tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69667950998077846402024-03-04T21:31:28.181-08:00Project LifeStart OdessaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-79174640916613885192012-02-01T15:26:00.000-08:002012-02-01T15:26:39.696-08:00Changes<div style="text-align: left;">And here, we think the winter is a slow and sleepy time, when in actual fact, life is racing along, bring all kinds of twists and turns and changes!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">A spurt of cold weather in Odessa (yes, even cold by Canadian standards!) has caused the closure of two of the orphanages in which WHU staff work. At the moment, the orphanages have closed for one week. Our staff are hoping to get back to their regular schedule and time with the kids by next week! Please continue to think of them as they navigate Ukraine's wintry roads.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The foster care pilot has seen a number of changes.Towards the end of December, two more of our girls, sisters, decided to leave their foster home. This time, however, the departure was bitter-sweet. On the one hand, our team and the foster parents were sad to have the girls leave. On the other hand, these sisters will be living as a family with their older sister, who was not apart of the foster care pilot and is currently attending university in Odessa. World Hope Ukraine was glad that they were able to help the sisters obtain the necessary document, so that they are able to receive government financial support, and enroll them in college. The foster parents are keeping in touch and making sure the girls are managing. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">On a lighter note, three more young women were able to enter the pilot and be placed in homes in the last month. Three girls from Hope House, Yana, Tanya and Tanya, were placed in two foster homes. The placement of these girls in foster homes is two fold: one, the girls are living with families, feeling the love, support, and consistency of a family unit, and two, their placement in foster homes has opened up beds in Hope House. Sergiy has already mentioned that orphanages have been contacting him, requesting that they take new girls at the end of this school year! It looks as though Hope House will be full again before too long!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Finally, we can welcome a new set of foster parents to the team, Danik and Sveta! Dina spent long hours preparing them to welcome Yana into their home. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">And so, our project has once again hit some bumps in this road. Nonetheless, onward we go, doing and hoping the best for these girls!</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_OmZ7K37isAMhCQs3UxTP6sPmQpuAUb3H7Ab-ZDU5_QdG9HxuD_jMtlYVkkAfzPlg66BL08GDzy8oJndaj5mBSaCjIFg2wo_Lf2PvhEkYbYnAB7SZG_B5rNkqbG1LBRvolD_CocNosz9B/s1600/P1000715.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_OmZ7K37isAMhCQs3UxTP6sPmQpuAUb3H7Ab-ZDU5_QdG9HxuD_jMtlYVkkAfzPlg66BL08GDzy8oJndaj5mBSaCjIFg2wo_Lf2PvhEkYbYnAB7SZG_B5rNkqbG1LBRvolD_CocNosz9B/s320/P1000715.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-22366695408122498912012-01-06T09:02:00.000-08:002012-01-06T09:02:45.533-08:00Happy New Year!<div style="text-align: left;">Wishing you a very Happy New Year from all the LifeStart Project staff!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">2011 has been a very good year overall for Project LifeStart Odessa, full of many accomplishments! Project materials were completed with the help of teams of excellent volunteers, WHU staff were trained, and the project launched! </div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Our life skills teachers are now teaching in three orphanages in the Odessa region. Two were late started due to a chicken pox quarantine! Nonetheless, as soon as the quarantine was lifted, our life skills team was there and ready to go!</div><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Kostya and two of our students showing off the collages made by one of the life skills classes</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">In August four girls were placed in foster homes, with an additional two being placed in November. One of the girls, Alyona, had decided to leave the project after 3 months in a foster home. This was a very difficult and discouraging moment for the foster parents and project staff. However, despite all convincing, Alyona decided she preferred the freedom of life in student dorms. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">On a positive note, however, it was a pleasure to see the remaining girls in foster care really settle into their settings. I personally was blown away to watch one of our girl, Ira, change from a quiet and withdrawn girl to a laughing, smiling one. My theory is that she was waiting and saving herself for a family. It was encouraging to see her settled and happy.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">And now, with the project up and running and the onset of 2012, we have just as much work ahead of us as we have behind us! Our focus is turning to project sustainability! We have funding from the Canadian International Development Agency until spring 2013. And so, the fate of the pilots still hangs in the balance. With changes in the Ukrainian government, we must redouble our effort to boast the benefits of the project! Sergiy, WHU Executive Director, will be working hard to contact local government officials and inform them of the project, provide them with materials, tell of the benefits, and show them the girls whose lives are being affected. </div><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sergiy talking with Natalya from the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv over lunch at Hope House.</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">At the same time, Kostya and the life skills team will be traveling far and wide in the Odessa region to work with ready and willing orphanages. They will talk about a life skills program and provide orphanage directors and teachers with the curriculum and training with the hope that the orphanages themselves will be able to teach the curriculum after the funding from CIDA completes.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kostya heading to the Director's office at an Odessa City orphanage</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">The point of these activities is to ensure that these opportunities remain available to at-risk youth in Ukraine. These are indirect actions that directly affect the lives of boys and girls in Odessa. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And so, we have a long road ahead of us!</div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And, WHU has a new blog where you can keep us with all the latest activities. <a href="http://whukr.blogspot.com/">Here</a> is the link!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-89770791841561797192011-11-07T12:56:00.000-08:002011-11-07T12:56:56.016-08:00A Study<div style="text-align: left;">We are currently doing a study comparing girls who have transitioned directly from the orphanages to independent living and girls who have lived in Hope House, a transition home for you women run by World Hope Ukraine and World Hope Canada.</div><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">So far, we have gathered information on girls who have left Hope House and transitioned to independent living in the last 3 years. Currently, we are gathering information on young women who went directly from the orphanage to independent living. We are hoping for a sample group of 10-20 girls.</div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5044jTxDmh0MvtE6hg3Gq0-eJkRF35xvCMz7iK5jPUK6-Glo5zuG9UH87sYRsHo7Sd_yOmbdbnlybX6Vf41IEw1mTVLXRCFTUipnkZjmnOVmWqRRXhG_hIi_saXxrCdTIjwxBEBQ5xrFm/s1600/Interview+with+Nika+and+Yulia+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5044jTxDmh0MvtE6hg3Gq0-eJkRF35xvCMz7iK5jPUK6-Glo5zuG9UH87sYRsHo7Sd_yOmbdbnlybX6Vf41IEw1mTVLXRCFTUipnkZjmnOVmWqRRXhG_hIi_saXxrCdTIjwxBEBQ5xrFm/s320/Interview+with+Nika+and+Yulia+%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yulia and Veronika outside their dorm in Odessa</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">Today, I met with two girls who graduated from their respective orphanages in June and are currently living in a students dorm in Odessa. We conducted a short interview with the girls, asking them about their living conditions, education, income, and personal relationships. I had heard from the girls at Hope House how poor the student dorms were and this interview confirmed this information with facts. </div><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">Both these girls have the status of orphan, which means they draw on a government stipend. However, though their stipend is supposed to be 2,200 grivnas every month (about $300 a month) on which to subsist, in reality they have only received 1,100 grivnas for two months (about $140 for two months) on which to subsist. The cost of things in Ukraine is similar to prices in Canada. Soviet prices are certainly a thing of the past. </div><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">The girls mentioned they eat no breakfast, have a plain bun and coffee for lunch, and soup or oatmeal for supper. They eat meat maybe once a week and said they never buy fruit because it is too expensive. One of the girls is suffering from stomach problems from a poor diet. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Finally, we asked about the dorm. One of the girls said they had one toilet for 40 students and no shower. If she wanted to shower, she went to her friends dorm, where one shower and one toilet was shared with 25 students. They described the kitchen, which had broken ovens and rats.</div><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmBqyt_4z3U6E8awf41-5x2UszSPR08IuVGI8A2nmwZ_7CfmMftvtFqgpgBxWI9g-frqeDiNx3836GZlWJhQGLMptGyXbRftPMbObgQV_lgqZTKD086FDDadhOUTamI0TjIa8kfhPMamyd/s1600/Interview+with+Nika+and+Yulia+%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmBqyt_4z3U6E8awf41-5x2UszSPR08IuVGI8A2nmwZ_7CfmMftvtFqgpgBxWI9g-frqeDiNx3836GZlWJhQGLMptGyXbRftPMbObgQV_lgqZTKD086FDDadhOUTamI0TjIa8kfhPMamyd/s320/Interview+with+Nika+and+Yulia+%25283%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">The girls excited at the options of what they could eat from our Foster Care Coordinator, Dina</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">Happily, we were able to provide some food and a treat to the girls, but this felt vastly inadequate... </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">What this study has told me so far is how many of these students need assistance. Even if we obtain government support and stipends for these girls, life is still difficult. They may not receive the full sum of their stipend. These girls typically have no family to turn to and their orphanages are poorly equipped to provide any help once the girls leave the orphanage.Some are not even provided with enough underwear or bedding to start them off in the dorm. They have nothing and receive little. And worse, they have no one to turn to for help.