inconsistent resources. They use coal for heating so that they can control the heat. The government will turn off the gas in March or April, when it is still cold and only turn it on in late October, when it is already quite cold. The gas may be turned off any time in between as well. The kitchen is run on electricity, but there is a wood stove in case the electricity is cut. They have their own water tower in case the main water line shuts or has a problem. This is due to inconsistent provision of resources, but also to a crumbling infrastructure. I thought this Director wise to account for the shortages and closures! The con of this orphanage is that because it is located near such a tiny village, with no real economy (I think there was only 2 small stores for groceries and a post office), there is not much for the kids to do once they leave the orphanage. This makes finding a job, starting to live independently and earning an income very difficult! A major problem here is finding jobs. The economy is such that, job are scarce even for those with higher education! Nonetheless, helping prepare the kids to live independently and teaching them how to find jobs through the Life Skills Curriculum will be a step in the right direction!

 A classroom. Everything was neat and tidy. The walls were full of information relating to the subject taught in that classroom. The room seemed to be a good environment for learning with relatively up-to-date desks and chalk boards.

There was even a computer room, which these boys were accessing. This was surprising considering Ukrainians have a relatively low level of computer literacy! 

This orphanage keeps bees, which provides something sweet for the kids, but also, in a good year, is something that can be sold in the local markets for a small profit. 

The Math classroom.  

Classroom for Ukrainian literature and culture. 

Two girls from in the upper years of school. They go to school at the orphanage until grade 9, then go to the local school from grade 9-11. Often the education they receive in the orphanages is sub-par to the local schools (but is still a middle-level education), but here, we were told that the kids from the orphanage are on par with the kids from the community when the join together in grade 10. 

The orphanage is out in the forest, which provide lots of space for the kids. It was a beautiful autumn day when we visited.

The playground. 

And, of course, kids playing in the playground.

The bedrooms here were clean with nice, up-to-date beds. There also seemed to be 4-5 kids per room. 

The bathroom, a nice clean facility.

The kids watching a movie in their play room. It is a holiday for kids in school in Ukraine this week, so the schedule was much more relaxed than usual!

 There was even a health/mini clinic facility here, much to my surprise. Kids were even able to receive some dental care here. 

And a theatre space where kids learn to dance, put on performances, and also watch movies on Saturday evenings.

The floor hallway in the dorms. There was lots of colour and flowers (fake) everywhere for a nice atmosphere.

The second orphanage was also about 2 hours outside of Odessa, though located in a town, much larger than the village of the previous days orphanage. The pro of this orphanage is that the kids interact much more with the local community. Also, because that community is larger, there are more opportunities for the kids once they leave the orphanage. The con of this orphanage is that it has limited space and the facility is quite old (the first orphanage is only 13 years old). There is little room for much more than the dorm-style building and many resources go into simply maintaining the crumbling infrastructure. Moreover, this orphanage, with less space, houses 173 (soon 177) kids. This orphanage seemed to struggle much more with resources. The facility was old and crumbling, the beds were very old, there were often 7 girls jammed into one room with one small wardrobe, no side tables, no desk, and one tiny mirror. Nonetheless, the Director of this orphanage worked hard to get the appropriate status and documents for as many kids as possible. She was also very keen on our program and any measure that might help these kids!

Typical village housing: thatched roofs indicate more extreme poverty. Most people do basic farming, mostly self subsistence in the surrounding area. 

Nadya, one of the Hope House girls, playing on the recreational facilities. She and a few other of the Hope House girls came from this orphanage earlier this summer and Nadya's sister is still here. They came with us to visit and acted as our guides. 

The exterior of the building. It gives a good idea how run down this facility is. 

The kitchen. It was pretty tasty food produced. However, the kids participating will not be able to use this facility. It is registered as an industrial kitchen and only licensed individuals may use it. We were assured that there is a separate facility that we could use to teach the kids cooking. We did not see this facility, however. 

The dining facility. It was clean, but sparce. The kids sit at tables according to their age/class. 

The kids have a recreational room on each floor. Most were just hanging out, watching TV on this drizzly day. We will also be able to use these rooms for the curriculum: perhaps some group work or games.

A room in the dorms where kids could do their homework. A class-room set up with rickety chairs and books dating back to the Soviet Union. We will be using these rooms to teach the curriculum: scare resources, but a willing environment! 

 These are the bed. They are very old and quite rickety. The pillows too, aren't the most comfortable looking. Most rooms did not have side tables and had only one wardrobe for all 7 kids. Resources are scarce, even for some basics!

They add colour wherever they can. Storybook characters decorate the bedroom walls. Each of these flowers has the name of one of the girls who lives in this room. They are doing what they can to spruce up this facility! 

