Odessa, Ukraine!

Hello from Odessa!

We've been working on the project from Canada for over 4 months now on various aspects of the project. Over these months, a number of questions came up and we figured it was necessary for one of our project staff to venture away to Odessa and sort out some of these details! I arrived here in Odessa on Thursday (after departing Canada on Wednesday), 14 October and will be here for 3 weeks, living in Hope House and  working on the project!

The daughter of Lina, the mom of Hope House, got married on Saturday. As a result, the house was completely chaotic! Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun, both for me and the girls.Here is a shot of the wedding ceremony. A number of the girls in the bridal party are girls from Hope House. 

It has been a bit of an adjustment, so far. I hadn't realised how reliant I was on certain amenities that are so easily had in Canada, such as the internet! Only today, on day 5 of my trip, were we able to sort out any kind of regular internet usage! As a result, this blog posting is much longer than I intended! 

There are 13 girls here at Hope House have they have all been wonderful to me. My Russian is very broken and most of them are very patient with me and willing to explain and re-explain things to me until I understand. I have had the opportunity to sit and chat with a few of them and learn a little bit about their lives. A few have been very open with me about where they came from, where their parents are, and why they were in the orphanages. Others, however, will not talk about their pasts. The girls come from a variety of backgrounds and situations. For instance, one of the girls came to Hope House through the First Set Centre after living on the street. Another they met through a local church. Most of the girls, however, are from the orphanages. Some receive a pension from the government, whereas others receive nothing. To be part of this program and stay in Hope House, each girl must attend a college. By attending college, they receive a small stipend. However, this stipend is no where near enough to live on. 

A number of the girls at Hope House are new, only having arrived at some point this summer. Here is a photo of a few of the girls and myself with Sergei Petrovich, the Director of World Hope Ukraine. 

The girls seem to thrive here. Hope House is a family-style home, where adults care and take care of these girls. Money and parental supervision and care seem to be key aspects most of the at-risk kids here lack. Lina and Alla, the two women that live here in Hope House and work with the girls, provide them with the love and care necessary for these girls to thrive. The house is currently at capacity. However, there are still more girls who want to live here. This style of living is incredible successful for girls who want a better life for themselves. Still, though, there is so much that can be done to help them! Our hope is that our current project will provide more opportunities for youth to live in family-type homes. Seeing how these girls thrive here proves how easy it is to improve opportunities for these kids! 

Here are 2 of the Hope House girls walking along the road from Hope House.

So, our first task on this trip in Ukraine is to start shooting some film footage. From this footage we will create  videos for public engagement in Canada, but also for an educational video for child care practitioners here in Ukraine. We hope this video will reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the Ukrainian child care system, and also offer some recommendations and show how successful family-based care can be!

Here are two of the girls, Luba and Kristina. We went out for a treat, a Ukrainian-style milk shake, between the wedding ceremony and the reception. Luba lives with us at Hope House and Kristina is a friend of hers. We are all hoping that Kristina, despite Hope House already being so full, will soon be able to live in Hope House as well.

Our 2 videographers, Matt and Adam, arrived today. We picked up these two weary Canadians and brought them back to Hope House to meet 13 energetic teenage girls. We will start shooting footage ASAP, everything from life here in Hope House, to life on the street and in orphanages, to life in general in Odessa. 

Back in Canada, our volunteer teams are continuing to working away on developing a set of foster care protocols to be implemented in our foster care pilot here in Odessa and a life skills curriculum to be implemented in the orphanages. 

And that is all for now! Providing the internet keeps working, I will hopefully be able to provide you with regular postings of the goings on! 

And here is a typical street scene in Odessa. Public transit here is an experience unto itself! :)