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">We are still hoping the government will support our girls in foster care. This way, these girls would be able to live with a family, have regular meals and stable living conditions. In addition, they would also have adults to care about them and advocate for them. Our pilot is only able to place 6 girls in foster homes. However, we are currently starting a rigorous government relations campaign in order to influence the government to make good on laws they already have. Laws for a foster system exist here, but the government is so far not adhering to them. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I had thought that once the project was implemented, it would be smooth sailing. As it turns out, we have entered into a vital period and important work lies ahead of us!</div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIBhpdOFBYjbJ6yUpC6WZ-HQT9nUgRE7nFHpFdOmJE0-q-QWJsHsMvEfRW-eDstsZllj0QUPuTVKNGC2fPUgGpsQ8xLx3L70D-2Q5dSEro6FhAQEeaxJq5Rhfd2k0-PZmbP_LkKDdy77Od/s1600/Interview+with+Nika+and+Yulia+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIBhpdOFBYjbJ6yUpC6WZ-HQT9nUgRE7nFHpFdOmJE0-q-QWJsHsMvEfRW-eDstsZllj0QUPuTVKNGC2fPUgGpsQ8xLx3L70D-2Q5dSEro6FhAQEeaxJq5Rhfd2k0-PZmbP_LkKDdy77Od/s320/Interview+with+Nika+and+Yulia+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Viktoria and Yulia enjoying a meal</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-87000022440026679182011-11-04T05:51:00.000-07:002011-11-04T05:51:24.064-07:00Ongoing Partnership<div style="text-align: left;">Having launched the pilot three months ago and with increasing interest from the Canadian International Development Agency, another trip was in order. This trip consists of Sheldon, Project LifeStart Odessa's Project Manager, and myself, Andrea, coming to work more with World Hope Ukraine and see for ourselves how things are settling in. The trip was inspired by our CIDA Project Officer, who wanted to come and see the project as well!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Early in the trip we spent a full day introducing our Project Officer, Annie, to not only the foster homes and life skills teachers, but also to Hope House, which was the result of a previous CIDA-funded project. </div><div><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Everyone pitching in to get Sunday lunch ready at Hope House. </div><div style="text-align: center;">On any given Sunday, anywhere from 15-30 people may come for lunch! This Sunday was no exception :)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5mljV5hQLaXde-AcNbXAg3GVYpQt4DNzeU-mHhiVt0N-t8EHSLWO7otjy3ckxDV99OCLcOK_7aqCctx-Paipv1DxPxlkb4XqF0zN3U6WUnJItbOpH88R8BLrWUhQ47eK6hnjOG9Ie6myj/s1600/102_0453.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5mljV5hQLaXde-AcNbXAg3GVYpQt4DNzeU-mHhiVt0N-t8EHSLWO7otjy3ckxDV99OCLcOK_7aqCctx-Paipv1DxPxlkb4XqF0zN3U6WUnJItbOpH88R8BLrWUhQ47eK6hnjOG9Ie6myj/s320/102_0453.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">And a Ukrainian business lunch. Sergiy, the Director of World Hope Ukraine, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">is deep in conversation with Annie and Natalya, officers from CIDA and the Canadian Embassy in Ukraine.</div><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAmEVadQoC1xo0p7kdv1d5CYLRoTQdK_dMWCO_UKsepgbhaSnRbKCkIzZbUdJ7xZ2nwO9jKjX1SS1hceUfUADebHoIwRLpUJr3vE6mvWB_ViY5q-S8661pu8AsLpTeVOUV9zGx8FW3WO3v/s1600/102_0468.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAmEVadQoC1xo0p7kdv1d5CYLRoTQdK_dMWCO_UKsepgbhaSnRbKCkIzZbUdJ7xZ2nwO9jKjX1SS1hceUfUADebHoIwRLpUJr3vE6mvWB_ViY5q-S8661pu8AsLpTeVOUV9zGx8FW3WO3v/s320/102_0468.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">And more talking... there was no end to the discussion and questions. </div><div style="text-align: center;">Sustainability of the project was the issue of the day and the discussion was very useful.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0xFqo6DqhO0PvWqn2lktbFtc-5VZeMkinESE7WylC5xYLtG5bJv59sqURYBFdkUz1eWZVfcsbTYAjyHMD3jEipf0kLMe4IidFnUfjU7IA3QQX25r_Ybei710WAXsbVPIr0fttQqFwOpo7/s1600/102_0469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0xFqo6DqhO0PvWqn2lktbFtc-5VZeMkinESE7WylC5xYLtG5bJv59sqURYBFdkUz1eWZVfcsbTYAjyHMD3jEipf0kLMe4IidFnUfjU7IA3QQX25r_Ybei710WAXsbVPIr0fttQqFwOpo7/s320/102_0469.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;">We were also able to spend some time with two of our foster parents (Sergiy and Larissa) and their foster girls (Katya and Olya). We spoke in detail about the placement of the girls and the adjustment process for both the foster parents and the girls. More discussion will certainly follow as we do assessments of the pilots, but so far the feedback three months into the pilot has been very encouraging. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3HzP3NPuKI8snUPL3uJy09Oq2bUwxx5eFA1RwyP7tIq414a_DVXhHQkq7wkBCdCY0ZGmef0xr_bOAgWRIdvBqt5y69MiXPjgEWisplZ0hjmngpgkjrhiNnJRyduZh_XHfHATbwAE7WmgO/s1600/102_0482.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3HzP3NPuKI8snUPL3uJy09Oq2bUwxx5eFA1RwyP7tIq414a_DVXhHQkq7wkBCdCY0ZGmef0xr_bOAgWRIdvBqt5y69MiXPjgEWisplZ0hjmngpgkjrhiNnJRyduZh_XHfHATbwAE7WmgO/s320/102_0482.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">We were also able to celebrate the implementation of the project with the whole project team from World Hope Ukraine. We has a lovely evening talking about the project, future goals and steps to be taking, and just generally celebrating a good start! It was a treat for everyone :)</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz663PR9C4BiMD-7bHplq3IgPOijWkBbfYR9kl3KXGnZArw9v7U6RzyeZyofZg_rfCc-cKFb6AROBpSnznj38_kHS5NvHv2ECoEo0jL8E3DChOL7QmD_BDXL1TQgEgyNQILatvSNq0d3-G/s1600/102_0489.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz663PR9C4BiMD-7bHplq3IgPOijWkBbfYR9kl3KXGnZArw9v7U6RzyeZyofZg_rfCc-cKFb6AROBpSnznj38_kHS5NvHv2ECoEo0jL8E3DChOL7QmD_BDXL1TQgEgyNQILatvSNq0d3-G/s320/102_0489.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left to Right: Sheldon (Project Manager), Valya (Life Skills Teacher), Andrea (Project Assistant), Kostya (Life Skills Coordinator), Lina (Hope House Mom), Alyona (Life Skills Teacher), Dina (Foster Care Coordinator), Sergiy (WHU Director)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div>And so it has been a good week, busy and productive. Sheldon is on his way back to Canada with an armful of new information to report to CIDA, whereas I will be here in Ukraine another two weeks working with the World Hope Ukraine team and seeing the pilots in action!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-86771287905173508322011-09-14T23:26:00.000-07:002011-09-14T23:27:43.486-07:00Another Phase to Project LifeStart Odessa<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5OBMlIjtkwqguPvgNb9338vxKSSAGgbYbedLzcD2OWA6QwDBqPTeYPdj7Xl8-0plvn8monsgklKPrskVHFC9OVx8nj0FJ2isCNjJE3RNAG0GV2YYfeSFY1C96HhGfUYZmV1_9uG1cYGmq/s1600/DSC06218.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5OBMlIjtkwqguPvgNb9338vxKSSAGgbYbedLzcD2OWA6QwDBqPTeYPdj7Xl8-0plvn8monsgklKPrskVHFC9OVx8nj0FJ2isCNjJE3RNAG0GV2YYfeSFY1C96HhGfUYZmV1_9uG1cYGmq/s320/DSC06218.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">It has been two months since our teams from Canada worked with teams in Ukraine to get Project LifeStart Odessa up and running. The training weeks have brought a different pace to the project and a new set of activities. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">After months of research, compiling, and writing, we have completed our two reports. One report, <i>At-Risk Youth in Odessa: Opportunities and Challenges, </i>provides a situation analysis of youth in Odessa, whereas another report, <i>Best Practices: At-Risk Youth Report, </i>provides an overview of international best practices in the provision of child welfare services. These reports have been sent off for translation and will soon be available in English on the World Hope Canada website.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">During the training, we received wonderful feedback from our teachers. Everyone has high hopes about the coming term! Since leaving, Kostya, the Life Skills Coordinator, and our two life skills teachers, Valya and Alyona, have been working with the orphanages to get everything ready to start teaching with the start of the school term!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The foster care training laid a solid foundation to this aspect of the project. We are currently working on developing ongoing training for the foster parents. This ongoing training will look like a monthly study group and provide more information on topics such as discipline, attachment, and self-esteem. This tool is intended to build on the current foundation and offer further support to our foster parents. We hope to have it ready sometime this autumn.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">We have had another interesting development with the onset of an unanticipated trip this autumn to show the project in action to our project worker at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). This trip will happen in October, which is looking like a very busy month for Sergiy. This will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase the project and receive some first hand feedback from CIDA. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">And so, the work continues! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhNh3vYfd3koY3u6a7SKTlw5RmhQseWdDeMjdlc07MEM3lW3mre2hlwyUAthqRlUM2XbdFg-piLPPqLbWp3qtI4tf95stTh5S2H-NJp-3LHx_VOK_VVs4N6ZmHO8T9GVMlmT_K3DrgCnHR/s1600/DSC06299.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhNh3vYfd3koY3u6a7SKTlw5RmhQseWdDeMjdlc07MEM3lW3mre2hlwyUAthqRlUM2XbdFg-piLPPqLbWp3qtI4tf95stTh5S2H-NJp-3LHx_VOK_VVs4N6ZmHO8T9GVMlmT_K3DrgCnHR/s320/DSC06299.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-35492916382330660652011-06-29T12:45:00.000-07:002011-06-29T12:52:34.102-07:00Tough Stuff and Fun Stuff<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We met a couple who foster boys from the street here in Odessa. They have participated in our foster care training and will continue to participate in the support group for LifeStart's foster parents. By their organistation, they were provided with a house with enough room for 10 boys. However, problems in their organisation has resulted in them only having 4 boys in their house. They fear that their house will be closed altogether in the next few years. We were able to visit this housу and meet the boys. It was great to see that something was available for boys, but also difficult to see how unsupported they were. Hopefully they will be able to benefit from the support through LifeStart. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The house: Rick, Maxim, Sergiy, Ira, Alexei, Igor, Dima, Marina, Anita, and Dina</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuTA16npJUV6_7C1R6Z-M0fgQd1dOIG_lquqtY-tQSb0BCIj1V-UjfMNRiFi2erPmaA0lpS6tk93hUprzgHXmCFL2Hl4EK74XaWrwAzZRKLm2SPzvFSe2XkAw3raZw24XjqShDVv4q1MlR/s1600/DSC06242.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuTA16npJUV6_7C1R6Z-M0fgQd1dOIG_lquqtY-tQSb0BCIj1V-UjfMNRiFi2erPmaA0lpS6tk93hUprzgHXmCFL2Hl4EK74XaWrwAzZRKLm2SPzvFSe2XkAw3raZw24XjqShDVv4q1MlR/s320/DSC06242.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">On a lighter note, we were able to visit an orphanage and do some work there. It was good for the life skills teachers to see the place where they will be working. We also enjoyed a road trip and some fun. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here Cathy is having a wild time at the orphanage. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixWur8F13zCdHMv-ejBhFxXwJSF0jHpLlXTP0t3QaM3-iPRyNC2dX8puehzDoIjivQGV0kX10tZ_kyv61iY_qGSEOPZrYXkzAa1Z3a-KBtKFQsfc8iCQutxzUf9XPs1F3tv9bYb77oje0L/s1600/DSC06248.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixWur8F13zCdHMv-ejBhFxXwJSF0jHpLlXTP0t3QaM3-iPRyNC2dX8puehzDoIjivQGV0kX10tZ_kyv61iY_qGSEOPZrYXkzAa1Z3a-KBtKFQsfc8iCQutxzUf9XPs1F3tv9bYb77oje0L/s320/DSC06248.JPG" width="180" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"> Team Foster Care work through some heavy material at the orphanage</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNHsPHuef8jboaMuUzVxCjNxDa95ENW6zAQJejhtV-ER1cpVCp23QyVDgZn-MU4LZBEYWd2BraSyelYvqLS13t2fYcY_0oX6LtKYc2gLo9SztkPAkAXE8XuHSmv_fd9fiW573vx78QQGx6/s1600/DSC06258.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNHsPHuef8jboaMuUzVxCjNxDa95ENW6zAQJejhtV-ER1cpVCp23QyVDgZn-MU4LZBEYWd2BraSyelYvqLS13t2fYcY_0oX6LtKYc2gLo9SztkPAkAXE8XuHSmv_fd9fiW573vx78QQGx6/s320/DSC06258.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Team Life Skills also plowing through the modules and getting acquainted with the space</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI5EDerLyaiKtSNKyXtKmnojAQ0g2PQOPGnmP7FZA4HqD36UgZj2TuAh5tMCdJ_qT48AwZLVnRjkSyvQUjK3sw-zhkQj8Mluu8qH6mWx8VqV7CWvAo5laWI5i6QE17NYQmdHmAc2aFNngZ/s1600/DSC06259.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI5EDerLyaiKtSNKyXtKmnojAQ0g2PQOPGnmP7FZA4HqD36UgZj2TuAh5tMCdJ_qT48AwZLVnRjkSyvQUjK3sw-zhkQj8Mluu8qH6mWx8VqV7CWvAo5laWI5i6QE17NYQmdHmAc2aFNngZ/s320/DSC06259.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">And here is the whole of team LifeStart, teachers, translators, and even a girl from Hope House (who recently came from the orphanage we were visiting)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM1h6-XwKcATFyDNU9nfYVAw8yci4sjY7TXuqAHu_m7PjeF51N9x3La_kpGFttbWN2Pk6revj3MJ_2Mu-mKpNaDvj3qNFxXt8wSAgtwJE7xua8VrWiWwGIBO_DTMi5FkQIhdqftUOB-oVT/s1600/DSC06256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM1h6-XwKcATFyDNU9nfYVAw8yci4sjY7TXuqAHu_m7PjeF51N9x3La_kpGFttbWN2Pk6revj3MJ_2Mu-mKpNaDvj3qNFxXt8wSAgtwJE7xua8VrWiWwGIBO_DTMi5FkQIhdqftUOB-oVT/s320/DSC06256.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><br />
And so, the learning and teaching continues. We have only 2 days left of the training week! Here's hopeing we have time enough to get through all the necessary material! :)</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-49854035365970680932011-06-28T12:35:00.000-07:002011-06-29T12:33:27.268-07:00Part 2!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>This week is a busy one! Both the foster care pilot team and the life skills team are here training this week! We had some hiccups in getting our life skills team here (flight delays, mix ups in airports, etc.). However, we are all here now and diving into the life and work!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-CA"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-CA">One of the key lessons both teams are currently learning is the need for flexibility here! Plans can change minute by minute here, so we’ve had to drastically readjust some of the work on short notice.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-CA">We have had some frustrations as well as pleasant surprises regarding the foster pilot! We had one couple who was 100% on board with becoming foster parents and three other families that were considering this. Unfortunately, two of the potential families decided not to become foster parents. After spending the evening with the remaining people, the remaining potential became very keen on the program! Other lessons include changing the approach to training and preparing foster parents. We have had to work hard on selling the foster parents on the program, as opposed to preparing them for the various behaviours they might encounter. Our focus has been on training the trainers. All is going well, but there has been a lot of rolling with the punches.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-CA"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-CA">We had a great day today meeting with the foster families. Day one involved the protocols and encouraging the foster parents. Day two involved training anв preparation of foster parents. </span>We were able to do the training in the comfort of the home of one of our foster parents. It was great to get to know each other and teach and learn!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-CA">Here is Rick and Marina working together in the training</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-CA"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioAwD8BZhUsESwOygEaNgwAXtZzIYPY25gWxvFFV0Qt63z67rjoLhzcZqkoOFJj02PgyioUMYlC7P0ZzgUiJkYefTdMXyHwXSelVEI51puDQ6QIqfHa3r_1DjSLTXcw6O3grsI-Fr_ZRyv/s1600/DSC06240.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioAwD8BZhUsESwOygEaNgwAXtZzIYPY25gWxvFFV0Qt63z67rjoLhzcZqkoOFJj02PgyioUMYlC7P0ZzgUiJkYefTdMXyHwXSelVEI51puDQ6QIqfHa3r_1DjSLTXcw6O3grsI-Fr_ZRyv/s320/DSC06240.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Here is Team Foster Care (Rick, Anita, and our translator Marina) </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-CA">with Nadya and Vasili, our potential foster parents. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-CA"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr3DDApc7nk2TIy-STcrsrpU5vBFvSfNOpFPElgmVZiK-ltQfzq0kOfh3Jg2Uoslmq4S_hROUoEgGrB-vKRQn-RnEZ6rS4cdeWA5WKfesoV_FXHAm7BWyP9_Tq8smTNOp6kS6M8Na9wbLI/s1600/DSC06238.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr3DDApc7nk2TIy-STcrsrpU5vBFvSfNOpFPElgmVZiK-ltQfzq0kOfh3Jg2Uoslmq4S_hROUoEgGrB-vKRQn-RnEZ6rS4cdeWA5WKfesoV_FXHAm7BWyP9_Tq8smTNOp6kS6M8Na9wbLI/s320/DSC06238.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Here is our other foster parents, Larissa and Sergiy, who will be taking 4 girls!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr5vUAQFhrRs7K0ReCJP_-uRMyorloOiPA33YG2Yr1SB2Zm3ukOBQqAPhpVYz9TJcA25Wv4Xr82BJGx3TAi83dDQ4bEmKqLZKHIv1idXwttwWLpoTm2xjNahRr_DPN_RIrwpKa0n39UMYR/s1600/DSC06239.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr5vUAQFhrRs7K0ReCJP_-uRMyorloOiPA33YG2Yr1SB2Zm3ukOBQqAPhpVYz9TJcA25Wv4Xr82BJGx3TAi83dDQ4bEmKqLZKHIv1idXwttwWLpoTm2xjNahRr_DPN_RIrwpKa0n39UMYR/s320/DSC06239.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-CA">As for the life skills team, we’ve had a very successful first day. Our team met the teachers and other World Hope staff this morning and launched into teaching the curriculum! We are getting along well and the teachers are definitely engaging with the material! The teachers are responding well to the format of our materials. Sometimes the material is difficult for them and they are hesitant to teach this, but after some discussion, they see the value of teaching some of these more difficult and personal topics!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA"></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"> Team life skills preping for a busy day of training!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmaL84_X3pl000StygbtS0KwMuMBgewdZrXt4SPczwbTbYa917Y3ia6hxdVAVrD-RsMN0DZdMZisqCW_hQ7cvDHymXpBrHxSIlSh0PszmBj3U0R_rejkc9hFYNDCU2gMDZdaMMNGB1lAyM/s1600/DSC06237.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmaL84_X3pl000StygbtS0KwMuMBgewdZrXt4SPczwbTbYa917Y3ia6hxdVAVrD-RsMN0DZdMZisqCW_hQ7cvDHymXpBrHxSIlSh0PszmBj3U0R_rejkc9hFYNDCU2gMDZdaMMNGB1lAyM/s320/DSC06237.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="180" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-CA">Here is Bea working with our translation on our first day</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpz-5cJ6KZhncpLMOzzz37_bjH1hfubyFHhl_LYieWRB2oWFKUeJMn73AKDHNLfSS-7n9hheBFaNUCduaw5aRvHfUYfWOxhE9Gxy6KqUFNGjHuYb0Ii14NeQdGG8ETP0Rq7w-6VFmIPtY4/s1600/DSC06229.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpz-5cJ6KZhncpLMOzzz37_bjH1hfubyFHhl_LYieWRB2oWFKUeJMn73AKDHNLfSS-7n9hheBFaNUCduaw5aRvHfUYfWOxhE9Gxy6KqUFNGjHuYb0Ii14NeQdGG8ETP0Rq7w-6VFmIPtY4/s320/DSC06229.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="180" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Our teachers Valya and Alyona are in the forground </div><div style="text-align: center;">whilst World Hope Ukraine staff Kostya and Tatiyana are in the background</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiwJqmYH2AixzxVjZUjUsA-beQnEnVphmEwPVyDQx1K9ZcE_4IZ2T3Qd7x0VntKgoGfx3hwDK_HzUC4jRVZoo7MG9P7ugb_ZEizH3TU6Dy3-yBDD3Dxe951aJ55Uuctp3kC0JFJc_iYhng/s1600/DSC06231.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiwJqmYH2AixzxVjZUjUsA-beQnEnVphmEwPVyDQx1K9ZcE_4IZ2T3Qd7x0VntKgoGfx3hwDK_HzUC4jRVZoo7MG9P7ugb_ZEizH3TU6Dy3-yBDD3Dxe951aJ55Uuctp3kC0JFJc_iYhng/s320/DSC06231.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Kim and Candice working hard :)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWihButZdrSIg0qNC9tHBPBU2DEkvKBf73Eb_KEikyDA0Qqn6aYjnKCldM47JoF6bTPeGtqZEYybQjK1pvYNGbwJSqHqCWQE6wo5cP47ojKu5PEcYGIf2DnMfpIj5elM6FR2krEXZ_UbfI/s1600/DSC06235.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWihButZdrSIg0qNC9tHBPBU2DEkvKBf73Eb_KEikyDA0Qqn6aYjnKCldM47JoF6bTPeGtqZEYybQjK1pvYNGbwJSqHqCWQE6wo5cP47ojKu5PEcYGIf2DnMfpIj5elM6FR2krEXZ_UbfI/s320/DSC06235.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Enjoying an icebreaker with the teachers! :)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyPyxArunC4ezNZAL2MUUygTViRXsTMfzF5Qs7Gn-PZatLKaxt63yv8y6GPwX4tPpEpSF3g82Cfm8Z8B6UwZA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>So, all in all, life here in Ukraine is going well. We are all doing a lot of learning and having some fun as well!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-65254397747809761062011-06-26T10:12:00.000-07:002011-06-26T10:13:44.205-07:00And so it begins!