The bathroom: a fairly unpleasant experience, but the facility is old and there is little that can be done to improve this. We will focus part of the curriculum on personal hygiene. 

7 girls in one room and one small desk for all

The kids loved the fancy camera I was toting to snap some shots. They all wanted their photos taken and then  to see the picture. It was an entertaining moment :)

This girl followed up around while we toured the facility. She was very shy, but seemed to want to be in the mix of things

So, it was a very educational day, but also quite difficult. Today I learned about the problem of parental neglect. Ukrainian law does not account for parental neglect. A parent must be proved to be physically or mentally unable to care for their child for parental rights to be revoked. However, if they don't sent their child to school, the government may remove the child and place them in an orphanage to receive education. These kids will not be able to receive government support, though, as they still have living and able parents... on paper, anyway. Parental neglect, in my mind, is a law that needs to be included in Ukrainian child care laws. Today, we brought a little girl and a little boy to the orphanage for this reason. That was difficult, to put it lightly. I can take comfort, though, in that these kids will very likely have a better life in the orphanage, than with their parents. 

Here is the mom sitting with her girl in the orphanage. The girl seemed to adapt quickly and made fast friends. The mom seemed entirely unphased by what was happening.

So, there is a huge difference between orphanages, but the needs of the kids are the same. Very simply, these kids need some love and care in their childhood, and more preparation for life after the orphanage. Though these two orphanages work hard to provide as best they can for the kids, it is still an institution and creates an institutional environment. These kids, despite a good education, have a hard time integrating into the broader society after the orphanage. The goal of our Life Skills Curriculum will better prepare them for life after the orphanage, so that they can find good jobs, maintain themselves and a dwelling, have healthy relationships, and have a strong sense of self. I believe this is achievable and many of the kids seem willing to participate and improve the options and opportunities for their future!

A Sunday of Business and Barbeques!

Today, Sunday, was both a fun and relaxing day, as well as incredibly busy. We went to church with the girls this morning. A number of the girls sing in the church choir. It was pretty cool to see them up and participating in community activities. One of the girls, Anya, sang a beautiful solo, to boot! 

The choir

Anya hitting every note beautifully! 

Sergei promised us an authentic Ukrainian barbeque, complete with shishkabobs (шашлык) and Sunday was our day. It was a fun event for the girls and Sergei provided a fantastic spread! :) I told him, due to his excellent barbequing skills, he could be an honourary Canadian :) Such a great meal! 

 The Cook and his son, hard at work! 

We got to try Kvac, an inexplicable drink that you will just have to try for yourself. 

Here's Matt and Sergei enjoying the Kvas.

The girls helping Alla prepare the feast and milling about waiting for the feast

The house, with 13 girls, 2 adults, any number of guests, plus 2 Canadian males (our videographers) and a wannabe Slav (me), is a mighty busy place. I love it when I can join the girls in just doing what they do. Here are a couple of the girls just kicking around on a Sunday afternoon.

Luba tickling the ivories. She would like to become a musician. 

She practices often and plays beautifully.

And Tanya cuddling one of the cats that hang out by the back door waiting for scraps. (Cats are not typically domesticated and brought indoors here... they are only brought inside if there is mousing to be done) :)

Our evening was filled with interviews. We had interviewed 3 of the girls on Friday night before the camera equipment was drained (not to mention the camera crew). This left 10 girls to be interviewed tonight. It was a mighty task, but all was well. It was hard to hear the stories of the girls. Some were quite open, whereas others were very closed about their pasts, their presents, and their futures. I see these girls every day in a normal way of life. It was crazy to hear a bit about their backgrounds! For instance, one girl was abandoned by her mother at birth, then spent her whole life in the orphanage until coming here to Hope House. Another girl was beaten by her step dad and ran away, living on the streets until finding her way to Hope House through First Step Centre. Another girl's father had died and her mother was an alcoholic and unable to provide for her children. Another girl lived in a house with 28 other people, leaving no space for her even to sleep. She was able to come here and have her own bed and a place to study and grow. 

Such heavy lives these girls have. However, seeing them her in Hope House operating in a family unit and thriving reinforces in my mind how beneficial family-based care is and how important our foster care pilot for the LifeStart Odessa Project is! Hopefully we can remind the government here of the importance of family-based care and have them perpetuate and expand the foster pilot!

