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!
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