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At long last, after more than a year of preparation, the day has come to implement the pilots! Team Foster Care (Rick, Anita, and myself) arrived in Odessa on 19 June tired, but unscathed! This past week has been a busy one of training Dina, our World Hope Ukraine’s Foster Care Coordinator, in her many roles and responsibilities. This has also been a long process of editing the protocols, ensuring a final product that would work in Ukraine, culturally, politically, and financially.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span lang="EN-CA" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;">Day one of the training. We had a full house as we introduced the foster care protocols to World Hope Ukraine Staff. From left to right we have Dina (Foster Care Coordinator), Marina (Translator), Rick (Canadian Team Trainer), Kostya (Life Skills Project Coordinator), Sergiy (WHU Director), Tatiyana (First Step Centre Coordinator), Lina (Head of Hope House), Anita (Canadian Team Trainer). </span></span> </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="line-height: 115%;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="line-height: 115%;">Working around the table</span></span> </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="line-height: 115%;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBkNBdLsOOr-YBFVZySiZXbgoXJLbdxaqjBQTrs_jMXV1lDNfUNQcZ7AGA8ApChBNpNm9nepE7GDOgf5ddXP6nmzUWl0tR-s7dw-ttkEoROikspjhuaGZoaMNtBuMR71IoQ9FcguDoolHk/s1600/DSC06159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBkNBdLsOOr-YBFVZySiZXbgoXJLbdxaqjBQTrs_jMXV1lDNfUNQcZ7AGA8ApChBNpNm9nepE7GDOgf5ddXP6nmzUWl0tR-s7dw-ttkEoROikspjhuaGZoaMNtBuMR71IoQ9FcguDoolHk/s320/DSC06159.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></strong></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Rick and Anita: Expert Volunteer Trainers!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><strong style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmBCeTIbBhOKX6LgEx2NIuZ8_zGe4m1aSt3FQmbNmfpslLBVaMc6XY4rPXuPIOomnmBmlb4K7_VpVWB2Ql5wyblutzT2VrXOEnz239JeG3ZUrdFUYufhP1QxCHXR6g2m3lnUSjKXAsYE4v/s1600/DSC06180.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmBCeTIbBhOKX6LgEx2NIuZ8_zGe4m1aSt3FQmbNmfpslLBVaMc6XY4rPXuPIOomnmBmlb4K7_VpVWB2Ql5wyblutzT2VrXOEnz239JeG3ZUrdFUYufhP1QxCHXR6g2m3lnUSjKXAsYE4v/s320/DSC06180.JPG" width="320" /></a></strong></span><br />
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</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong> </strong><span lang="EN-CA">So far things have gone very well. The work has been tiring, but we’ve also had the opportunity to explore the city, hit the beach, enjoy the sunshine, and hangout with everyone at Hope House. We have another week of foster care training ahead of us, including working with foster parents!</span></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Here is everyone gathered for a birthday celebration at Hope House.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJCsSFoN9wBlVQeQ4NKVODgxpFuKQ7NSflPEXWddNgD89AkvSr9pAsPN6G9f0ENPA26OoPq7x8bBilcID39BEfE9vQhk5QUnAXrdD69MmkmmFHKtzeNqPrjt9Y4u12Nb8OGQaU5kkC4cV/s1600/DSC06163.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJCsSFoN9wBlVQeQ4NKVODgxpFuKQ7NSflPEXWddNgD89AkvSr9pAsPN6G9f0ENPA26OoPq7x8bBilcID39BEfE9vQhk5QUnAXrdD69MmkmmFHKtzeNqPrjt9Y4u12Nb8OGQaU5kkC4cV/s320/DSC06163.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span lang="EN-CA"><span lang="EN-CA">And so, all is well in Odessa! We’ve had one busy and productive week of training with Team Foster Care. Team Life Skills will all be here shortly and ready to start our week of life skills training! <a href="" name="_GoBack"></a></span></span></span></div><br />
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Our volunteer teams have been working very hard this past term. We are at last in the final stages of developing the pilot programs! Here is a brief updates on what Team LifeStart has been up to!<br />
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</div><div>The Life Skills Team has been working very hard in developing the curriculum. This proved to be a mighty task. However, with teamwork and lots of effort, we pulled it off! The final copy was sent off for translation last week. There will be some tweaking to do once we receive the translated copy, but tweaking is manageable! We are now able to take a short breathe before gearing up for the training week!</div><div><br />
</div><div>The Foster Care Pilot Team also successfully completed developing a comprehensive set of foster care protocols and minimum standards of care, complete with an assortment of documents to enable smooth implementation of the program! We are now focusing on polishing the training weeks and preparing for the trip!</div><div><br />
</div><div>Our Videography Team has grown substantially these past few months. A number of volunteers have stepped in to help up translate and subtitle the video footage we took in October! Translation is ongoing and we will be focusing on developing some videos, including a seminar video for Odessa officials, over the next few months!</div><div><br />
</div><div>And so, though we have had a good many bumps along the way, everything is coming together nicely. Over the next month and a bit, we will be tweaking and finalising and preparing for our trip to Ukraine. Once in Odessa, we will get to work closely with World Hope Ukraine and local practitioners in implementing these projects! <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsXaxRjxgaI-GyHKR_wIbLdyWPAmaFGJHtAskNeSFOcIsRluw_Fayf1pvGsQALbpIzAtMsGgvFF6erwLTDP9jP5Ki8bBHjVdJ_K17Hd2JB25km5OL1hN4UIP3wBCL7xSP53e-A76Fu8dRi/s1600/DSC_0315.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsXaxRjxgaI-GyHKR_wIbLdyWPAmaFGJHtAskNeSFOcIsRluw_Fayf1pvGsQALbpIzAtMsGgvFF6erwLTDP9jP5Ki8bBHjVdJ_K17Hd2JB25km5OL1hN4UIP3wBCL7xSP53e-A76Fu8dRi/s320/DSC_0315.JPG" width="320" /></a></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-42925676852265739832011-02-23T08:17:00.000-08:002011-02-23T08:17:50.456-08:00Moving Forward<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTKor5HLBJzNI_S_NEn7pW-zrzI7x2KYWKzkGccWY0HvBz55hTRuYqZnQhl3fafI4jkYMtNxO5K8yFs4nAucqJmHTv3u4xCG7XZvYmumxs2VgaBm9jYH9jqyrkk37TCtA-tUXwdXWrjtLU/s1600/DSC_0081.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTKor5HLBJzNI_S_NEn7pW-zrzI7x2KYWKzkGccWY0HvBz55hTRuYqZnQhl3fafI4jkYMtNxO5K8yFs4nAucqJmHTv3u4xCG7XZvYmumxs2VgaBm9jYH9jqyrkk37TCtA-tUXwdXWrjtLU/s320/DSC_0081.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Despite some hiccups and bumps, work on Project LifeStart is carrying on nicely. We've readjusted some of our plans and the project timeline so that we can keep on carrying on. A big part of these last months has been to roll with the punches, improvise, and adjust. And so, we have a long road ahead, but we are moving along it!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Our Life Skills Team has finished the first rough draft of the curriculum! We have entered into a rigorous round of revisions, which will produce our second draft! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Our Foster Care Team has created successfully produced a working copy of the protocols! We've had some Ukrainian volunteers review the protocols and provide feedback and ensure the protocols are suitable for Ukraine. We are currently working on all the many supplementary documents necessary for a functioning and accountable foster care pilot!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Having developed rough drafts here in Canada, we are starting to hand materials over to World Hope Ukraine for review, input, and revisions. This will be an ongoing process to ensure the pilots are culturally appropriate and effective!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">World Hope Ukraine will has also started the search for the Ukrainian staff needed for the pilots. They are currently looking to hire 2 life skills teachers and a foster care coordinator. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Most excitingly, we are beginning to plan the training trips! This is that one fine moment when the Canadian and Ukrainian teams come together and get these pilots up and running! So far, the trips are planned for late June. More information to follow! </div><div><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi14o_9gjDR_n8cET4PkcLJGuhvgGNVL0FP7aTSLSBaBoJTV7ZKrDkHRkH766MZXBpBv6Hi8KsiLfa1uj_IoyEo1SSiYqtwA2r3_8zOznv_67v6BUq5RVucztbs25SgDjzzu4-eH47-A9UT/s1600/DSC_0219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi14o_9gjDR_n8cET4PkcLJGuhvgGNVL0FP7aTSLSBaBoJTV7ZKrDkHRkH766MZXBpBv6Hi8KsiLfa1uj_IoyEo1SSiYqtwA2r3_8zOznv_67v6BUq5RVucztbs25SgDjzzu4-eH47-A9UT/s320/DSC_0219.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-36592244004742635612011-01-20T11:09:00.000-08:002011-01-20T14:23:31.206-08:00The New Year<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl-TLUJ6xAnQ-iyEQYJ6GdhkDwP-jg0QFbCEY364yMbMnafo5eRZxscOvykczvSbiyv6OKhnmNnNfJm0fExM9n1ZHv7nzgQLgfbjOBP4Q6HvZPcKvwHGPVfUf5sytVxudXGtiRRUdqwoe-/s1600/DSC_0350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl-TLUJ6xAnQ-iyEQYJ6GdhkDwP-jg0QFbCEY364yMbMnafo5eRZxscOvykczvSbiyv6OKhnmNnNfJm0fExM9n1ZHv7nzgQLgfbjOBP4Q6HvZPcKvwHGPVfUf5sytVxudXGtiRRUdqwoe-/s320/DSC_0350.JPG" width="214" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">In many ways the LifeStart Odessa project is carrying steadily on in the new year. In other ways, we are hitting some bumps in the road. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">We are happy to welcome a couple new members to the Project LifeStart team: Zoia and Plato. Zoia as an intern and Plato as a volunteer. It is great to have fresh faces and minds to help out!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Our life skills team is trucking on! We are hoping that we will have a rough draft of all 10 modules by the months end! From there, we will work on identifying gaps, adapting the material to suite Ukraine, and really hacking it out into a second draft!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Our team working on the foster care protocols are also working away. This element of the project has proved to be larger than we all anticipated originally. However, we are all working hard to establish a comprehensive set of protocols.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Some hiccups have occurred in subtitling our video footage. The material itself is powerful and heartbreaking. The footage includes interviews with the girls from Hope House and stories from street kids, as well as interviews with local practitioners and most of the World Hope Ukraine staff. Having been exposed to the material for some time, I had nearly forgotten how these stories and interviews can affect people. Working with three subtitlers since late November has reminded me how people can be affected! However, we have happily welcomed a new volunteer to Project LifeStart, Plato, who is helping us with the subtitling. Our videographers are chomping at the bit to start producing something from the footage, so, while we continue with the subtitling here in the office, they will produce a short film for Stephanie and Kim to use in public engagement this spring. If you would like someone to come speak to a community group, church, school, etc about the project, please contact Stephanie (stephanie@worldhope.ca)!