Street Kids and Odessa

It has been a very busy couple of days. Now we have some very tired videographers on our hands, but hopefully a tonne of footage as well :)

We spend most of Friday walking around parts of Odessa where street kids are known to spend time. Our guide, Kostya, would talk with whatever kids we found, but also ask others on the street, such as adult beggers, where the kids were. As I've mentioned before, there are municiple elections coming up and the government has "cleaned" the streets of the street kids. I hadn't realised how thoroughly they had done this, though! We were only able to locate 5 kids: 2 boys that already knew Kostya, and a group of 3 that were sleeping on some stairs by an abandoned building. Apparently, the government had built a new temporary shelter for these kids about 6km outside of Odessa. Though the kids are able to enter the orphanages through this shelter, most run away with in about 2 weeks, never making it to the orphanage. Even if they do make it to the orphanage, however, many still run away.

Searching for the kids

Kostya asking a professional beggar, a Roma women, if she has seen any street kids recently. She hadn't.

We did find a group of kids who were just chilling out on the street. We're not sure of their situation. Nonetheless, Kostya told them about First Step Centre, where it is and what they do they. The seem interested and took the directions. He also asked them if they would sing a song. He told them that my favourite group was Spleen, a Russian rock band, so they sang me a song. Awesome! :)

Street kids are known to come into MacDonalds to hang out and usually to warm up and grab a bite to eat at night. However, there were none here today.

Young boys will often beg in the markets, whereas teenage boys can find some work loading and unloading trucks and helping the vendors. However, there were none to be found today.

There are some very dilapidated buildings in the area in which street kids have been known to live. However, the government is attempting to do some renovations and spruce up the area, so the kids were turned out.

We did find three kids sleeping on the street. However, even they hadn't seen other street kids in a while.

After wandering the streets, we again hung out at First Step Centre and did some interviews with both the staff and the kids. These kids come from all over the place and from all kinds of situations. When interviewing Tatiyana, the director of First Step Centre, we heard some very sad stories, as well as some happy ones. I was blown away at how much patience the workers at First Step Centre must have to have in order to work there. To see these kids come back day after day and patiently wait until they are willing to help themselves, then, and only then, can the workers step in and start helping them. Until that point, it's just survival for these kids and First Step Centre helps them survive: food, cloths, a bit of shelter from the cold for a few hours, etc.

This boy was kicked out of his sisters house because he is drunk all the time. He now lives in a broken down Lada (old car) near her apartment. He was also fired from his job as a parking guard for being drunk. He has been living in the car for 4 months already, but is still drunk. Kostya is trying to encourage him to stop drinking so that he can move back in with his sister. 

One of the boys who comes to First Step Centre

Tatiyana, the director of First Step Centre, chatting with a boy who lives on the street

Grabbing a bite to eat. We were told the kids were able to get some food on the street, but First Step Centre provides them with a balanced meal, a healthy meal: a hearty soup with bread and a main course with meat

Part of the problem is how easily these kids can access cigarettes and alcohol. The fridge is full of beer and usually people don't care who they are selling the aclohol to, so long as they are selling it. A bottle of beer is around 20 cents (often cheaper than water!), where as cigarettes can be as low as about 8 cents.

Saturday was a more light hearted day. We wanted to get some video footage of the city centre, so set out with a wonderful translator, Lena, who lived in Hope House, but is now living independently. Odessa is certainly a beautiful city with a remarkable history. However, I was struck by the contrast between kept and unkept, good homes and bad homes, the rich and the poor.

Here our videographers and our translator are posing with the famous cow. The cow is famous because everyone takes photos with it. Everyone takes photos with it, so told our translator, because it is free :)

Here is the Opera House. It is the second largest and most beautiful Opera House in Europe, if not the world, next only to Italy's, so I'm told. 

And the famous Potemkin Steps. It is tradition to count as you walk up, which we did. I lost count and Adam counted, though incorrectly. Lena provided us with the correct number: 193 steps :)

And a famous building call the wall building. It looks like this is all there is, merely a facade. However, is it an optical illusion and, in fact, a full and operational building :)

 We also interviewed some of the girls from Hope House in the evenings. As I mentioned earlier, some of the girls are very open about their backgrounds, whereas some are very closed. It was great to have a few open up about their histories, families, experiences, hopes and dreams. What struck me about this was than none of the girls were able to completely tell about their families. Each one was close to tears and would ask me to go on to a different question. Despite finding a good living situation, one better than with the families, most likely, there is still trauma in their lives that they must deal with. The house mom, Lina, when she told them about the interviews, said how necessary it is to talk about the past. She described it that, if the girls kept it bottled up inside them, then eventually it would explode within them. She said to let it out slowly and talk about the experiences so that they don't cause damage down the road.

And so, the work here continues. We are still hunting to find more and better ways to help these kids deal with their trauma and lead good, healthy, and normal adult lives.