</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3OOJlElyKolLmStLbX_-r0lWiP4VRQM1ga6VEIVEkdVH8_fREOa1OD6MItcUV-efmV9IJhrroYn1Bl11W0PTgDrFzD_SoyjrZAoPDcs6pW0fzBvo_GF-k378jEm2NjNDkW-lFFznlzw0I/s1600/DSC_0349.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3OOJlElyKolLmStLbX_-r0lWiP4VRQM1ga6VEIVEkdVH8_fREOa1OD6MItcUV-efmV9IJhrroYn1Bl11W0PTgDrFzD_SoyjrZAoPDcs6pW0fzBvo_GF-k378jEm2NjNDkW-lFFznlzw0I/s320/DSC_0349.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">Another hiccup presented itself shortly after I returned from Ukraine. Only now are we realising the extent of this hiccup. Now, life in Ukraine pivots on connections. While I was in Ukraine, Odessa held municipal elections. Sergei wasn't overly pleased with the outcome of the elections, but no real trouble came about until lately. Sergei had long developed a network of connections, which helps smooth the running of World Hope Ukraine. With the new government, many of Sergei's connections were lost, being replace with new individual in a new government. Furthermore, the previous government was aware of World Hope Ukraine and approved of the work in child welfare. The new government, however, seems to know little about World Hope Ukraine and its work, past or present. Sergei has been working hard to develop new connections in this government, but is coming against considerable resistance and discouragement. We are certainly carrying on with developing and implementing our pilot project. However, ideally, we would like the government to love these pilots, take them over, and proliferate them throughout Odessa and beyond! We are working hard to foster new relationships, to keep the spread of the pilots a possibility, but these things, so it seems, takes time and a touch of luck! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Feel free to drop Sergei a line to encourage him in this discouraging bit of the project (gomiletika@gmail.com)! People and support are essential elements to this project!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5EiJkPeQ0AW2-63QctYf2TUUyG9jCo1mqGFw08X7XJqQAjeBiwwBYoy-y8QxI7r7IazYlsvIIsld_TqQMbKrxrRts0poBc971SgLYCQPHwdjzj8BitJ2deVP865i9a5TytM_iy-XkTYpN/s1600/DSC05716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5EiJkPeQ0AW2-63QctYf2TUUyG9jCo1mqGFw08X7XJqQAjeBiwwBYoy-y8QxI7r7IazYlsvIIsld_TqQMbKrxrRts0poBc971SgLYCQPHwdjzj8BitJ2deVP865i9a5TytM_iy-XkTYpN/s320/DSC05716.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-7094672639780676662010-11-23T11:26:00.000-08:002011-01-20T11:12:09.583-08:00Progress in Canada<div style="text-align: left;">With Christmas nearing, we are working hard to wrap up our reports and dive into the next wave of activity. We are processing the assortment of information gathered in Ukraine, whilst working on the final editing of our International Best Practices Report! Work is largely desk oriented at present, but very busy. We are hoping these reports will serve a dual purpose: 1. to inform Canadians on what is going on with Child Care in Ukraine, and 2. to inform Ukrainian child care practitioners and government officials of the situation of their at-risk youth, discuss the strengths of the Ukrainian system, and offer suggestions of how to improve their system. We are working away on these reports hoping to have them ready for publishing by Christmas!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Our Life Skills Team is continuing to work on developing the modules for our curriculum! We have 3 modules well on their way, leaving 7 yet to be developed! So far we have covered maintaining the home, kitchen safety, and personal hygiene; meal planning and nutrition; and the program introduction with the development of group work and trust building! Each module is developed, the adapted to best suit the Ukrainian situation and culture, then written into a formal curriculum. Our final product will be a comprehensive package that we can hand over to the government to be broadly implemented in orphanages throughout Ukraine should the government choose to do so.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">And so, our work on the Canadian side of things continues. The work is certainly accompanied with its frustrations and feelings of being overwhelmed. However, keeping in mind the ultimate goal of affecting child care in Ukraine and improving the life opportunities of at-risk youth is good motivation!</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeEL6tFhA3sio5iHusEIaFdMDQ0YoXU8wA0WgzF4HKZcUbJDyAwbT3UbO3feMFBk4imvWiZ_iY2j2zMs3iQGCnX4lklVygX_JWjRqackisfg-glXkBGXstU4V97y_YSsx-RTna7j6yMpFj/s1600/DSC_0290.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeEL6tFhA3sio5iHusEIaFdMDQ0YoXU8wA0WgzF4HKZcUbJDyAwbT3UbO3feMFBk4imvWiZ_iY2j2zMs3iQGCnX4lklVygX_JWjRqackisfg-glXkBGXstU4V97y_YSsx-RTna7j6yMpFj/s320/DSC_0290.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">Some other points of interest:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">1. World Hope Canada just completed their bi-annual meeting of the Board of Directors. After being updated on the progress of the LifeStart Odessa project, the Board re-affirmed our activity in Ukraine. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">2. Ukraine has been experiencing some anti-government protests this week, originating in Kiev, but spreading throughout the major urban centres of the country. I have been unable to find a reliable media report on the issue, but keep your eyes peeled for new developments! </div><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-39600770302587492082010-11-01T01:20:00.000-07:002010-11-01T01:30:05.084-07:00Life Here and Life There<div style="text-align: left;">I have enjoyed being apart of life in Hope House for the past few weeks. Every day is entirely different, with new drama and fun. There is a huge garden here, which provide food for everyone here all year long. With the frost coming, it was time to pull the carrots and store them in the cellar. Each girl took their turn in the garden. It was great to see the teamwork :)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kristina and Tanya took the first shift</span></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwzg5sJfRq53G47DzQwAdmm5TolJcX0SXWFNW_1l5BBNGBtQxF-MsUTTmfP-h4bViGnUKFLuJdLoEVySHQNp765KFx3yjzXaw7WjpV49NbIboNbrfjFz0p8qgdTCKqa41efAriXreg6KMo/s1600/DSC_0667.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwzg5sJfRq53G47DzQwAdmm5TolJcX0SXWFNW_1l5BBNGBtQxF-MsUTTmfP-h4bViGnUKFLuJdLoEVySHQNp765KFx3yjzXaw7WjpV49NbIboNbrfjFz0p8qgdTCKqa41efAriXreg6KMo/s320/DSC_0667.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A bit later, Nadya and Vika took their turn</span></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikeXO-YUqtU1pF4WkcAJJe9qD6Ga5LdCWtCnNr3zng8L0MTdEX2KYXqPilAAPwGzL04iyTtOQ1zkC20ckOqo7KnCHtuIkb6o0g2wUn6t0MD9NjDAYTT-ANp_YYPt6-L7SyVE6sAdDtzLJD/s1600/DSC_0669.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikeXO-YUqtU1pF4WkcAJJe9qD6Ga5LdCWtCnNr3zng8L0MTdEX2KYXqPilAAPwGzL04iyTtOQ1zkC20ckOqo7KnCHtuIkb6o0g2wUn6t0MD9NjDAYTT-ANp_YYPt6-L7SyVE6sAdDtzLJD/s320/DSC_0669.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">On a different note, I've been working with a translator here, Lena, one of the girls who used to live in Hope House, to translate the video footage of the interviews with the Hope House girls. As the details of the conversations came to light, I was surprised to realise that almost all of these girls came from large families. Like big, too big for the parents (usually single a single mom) to provide for. And so, another problem of why kids are on the street and in the orphanages comes to light.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Back in August, our Life Skills Team decided to create a section addressing high rates of teen pregnancy among at-risk youth. The section will include a little bit about maternal health and healthy pregnancy and a little bit about responsible pregnancy. Learning about these huge families, how the size of the family may lead to the neglect of a child, and that many of these families were started with a very young mother, I am reaffirmed in the importance of this section.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the Hope House girls, Luba, with her little brother. Luba was living in a small house with about 30 people. Her brother is still living there, but he came to visit his sister at Hope House</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil3YVdURmk4-3jKnbQ6V_7_UnAwgIw4SlUPd0iUbMZPxJsLwOCeTDNWmtLE2P5-oTq4Zk9t8KxkD66bhGT0fkp-e3KM4uIrHxrbdqP22yfukWsHs0UctWN7dprTxrbpko6KS-hHgKO2XD-/s1600/DSC_0678.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil3YVdURmk4-3jKnbQ6V_7_UnAwgIw4SlUPd0iUbMZPxJsLwOCeTDNWmtLE2P5-oTq4Zk9t8KxkD66bhGT0fkp-e3KM4uIrHxrbdqP22yfukWsHs0UctWN7dprTxrbpko6KS-hHgKO2XD-/s320/DSC_0678.JPG" width="214" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">And, from what I hear, the Life Skills Team is working away in Canada, following the rigorous work plan and hammering out the first few modules of the curriculum. Our Foster Care Team is well under way as well. I look forward to returning to Canada this week and catching up on all the goings on! Being here these few short weeks, I am fully convinced at how helpful the LifeStart Odessa pilots can be! </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-59756192744239564102010-10-28T00:36:00.000-07:002010-11-01T01:23:38.191-07:00Team Videography<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">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!) :)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEiZEDAAjZJUn6ztXUKMmT31906QoTkeNCt7vyUXi7EGZSDq-6P9vJZgSC07EYYGIN2angytPMrFzSTot39b6UbIMqdv91n4DBRaM40NY3P1cZcPF6ZAQ-FRR9iUZS4EZEwnHk-pfV8aM/s1600/DSC_0557.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEiZEDAAjZJUn6ztXUKMmT31906QoTkeNCt7vyUXi7EGZSDq-6P9vJZgSC07EYYGIN2angytPMrFzSTot39b6UbIMqdv91n4DBRaM40NY3P1cZcPF6ZAQ-FRR9iUZS4EZEwnHk-pfV8aM/s320/DSC_0557.JPG" width="195" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGGxUCy1r80q4yA3FkycMKz3KEQeBSp5OljtNXT7wqL11BYnZxbuC-0olNivhsaI55iCFm6TKLDs956ROCbX1XK_9bRSo-nSX_oJUFnblLeQnIwHQs9Y0wfoluJu6_ITZ6iJ3fH1Ms-8Uf/s1600/DSC_0611.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGGxUCy1r80q4yA3FkycMKz3KEQeBSp5OljtNXT7wqL11BYnZxbuC-0olNivhsaI55iCFm6TKLDs956ROCbX1XK_9bRSo-nSX_oJUFnblLeQnIwHQs9Y0wfoluJu6_ITZ6iJ3fH1Ms-8Uf/s320/DSC_0611.JPG" width="214" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-85290300542677067452010-10-26T14:40:00.000-07:002010-11-01T01:29:18.836-07:00Orphanages (Иптернаты)<div style="text-align: left;">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!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">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. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">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!</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 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.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji5OzZIgxxr6atVU5Xd07OX52khHsB8kSDg8MGSHevmhFDLYFt6AHJQJSzZhJ5L0hPCp18fvRrd4MSrUFtFgbqj96-YjKlhIMxFjVlR0tAI9a1uGeaTzUSzuJ3QMxUeSyJIrXKJ72Bk-um/s1600/DSC_0471.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji5OzZIgxxr6atVU5Xd07OX52khHsB8kSDg8MGSHevmhFDLYFt6AHJQJSzZhJ5L0hPCp18fvRrd4MSrUFtFgbqj96-YjKlhIMxFjVlR0tAI9a1uGeaTzUSzuJ3QMxUeSyJIrXKJ72Bk-um/s320/DSC_0471.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;">There was even a computer room, which these boys were accessing. This was surprising considering Ukrainians have a relatively low level of computer literacy! </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh12_peRQuMmuVO7wVTv4mNDi4qiFebe16uOs2RFHZ7HEk2pyoGuleXVTt69deCcs36xksqx7VImevQEcI3g4F7ymiwlX3KeLp-PemEJ9cTIOnKQ4M3-FZ9L2GgHf3CVF9UStEenvmk5zqS/s1600/DSC_0473.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh12_peRQuMmuVO7wVTv4mNDi4qiFebe16uOs2RFHZ7HEk2pyoGuleXVTt69deCcs36xksqx7VImevQEcI3g4F7ymiwlX3KeLp-PemEJ9cTIOnKQ4M3-FZ9L2GgHf3CVF9UStEenvmk5zqS/s320/DSC_0473.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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.</span></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLs-5xHOUG7b9D0YbEyQJ0W94UWLvEF4kIes70Zjfp7ewSoeAL7aG-vvMyDOtOJ7SoBmODUVcoNP-dCHcQlAVPs1lFgpc6oqvNnTIEQ5viaZ6QLuHX4YENdOAO6B0JSn6w_7j3WdVctGGk/s1600/DSC_0475.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLs-5xHOUG7b9D0YbEyQJ0W94UWLvEF4kIes70Zjfp7ewSoeAL7aG-vvMyDOtOJ7SoBmODUVcoNP-dCHcQlAVPs1lFgpc6oqvNnTIEQ5viaZ6QLuHX4YENdOAO6B0JSn6w_7j3WdVctGGk/s320/DSC_0475.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Math classroom. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxaE58kTI8Kjsxs4QM2-z9PKWhpTmO_GrO941cpE_jahfSLixA3JiEOdEJcTaGsAr3naGWuG4KuGVfT012pCuKrOIGuToTxF-2Pv6OCQ2mOw8bSpW_iJtGJftM2xOkMgoaAiNJOQf67mKv/s1600/DSC_0477.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxaE58kTI8Kjsxs4QM2-z9PKWhpTmO_GrO941cpE_jahfSLixA3JiEOdEJcTaGsAr3naGWuG4KuGVfT012pCuKrOIGuToTxF-2Pv6OCQ2mOw8bSpW_iJtGJftM2xOkMgoaAiNJOQf67mKv/s320/DSC_0477.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;">Classroom for Ukrainian literature and culture.</span></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNPr7qyCUJKmhT7xVR99aZaIBu1bZ2Yq5PKJyoPw7yGV0n_H0RiyROw-0bvv8hlwO_OQt6voI0RixtwXBv-IK7sIN58I9Ljy54a-hG24Vg2SrNONW_SghTri0ktH9gA9JDMATkUi-KJ7st/s1600/DSC_0478.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNPr7qyCUJKmhT7xVR99aZaIBu1bZ2Yq5PKJyoPw7yGV0n_H0RiyROw-0bvv8hlwO_OQt6voI0RixtwXBv-IK7sIN58I9Ljy54a-hG24Vg2SrNONW_SghTri0ktH9gA9JDMATkUi-KJ7st/s320/DSC_0478.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt-8BoRzn_fo7dKCSEyHklfAldiqr08ip5Oed0iUXl4TdQbgNM8ic2m9OcrthBRsPAiScz3yVv430qFkEEj4kQyrqMfvdgW5WEjcjJdTqqD4zOOEhtXaG9o_WRl3Pp57MTPmtZM1YUmiSz/s1600/DSC_0484.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt-8BoRzn_fo7dKCSEyHklfAldiqr08ip5Oed0iUXl4TdQbgNM8ic2m9OcrthBRsPAiScz3yVv430qFkEEj4kQyrqMfvdgW5WEjcjJdTqqD4zOOEhtXaG9o_WRl3Pp57MTPmtZM1YUmiSz/s320/DSC_0484.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="214" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;">The orphanage is out in the forest, which provide lots of space for the kids. It was a beautiful autumn day when we visited.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtEUEHkjhhzK3725qK9uNJBXUwalhOwGqip5WxjRQWFdtuGtE6OWeTQDWVZb1Mx4ly5uTeRxEpIXd3lTH8tB9-1vUPpsL20jEL5slyo5ttl9d0gBZwanMC5_QdzjAdElMBUk0ynCe7aobM/s1600/DSC_0486.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtEUEHkjhhzK3725qK9uNJBXUwalhOwGqip5WxjRQWFdtuGtE6OWeTQDWVZb1Mx4ly5uTeRxEpIXd3lTH8tB9-1vUPpsL20jEL5slyo5ttl9d0gBZwanMC5_QdzjAdElMBUk0ynCe7aobM/s320/DSC_0486.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The playground. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuzv3c1HKNcIR1uU10ywwpSNgldnbpiSXC-5C9vBq5nHTbQA4YVlZI3UFOddzXNB6x3hT4DuW24XQQIZa7g2vpW-BeqkDd9ytT5dQKugwW2HVH9ptA5iTaKgzeQhXcZzRbBFYkZax7x20e/s1600/DSC_0487.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuzv3c1HKNcIR1uU10ywwpSNgldnbpiSXC-5C9vBq5nHTbQA4YVlZI3UFOddzXNB6x3hT4DuW24XQQIZa7g2vpW-BeqkDd9ytT5dQKugwW2HVH9ptA5iTaKgzeQhXcZzRbBFYkZax7x20e/s320/DSC_0487.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, of course, kids playing in the playground.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDMe7WJA26zwqvfpoMnUCe_M-y6Jy7chbpCziMHL-vAhbFGyxjkYfmrBzxCJ4fBtAShKqlufdq9b7xy2LftlAluJ3ZeCFdjxT7Rzf2sQGXAGLYDrIkZfG0qkgLfiwmxhYXJpaVBmISkBf6/s1600/DSC_0495.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDMe7WJA26zwqvfpoMnUCe_M-y6Jy7chbpCziMHL-vAhbFGyxjkYfmrBzxCJ4fBtAShKqlufdq9b7xy2LftlAluJ3ZeCFdjxT7Rzf2sQGXAGLYDrIkZfG0qkgLfiwmxhYXJpaVBmISkBf6/s320/DSC_0495.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bedrooms here were clean with nice, up-to-date beds. There also seemed to be 4-5 kids per room. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNq0p-izKM-5_-ye58ouhr7oak1yC9xcSKEWkRfHiVRXCibaxsn3FGsRCjSC5NMVJfE29cAhxRYYfLbBNm1HTyK7jA_Trig6Cvti0v0hs9F2rJceyvisIXglgJvfQZBnV6TryHRD148PJG/s1600/DSC_0501.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNq0p-izKM-5_-ye58ouhr7oak1yC9xcSKEWkRfHiVRXCibaxsn3FGsRCjSC5NMVJfE29cAhxRYYfLbBNm1HTyK7jA_Trig6Cvti0v0hs9F2rJceyvisIXglgJvfQZBnV6TryHRD148PJG/s320/DSC_0501.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bathroom, a nice clean facility.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7MAOtpMQ53G2b1hJ4kdPQjIJIVtY5K5gryrIg0kY0QwLzjXYlZDRdCwr6yP8idWzbfzAjrSwWDdcNEacQDvmQqWsFm9t1e3FTUzNwDkXZWGf-Mv2zdsp2RFcDHwr788pmh43tghNQ87O1/s1600/DSC_0502.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7MAOtpMQ53G2b1hJ4kdPQjIJIVtY5K5gryrIg0kY0QwLzjXYlZDRdCwr6yP8idWzbfzAjrSwWDdcNEacQDvmQqWsFm9t1e3FTUzNwDkXZWGf-Mv2zdsp2RFcDHwr788pmh43tghNQ87O1/s320/DSC_0502.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC7kowyRef6JAg3IuVXrT-58t-vOa9kIryCL0diAY0YEneHADIQoJxBt-IcbqkNvRRL37_fo_CEognOyWkUw89d_FO4qrrIWHAqmikHybX2hUgKfGyT_MO9fmQiFYSL1XYyBpZzgIfH-2Q/s1600/DSC_0512.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC7kowyRef6JAg3IuVXrT-58t-vOa9kIryCL0diAY0YEneHADIQoJxBt-IcbqkNvRRL37_fo_CEognOyWkUw89d_FO4qrrIWHAqmikHybX2hUgKfGyT_MO9fmQiFYSL1XYyBpZzgIfH-2Q/s320/DSC_0512.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> There was even a health/mini clinic facility here, much to my surprise. Kids were even able to receive some dental care here. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3PvXsgNTHe6ycrC-2s9-syBavb0ypQTtrSZNWu6mMeyWO4o8yGpjIik8kRbXjNtypSQds0ygnVBr3MdNy1LnhdGToePAfXpWeihFX7hy6ZajQzpZUY29WhLQSCM1XU4J11t4Jw0qUOEYC/s1600/DSC_0522.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3PvXsgNTHe6ycrC-2s9-syBavb0ypQTtrSZNWu6mMeyWO4o8yGpjIik8kRbXjNtypSQds0ygnVBr3MdNy1LnhdGToePAfXpWeihFX7hy6ZajQzpZUY29WhLQSCM1XU4J11t4Jw0qUOEYC/s320/DSC_0522.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="214" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And a theatre space where kids learn to dance, put on performances, and also watch movies on Saturday evenings.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05gTViLR2fP8XWlhkIdvuQ1IgHmr0rJAqBC2O0BzrEzqGVUE_XuZXh3LAhNifpjgg72JGp6sCH2C8sj_O1kGs9m0KwsMmOS2DESzBLw0buOi6SFNRB1VzFla4vxzLbtfY7nVEsOYa4cQt/s1600/DSC_0526.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05gTViLR2fP8XWlhkIdvuQ1IgHmr0rJAqBC2O0BzrEzqGVUE_XuZXh3LAhNifpjgg72JGp6sCH2C8sj_O1kGs9m0KwsMmOS2DESzBLw0buOi6SFNRB1VzFla4vxzLbtfY7nVEsOYa4cQt/s320/DSC_0526.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The floor hallway in the dorms. There was lots of colour and flowers (fake) everywhere for a nice atmosphere.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0uPoqg7yyP6pRUZYOWxxHC4sES8O7ioceIvLMSLWQger3hyW4rmY8GkLYoSEhErWf5ARSIYz7jxSiPj_LJhDUf3WUiMh8zyZst_Gfour14vNXSDu88BxUgykfthuKLMjhu0-ZLKylzQic/s1600/DSC_0503.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0uPoqg7yyP6pRUZYOWxxHC4sES8O7ioceIvLMSLWQger3hyW4rmY8GkLYoSEhErWf5ARSIYz7jxSiPj_LJhDUf3WUiMh8zyZst_Gfour14vNXSDu88BxUgykfthuKLMjhu0-ZLKylzQic/s320/DSC_0503.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="214" /></a></div><div><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">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!</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Typical village housing: thatched roofs indicate more extreme poverty. Most people do basic farming, mostly self subsistence in the surrounding area. </span></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIX6ekOUvIVXJZOv213yrzX1n0Fdw8L_Xvfpr1FzD1CPjEG_nPEst-S1f8GTlAwG0hBxy1fMy1we33_LdvxSjqbUrmdEoBWnirx9wVT84h7ilL_8rHxBE8zMVcXQQ1uqeCIso_sqQYpXDw/s1600/DSC_0542.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIX6ekOUvIVXJZOv213yrzX1n0Fdw8L_Xvfpr1FzD1CPjEG_nPEst-S1f8GTlAwG0hBxy1fMy1we33_LdvxSjqbUrmdEoBWnirx9wVT84h7ilL_8rHxBE8zMVcXQQ1uqeCIso_sqQYpXDw/s320/DSC_0542.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;">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. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvYVHuh2-jXXr86D3I6jGcFlbfje-OqGMW7_2HsU6rk4jiANSTSlD4zkL5RbYAAJUn035HXRFc1fsasnb_Czo59Q2xTiAOdaHszzHSST5oZDIwr4bzju__GDbPhmQCakGVtqi-A8Dm8VGU/s1600/DSC_0563.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvYVHuh2-jXXr86D3I6jGcFlbfje-OqGMW7_2HsU6rk4jiANSTSlD4zkL5RbYAAJUn035HXRFc1fsasnb_Czo59Q2xTiAOdaHszzHSST5oZDIwr4bzju__GDbPhmQCakGVtqi-A8Dm8VGU/s320/DSC_0563.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;">The exterior of the building. It gives a good idea how run down this facility is.</span></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-mg1v5muD0b62ERJ-Qq9m_1g_qYgcvEQVneubzftPRMfUH0z7g2V9OKk8bty4XCfU1k9lY3tvYuj47wiktD7GHDGFHIvJ_HTVdnlX2RzcFeuaVOav4vghHxx9KdHVvJuLEGlYwRsGbWRO/s1600/DSC_0568.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-mg1v5muD0b62ERJ-Qq9m_1g_qYgcvEQVneubzftPRMfUH0z7g2V9OKk8bty4XCfU1k9lY3tvYuj47wiktD7GHDGFHIvJ_HTVdnlX2RzcFeuaVOav4vghHxx9KdHVvJuLEGlYwRsGbWRO/s320/DSC_0568.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmzou0CRTBF4UoUIJIFd_hN9OapkitBBovLH3p9nsXAptOw8svKJk3tXpYWhCdlo18OE3daOUF_hTtB5Zk-u1lrAm8GU3X2eDiNFIPilb4-rFejxsWpl5geNg2hnNbkTC__ByTEad_ukyJ/s1600/DSC_0574.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmzou0CRTBF4UoUIJIFd_hN9OapkitBBovLH3p9nsXAptOw8svKJk3tXpYWhCdlo18OE3daOUF_hTtB5Zk-u1lrAm8GU3X2eDiNFIPilb4-rFejxsWpl5geNg2hnNbkTC__ByTEad_ukyJ/s320/DSC_0574.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;">The dining facility. It was clean, but sparce. The kids sit at tables according to their age/class.</span></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbOIWMO_ZxBBlh6YqmMdr2ZgIsUxvcn8lU5rR7MWDsSN9Sqzk1njB43NQZvIR-BZre5upTc1FwmODdpJ5ruokPsm8BE2U7oWheNHgNbETupURGdgQa1sv7mIcVT0YahMdNE_scR0tc1E5c/s1600/DSC_0576.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbOIWMO_ZxBBlh6YqmMdr2ZgIsUxvcn8lU5rR7MWDsSN9Sqzk1njB43NQZvIR-BZre5upTc1FwmODdpJ5ruokPsm8BE2U7oWheNHgNbETupURGdgQa1sv7mIcVT0YahMdNE_scR0tc1E5c/s320/DSC_0576.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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</span></span>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqMn_skEX2BBK7TxsDGChJnBTxdw7ha41VvaMfs-QXWjyN_gm4ATVsIeAmyHNCZtPeoV06Xdn0HAJyt_VvcNZJb7WVU7fCCb1n3w9YoMskQVZqNFuH5a3wctfeT4R8DzcCdRUVGaSd0i8N/s1600/DSC_0510.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqMn_skEX2BBK7TxsDGChJnBTxdw7ha41VvaMfs-QXWjyN_gm4ATVsIeAmyHNCZtPeoV06Xdn0HAJyt_VvcNZJb7WVU7fCCb1n3w9YoMskQVZqNFuH5a3wctfeT4R8DzcCdRUVGaSd0i8N/s320/DSC_0510.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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!</span></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXPF3Icx8vvoKFjF_nfELYkfd07g7-GSoEt3YTOnF_x5CKmoWA64LKVuWw8JxOEH86YU9Wmz-79bk1oAIAGBr7X2qjcjIUqavPdIzcIE5vRjBMWjfxog5xPKJrLUOo8l7CPev_8h7IRMJ9/s1600/DSC_0600.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXPF3Icx8vvoKFjF_nfELYkfd07g7-GSoEt3YTOnF_x5CKmoWA64LKVuWw8JxOEH86YU9Wmz-79bk1oAIAGBr7X2qjcjIUqavPdIzcIE5vRjBMWjfxog5xPKJrLUOo8l7CPev_8h7IRMJ9/s320/DSC_0600.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3PCFlAzjSqGoDYD7uYdMy52CmRxqvEqVU3sb48gDVCaLMHhudi9XlfEZji-CVKHCoKJW9yIzKgEvgauTMgvGnd0TYD22IooGmK89UslUgJ1hyphenhyphenpoEqI6UUtS5IgCtaHoik0Spx0E66VOSl/s1600/DSC_0596.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3PCFlAzjSqGoDYD7uYdMy52CmRxqvEqVU3sb48gDVCaLMHhudi9XlfEZji-CVKHCoKJW9yIzKgEvgauTMgvGnd0TYD22IooGmK89UslUgJ1hyphenhyphenpoEqI6UUtS5IgCtaHoik0Spx0E66VOSl/s320/DSC_0596.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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!</span></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgW398yc0xEYK4bFMlA_OF3SKmoHDg5FJIjgq2l2jj_gw6jj__kfPtzEhC5K1jvwbkkmXul1Bd6z_nHnX7iYRY1U7nHX6N_R15AIl2Q3FAtWkcumn9iNR4CMo0o0kKoF1SJoWbwLMGY8Zy/s1600/DSC_0597.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgW398yc0xEYK4bFMlA_OF3SKmoHDg5FJIjgq2l2jj_gw6jj__kfPtzEhC5K1jvwbkkmXul1Bd6z_nHnX7iYRY1U7nHX6N_R15AIl2Q3FAtWkcumn9iNR4CMo0o0kKoF1SJoWbwLMGY8Zy/s320/DSC_0597.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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.</span></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB36TblTqrgJwG0yUdIbj0BoQFw36w6MwBojZ-gRcBIJfRAtqE4NFlmSkrad7EtFkEluaURWS12Kjxk3JkeLTxm5ENneQ4rBonenDh8tbYN83ASI288iHD3DG_cnyhXSEkCzTfp7q4iv4P/s1600/DSC_0602.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB36TblTqrgJwG0yUdIbj0BoQFw36w6MwBojZ-gRcBIJfRAtqE4NFlmSkrad7EtFkEluaURWS12Kjxk3JkeLTxm5ENneQ4rBonenDh8tbYN83ASI288iHD3DG_cnyhXSEkCzTfp7q4iv4P/s320/DSC_0602.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7 girls in one room and one small desk for all</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJV1jRcALStcv9O0T4ihp0JSvOxlE4ZRo3yv4weM8fkIzsatQr29JwExtP39yErWXljIudhVSFRRgoX0irX6j-89PGSprXkPdAcpSjDKbg60maBlLOPlGMFywpNphK3ccKPaQndNy1CalE/s1600/DSC_0615.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJV1jRcALStcv9O0T4ihp0JSvOxlE4ZRo3yv4weM8fkIzsatQr29JwExtP39yErWXljIudhVSFRRgoX0irX6j-89PGSprXkPdAcpSjDKbg60maBlLOPlGMFywpNphK3ccKPaQndNy1CalE/s320/DSC_0615.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="214" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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 :)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy40Cu2VvQscGH9qSJLe0w4aM-czIK3PPT6oQ3VvMRoN8gFMNvnkyMCI35ZXHDy_wg_Yass4MGfuRxV-rAylBzKbJmeW08DkQVMx_isF0nnoJNKPKpfInQIOlhtVSOv2FnyWNH520tPJkr/s1600/DSC_0584.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy40Cu2VvQscGH9qSJLe0w4aM-czIK3PPT6oQ3VvMRoN8gFMNvnkyMCI35ZXHDy_wg_Yass4MGfuRxV-rAylBzKbJmeW08DkQVMx_isF0nnoJNKPKpfInQIOlhtVSOv2FnyWNH520tPJkr/s320/DSC_0584.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="272" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8bHLythCDws5ISOe_7YkIMwPnaWZjnP_Vo6M4PJcYKJFTlljBzyTOHl95SJ-JondeVEK9OlLKUuIojKFbDBOpt6IE-b_I9NjPNMuVwVL2p766lLeEe9A4RNagxEuG0h0ZKLvl9qUHYOJo/s1600/DSC_0595.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8bHLythCDws5ISOe_7YkIMwPnaWZjnP_Vo6M4PJcYKJFTlljBzyTOHl95SJ-JondeVEK9OlLKUuIojKFbDBOpt6IE-b_I9NjPNMuVwVL2p766lLeEe9A4RNagxEuG0h0ZKLvl9qUHYOJo/s320/DSC_0595.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="214" /></a></div><div><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">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. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;">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.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd-ugbsh9Ii590CwLH2hehvPVGRiiAmG00kGADEBMmpm8YUQs5t-QwWisUHT5yGMMlUSjix2xZyb-1XQOPJ9fQkkKMwmGhjpudU_PGvBVD4wXmpwCgcXcn8jvcxypTBlvUL7O1azB0XA6L/s1600/DSC_0626.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd-ugbsh9Ii590CwLH2hehvPVGRiiAmG00kGADEBMmpm8YUQs5t-QwWisUHT5yGMMlUSjix2xZyb-1XQOPJ9fQkkKMwmGhjpudU_PGvBVD4wXmpwCgcXcn8jvcxypTBlvUL7O1azB0XA6L/s320/DSC_0626.JPG" width="214" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">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!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-36627234716429542372010-10-24T14:13:00.000-07:002010-11-01T01:30:05.085-07:00A Sunday of Business and Barbeques!<div style="text-align: left;">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! </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;">The choir</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLRgQ_B3yGV7kqOYucb9YHTuEA7SuOK2Si3yNoNdk8s17wWNrNLtKMcTSaAK_6O4EtopKsxSfkbajEX-shgw2VWU1w1EZZ0J6w12WQKuEl95IAzDOeSnp4Fmvs13bx6CQqlpLFwOOt_Qeu/s1600/DSC05702.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLRgQ_B3yGV7kqOYucb9YHTuEA7SuOK2Si3yNoNdk8s17wWNrNLtKMcTSaAK_6O4EtopKsxSfkbajEX-shgw2VWU1w1EZZ0J6w12WQKuEl95IAzDOeSnp4Fmvs13bx6CQqlpLFwOOt_Qeu/s320/DSC05702.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anya hitting every note beautifully! </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3X1Atdu2IxnNJHxZ9pNAQ_RcDHRuCC6fG9n7oL5-cG74OOfVC1S2PyNki6Xttl-Pjr8OoVDccDaHp9GjO3WCemmIs3U5kIi7eP8xUxS7Bc__Pv2eXGKRdr0wAkimo3KM5XtBsMLWCXR0k/s1600/DSC05709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3X1Atdu2IxnNJHxZ9pNAQ_RcDHRuCC6fG9n7oL5-cG74OOfVC1S2PyNki6Xttl-Pjr8OoVDccDaHp9GjO3WCemmIs3U5kIi7eP8xUxS7Bc__Pv2eXGKRdr0wAkimo3KM5XtBsMLWCXR0k/s320/DSC05709.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">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! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Cook and his son, hard at work!</span></span> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNDgbW2yZeFSjctqP90m5sUc0Az9vNMY6QXx-CPX6C3dhXeHFwbtETqDYbJ1fxXOQjybH0G_vKgXO9Pakyjao3nEQmoTu4wb8ea3xdmYyozDklo_FtRdVc26AfKVh8esgOjNeUh2F4iL5f/s1600/DSC05713.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNDgbW2yZeFSjctqP90m5sUc0Az9vNMY6QXx-CPX6C3dhXeHFwbtETqDYbJ1fxXOQjybH0G_vKgXO9Pakyjao3nEQmoTu4wb8ea3xdmYyozDklo_FtRdVc26AfKVh8esgOjNeUh2F4iL5f/s320/DSC05713.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got to try Kvac, an inexplicable drink that you will just have to try for yourself. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's Matt and Sergei enjoying the Kvas.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Mq8rvHqDUk4EUIDeAP0QmrGIVFW84dRsDi-ndni7Dcs658N18NWNTWXYEeDOgpgpNfU5Wko9ZmM7Zkgbe-xngqld3cJy5LTFtCRJaMWuTrj3FCXsP4834lT161j8wiwDYVa1ths2GdUK/s1600/DSC05724.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Mq8rvHqDUk4EUIDeAP0QmrGIVFW84dRsDi-ndni7Dcs658N18NWNTWXYEeDOgpgpNfU5Wko9ZmM7Zkgbe-xngqld3cJy5LTFtCRJaMWuTrj3FCXsP4834lT161j8wiwDYVa1ths2GdUK/s320/DSC05724.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="180" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The girls helping Alla prepare the feast and milling about waiting for the feast</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha3uz-Y82y3-e1c_Q2-t2yFhFjgPEobyBN3o6xCAa0zloObRHgz8WqPxfszX-RGebij_3PjnW3jeuvk9umRecjxJhBocsjCPyPGXE9HHYVYc_Td19ZOohUr5aK9pRQavmeVkqB07d0_JLP/s1600/DSC05728.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha3uz-Y82y3-e1c_Q2-t2yFhFjgPEobyBN3o6xCAa0zloObRHgz8WqPxfszX-RGebij_3PjnW3jeuvk9umRecjxJhBocsjCPyPGXE9HHYVYc_Td19ZOohUr5aK9pRQavmeVkqB07d0_JLP/s320/DSC05728.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="180" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">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.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Luba tickling the ivories. She would like to become a musician. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She practices often and plays beautifully.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj26e4YTLgtFCiN0OJ1RBop2fha_WhSlXvZ-ekhezx-8QZBFY8_nzVbgcwchAxkK6-8sDplET65we5vF2CiXLWOiUPZM931_7qJIHMt6mJMBRMOlJl2iy_JUXwtU5Rc-ope0F00A1X9nEV4/s1600/DSC05711.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj26e4YTLgtFCiN0OJ1RBop2fha_WhSlXvZ-ekhezx-8QZBFY8_nzVbgcwchAxkK6-8sDplET65we5vF2CiXLWOiUPZM931_7qJIHMt6mJMBRMOlJl2iy_JUXwtU5Rc-ope0F00A1X9nEV4/s320/DSC05711.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="180" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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) :)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7XHjknYhpGyY9w1rzGnHK-f1CNPYqScod3DySVsWsWGZYz4SOOummajhslFpj4RFM4tELNLXLi8qWGVfNDEPNnpJb0Q56TuAXsW4Zbd9JnjCqTw9wFsCkxnctCs-7kYD2LEP7KGI6QAr3/s1600/DSC05712.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7XHjknYhpGyY9w1rzGnHK-f1CNPYqScod3DySVsWsWGZYz4SOOummajhslFpj4RFM4tELNLXLi8qWGVfNDEPNnpJb0Q56TuAXsW4Zbd9JnjCqTw9wFsCkxnctCs-7kYD2LEP7KGI6QAr3/s320/DSC05712.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="180" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">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. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">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!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-18328191020244135352010-10-23T14:05:00.000-07:002010-11-01T01:29:08.573-07:00Street Kids and Odessa<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyGvwAx85eUxp4LR91_gR7f9T0kn0-R5EQ47S9zKvP2kvvfrSziMelW5tANwypXr4RUirrmKsE6E6p3Vh-vL85TBExIAUSEYTGGNUUDxvDvKarATyJpyMVmNHtgg9gCF981ZNq_LdwnxU8/s1600/DSC_0352.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyGvwAx85eUxp4LR91_gR7f9T0kn0-R5EQ47S9zKvP2kvvfrSziMelW5tANwypXr4RUirrmKsE6E6p3Vh-vL85TBExIAUSEYTGGNUUDxvDvKarATyJpyMVmNHtgg9gCF981ZNq_LdwnxU8/s400/DSC_0352.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">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 :)</div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">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.</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Searching for the kids</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8yJgbubnoTIMQDxO5Htw9b3aodxixKrna29i8G3btVrunOsvgnqRJ281ob7ccTqrn-sg9ZFadsbYLQf_l45XjPrJgGtrFuK1A28CjBji5P3S0YMRNAsMDATksf0luMOS1shhMYGHbMwcg/s1600/DSC_0219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8yJgbubnoTIMQDxO5Htw9b3aodxixKrna29i8G3btVrunOsvgnqRJ281ob7ccTqrn-sg9ZFadsbYLQf_l45XjPrJgGtrFuK1A28CjBji5P3S0YMRNAsMDATksf0luMOS1shhMYGHbMwcg/s320/DSC_0219.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kostya asking a professional beggar, a Roma women, if she has seen any street kids recently. She hadn't.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoHq2ezY6OY0BaCP4NBk1NCoxYZmTmgoAibXRC3oirycc9bofptHKU8Up4guoz1faJoOOEZMYh0EUxCowa9V3A-zGuxJlco_nAhBIagBNF8rgSM6I-M5HtGybwxZ40xbg1NssMo7Sr0UgQ/s1600/DSC_0220.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoHq2ezY6OY0BaCP4NBk1NCoxYZmTmgoAibXRC3oirycc9bofptHKU8Up4guoz1faJoOOEZMYh0EUxCowa9V3A-zGuxJlco_nAhBIagBNF8rgSM6I-M5HtGybwxZ40xbg1NssMo7Sr0UgQ/s320/DSC_0220.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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! :)</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfSOQv9134TRqvi9XOYuHrJVoR26I2YehznOudS4FdPlze2UMadc28r25jX3SpO551f0InuWDbcLSzxlg_sil7aFCABm2TMW5e-BkkLmmc-Jr1TmUY6fCXua0MFs_lU2RKilwEKuaF7ERa/s1600/DSC_0225.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfSOQv9134TRqvi9XOYuHrJVoR26I2YehznOudS4FdPlze2UMadc28r25jX3SpO551f0InuWDbcLSzxlg_sil7aFCABm2TMW5e-BkkLmmc-Jr1TmUY6fCXua0MFs_lU2RKilwEKuaF7ERa/s320/DSC_0225.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitJya7wsiVoa02VJ7SPIocGwZqJsno2CNRI8AVJ67HIoDql-fTgOBrg4tagYmOIAujJ2CEl1u4GA5MIZMp6uqOapOPR6d0STXAYXePYeGyGKGuhRr9hyT9ak0ALBapSW3y4u2gRo8ZeyHZ/s1600/DSC_0235.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitJya7wsiVoa02VJ7SPIocGwZqJsno2CNRI8AVJ67HIoDql-fTgOBrg4tagYmOIAujJ2CEl1u4GA5MIZMp6uqOapOPR6d0STXAYXePYeGyGKGuhRr9hyT9ak0ALBapSW3y4u2gRo8ZeyHZ/s320/DSC_0235.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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</span></span>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4e5Gqp3Wh20L46nNAmu9kIz-5ATer-KEcPxcbfQc0FSj_Blt812x2EWo8fWQnUDLozkQgVGzLgOPhkJpQfRl7E3YDATuxo01KCEW5taX3vSI2a5kDbi86-xC2u7WUxQ9bIZGwaVvE9EOg/s1600/DSC_0213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4e5Gqp3Wh20L46nNAmu9kIz-5ATer-KEcPxcbfQc0FSj_Blt812x2EWo8fWQnUDLozkQgVGzLgOPhkJpQfRl7E3YDATuxo01KCEW5taX3vSI2a5kDbi86-xC2u7WUxQ9bIZGwaVvE9EOg/s320/DSC_0213.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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</span></span>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAcdI2QybJ5OiJko0u1FnWS4k1eUI00Vl6iuJ7sWbKOp6v632DuM24HzEekzWX0nFe4gyYDgpa_W5XpTEfgXQvMJFckdtPoC1qwnRd59NNc7OAqLb3QtXTtQZMyqOf03fLxlb2YYozPeI0/s1600/DSC_0258.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAcdI2QybJ5OiJko0u1FnWS4k1eUI00Vl6iuJ7sWbKOp6v632DuM24HzEekzWX0nFe4gyYDgpa_W5XpTEfgXQvMJFckdtPoC1qwnRd59NNc7OAqLb3QtXTtQZMyqOf03fLxlb2YYozPeI0/s320/DSC_0258.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhON9mGJSR3DNLY9dgxnmoD2m-Xoii0zS2W6FJa_C9BbmfPdk4oKHWT5uPp5uiibQDC9ObEJ7v9K-f5W8aq4wJBtVlmrObervlhkOrnqMGn9pN7RSgZiJBx2S9xSlxXp4UxBqaHnpym7mmL/s1600/DSC_0260.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhON9mGJSR3DNLY9dgxnmoD2m-Xoii0zS2W6FJa_C9BbmfPdk4oKHWT5uPp5uiibQDC9ObEJ7v9K-f5W8aq4wJBtVlmrObervlhkOrnqMGn9pN7RSgZiJBx2S9xSlxXp4UxBqaHnpym7mmL/s320/DSC_0260.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEIrHrf5Tq18rnwjK8GXhlmJS8golHbESs9fXnw6ZkCmxnqoIMXnUKCSks5QA55VkyJ8Aj2-8pCp8pJVMXwpaGE83hAarL0W-oFCtGHoSsnlTSxi1g8HRYsKvmD4kcWpNz2WU7S6tR3zGj/s1600/DSC_0261.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEIrHrf5Tq18rnwjK8GXhlmJS8golHbESs9fXnw6ZkCmxnqoIMXnUKCSks5QA55VkyJ8Aj2-8pCp8pJVMXwpaGE83hAarL0W-oFCtGHoSsnlTSxi1g8HRYsKvmD4kcWpNz2WU7S6tR3zGj/s320/DSC_0261.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;">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.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtMIqykxwnKf6txy9TKiUey11pM0GfqyxET7mglBOE511JfRloWyVbOQwqE5fPd1uNqDdUmEy37QbB-xqSjbp4XI_Gy3zmrw79uktRT0fV-xRhrp6Uv3yaP79ilVA3-oGy4_akwE4sEqR-/s1600/DSC_0263.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtMIqykxwnKf6txy9TKiUey11pM0GfqyxET7mglBOE511JfRloWyVbOQwqE5fPd1uNqDdUmEy37QbB-xqSjbp4XI_Gy3zmrw79uktRT0fV-xRhrp6Uv3yaP79ilVA3-oGy4_akwE4sEqR-/s320/DSC_0263.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Szh_faxeTHlbulhFPrG_FCgNHXkWQBcgZO2AX-MeS4dztyCQFaAZJgB6DT3cLDo0bJeiaHaTM33K7QJkH15ujzd1MGa5JV9H5lHFIiPvSlrRzd-RQov6eKuoA0QD4ERKAqpO_4i0nAY6/s1600/DSC_0272.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Szh_faxeTHlbulhFPrG_FCgNHXkWQBcgZO2AX-MeS4dztyCQFaAZJgB6DT3cLDo0bJeiaHaTM33K7QJkH15ujzd1MGa5JV9H5lHFIiPvSlrRzd-RQov6eKuoA0QD4ERKAqpO_4i0nAY6/s320/DSC_0272.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We did find three kids sleeping on the street. However, even they hadn't seen other street kids in a while<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRZZlTjd6QcW_R4To2B3DR6gGtIekManbr9ZqaZJOxo2P0i4cOPzHMpDG8tx2BZzJQPx08Wh5XLqbGSXQXm3M-tja6IfVoeH7oOHCr4ye-b0HOj0t3Mdf2YQ8ZlRqrklB_PR-Pjz1IhSW/s1600/DSC_0282.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRZZlTjd6QcW_R4To2B3DR6gGtIekManbr9ZqaZJOxo2P0i4cOPzHMpDG8tx2BZzJQPx08Wh5XLqbGSXQXm3M-tja6IfVoeH7oOHCr4ye-b0HOj0t3Mdf2YQ8ZlRqrklB_PR-Pjz1IhSW/s320/DSC_0282.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">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.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDRtS4bqqLrFyNczEl8RxDX1PV_W_Jz0_osq2-XIrFGXJdSrZZcARimCd9PNmsgDbZhfTLOSZyoksL-4kQSz1c6EYAc-GNJrAhAMJ4QaQ8jrwpxu23T6Bh7wW-6fgerzNeJkw6b2v2QE82/s1600/66926_444663666215_655456215_5980062_3738633_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDRtS4bqqLrFyNczEl8RxDX1PV_W_Jz0_osq2-XIrFGXJdSrZZcARimCd9PNmsgDbZhfTLOSZyoksL-4kQSz1c6EYAc-GNJrAhAMJ4QaQ8jrwpxu23T6Bh7wW-6fgerzNeJkw6b2v2QE82/s320/66926_444663666215_655456215_5980062_3738633_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the boys who comes to First Step Centre</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUB0oVQxjtHGYo5CYZH_OTAF0gB85mGYoppOJZwEjIgDNJoeS1pGQeFbrADuZW1mfQY0oCyssvvKLHZCrRLMkjX_CdtOuRXnIp9I2Z9lAQ2FM7iF7z5uIQn0yYq7O_lsful_4-j1hnAUA-/s1600/71934_444663731215_655456215_5980065_2522153_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUB0oVQxjtHGYo5CYZH_OTAF0gB85mGYoppOJZwEjIgDNJoeS1pGQeFbrADuZW1mfQY0oCyssvvKLHZCrRLMkjX_CdtOuRXnIp9I2Z9lAQ2FM7iF7z5uIQn0yYq7O_lsful_4-j1hnAUA-/s320/71934_444663731215_655456215_5980065_2522153_n.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tatiyana, the director of First Step Centre, chatting with a boy who lives on the street</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf9es4_lXNWkg5xEfMvQ6Cv-9wO3buz9rxXbRbSGmdeoskFtuEvrv7_FQvmrGva_Qzmu1h91GiVBbnbW56pxHDLh4KcAHRswkpZ2yyB_lnQESqkVYPXEI0tGcaIOnbLup_9TUAvAJxWMoe/s1600/5102543133_718c054f56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf9es4_lXNWkg5xEfMvQ6Cv-9wO3buz9rxXbRbSGmdeoskFtuEvrv7_FQvmrGva_Qzmu1h91GiVBbnbW56pxHDLh4KcAHRswkpZ2yyB_lnQESqkVYPXEI0tGcaIOnbLup_9TUAvAJxWMoe/s320/5102543133_718c054f56.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOwsfkaeDDccdONDnPXCS0FUtnrmkWZXSsTFY5_TZkkpvS3yGnlhgnEiRDCGGtOqgIVWQpMjgUfX2ytAA-wDOyiCHe2F2gDM0UpFXg4SLtaZ7umJaSN_kfuHYeSssNicT4kikqgmT3jpXL/s1600/73497_444664091215_655456215_5980077_7676934_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOwsfkaeDDccdONDnPXCS0FUtnrmkWZXSsTFY5_TZkkpvS3yGnlhgnEiRDCGGtOqgIVWQpMjgUfX2ytAA-wDOyiCHe2F2gDM0UpFXg4SLtaZ7umJaSN_kfuHYeSssNicT4kikqgmT3jpXL/s320/73497_444664091215_655456215_5980077_7676934_n.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcQ-O6exHvpzZ6mnl60EqrmWzkjUFmTKY2JVNAr9WChvW1d5pWcrJWgP_qG1pQy6k5tyQ7XklJ1GrZFCo4eNTCF-FJStsDZ9r1E5tO3s5ze1crR0WC4sGN9Yxx4TIjQl_OyG7XnPqvy_4O/s1600/DSC_0371.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcQ-O6exHvpzZ6mnl60EqrmWzkjUFmTKY2JVNAr9WChvW1d5pWcrJWgP_qG1pQy6k5tyQ7XklJ1GrZFCo4eNTCF-FJStsDZ9r1E5tO3s5ze1crR0WC4sGN9Yxx4TIjQl_OyG7XnPqvy_4O/s400/DSC_0371.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQK-58Ci1lH26_z6Ic9t6i-yyl6BpLq550k5dusdWXT1zIlDhXKHE7WNO7TZe5Py5gAwTVZAI7LX4y84yTUxZCb50gFPXHI2RyQ4IlmoiEKOXWfTanT1i56GYEdh4jq8tfLx_V-75-akYV/s1600/DSC_0212.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQK-58Ci1lH26_z6Ic9t6i-yyl6BpLq550k5dusdWXT1zIlDhXKHE7WNO7TZe5Py5gAwTVZAI7LX4y84yTUxZCb50gFPXHI2RyQ4IlmoiEKOXWfTanT1i56GYEdh4jq8tfLx_V-75-akYV/s400/DSC_0212.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">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.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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 :)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdwm38iVjkvvxtHvIge4k2dRhQxg2Kls8reN87kneAaDjkkDmCDaqzhrsFMcvQMQS4LIbN3bGBNDuKEUMW0YiJTT2RyQZIW2T_vAFHc5ac-F2zgkohn9eemFU0S55hkjSiXp8M0b8KpP_5/s1600/DSC_0303.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdwm38iVjkvvxtHvIge4k2dRhQxg2Kls8reN87kneAaDjkkDmCDaqzhrsFMcvQMQS4LIbN3bGBNDuKEUMW0YiJTT2RyQZIW2T_vAFHc5ac-F2zgkohn9eemFU0S55hkjSiXp8M0b8KpP_5/s320/DSC_0303.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHAhpHzDwIlXYCmGKR_9vM2IzIAevD2ozqJneVvBBSljlYSXNCQhgQCUvC48E6rKBr9_DWePg6O2f5K0GNqeSTWn7rqV-NE0bH-i47h1Q9u6Bqz_Wn6gs1UGK6IA3XHyR9OcFibAalhgwY/s1600/DSC_0307.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHAhpHzDwIlXYCmGKR_9vM2IzIAevD2ozqJneVvBBSljlYSXNCQhgQCUvC48E6rKBr9_DWePg6O2f5K0GNqeSTWn7rqV-NE0bH-i47h1Q9u6Bqz_Wn6gs1UGK6IA3XHyR9OcFibAalhgwY/s320/DSC_0307.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY95XcluOoZ6iaaVY6dCdBCoGCtmu_wGAY4ymoLMpPveadnc5agK-R7qfCwJJ1DFEQkcloI2yV_X5wDUipFCeab291eUNNFTZlBBKBKstyA1LzI68oLax501NnPRBZlZf4e_-mERD76q5q/s1600/DSC_0310.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY95XcluOoZ6iaaVY6dCdBCoGCtmu_wGAY4ymoLMpPveadnc5agK-R7qfCwJJ1DFEQkcloI2yV_X5wDUipFCeab291eUNNFTZlBBKBKstyA1LzI68oLax501NnPRBZlZf4e_-mERD76q5q/s320/DSC_0310.JPG" width="214" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;">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.</span></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJEvmDLm1QE_6CMa4tx3KJJXydRYCdswwK1473KCjKn7-lDq46cWl88UZUTPC7cvmIoUwzh-OfOF3nPwqoTg2PD-y3UsOb_tNMIKotc-dCqnPLHl43-GOrDH6c7t9gGio5WprSap0cWcWz/s1600/DSC_0334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJEvmDLm1QE_6CMa4tx3KJJXydRYCdswwK1473KCjKn7-lDq46cWl88UZUTPC7cvmIoUwzh-OfOF3nPwqoTg2PD-y3UsOb_tNMIKotc-dCqnPLHl43-GOrDH6c7t9gGio5WprSap0cWcWz/s320/DSC_0334.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGZFnUvIdfY11RUA-oQTLSorrfZxbozgEZGQCBZwmxLAaAncsUQSr204kzhY0oS0kA2MmIo71c0FlvJ-wUhM2BOikmdP33gqm7Ixdso0Kj_DSA641bmIAKyV8PaZXTpZg-Qum4FsPsYbZO/s1600/DSC_0340.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGZFnUvIdfY11RUA-oQTLSorrfZxbozgEZGQCBZwmxLAaAncsUQSr204kzhY0oS0kA2MmIo71c0FlvJ-wUhM2BOikmdP33gqm7Ixdso0Kj_DSA641bmIAKyV8PaZXTpZg-Qum4FsPsYbZO/s320/DSC_0340.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;">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 :)</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhllF1_AvE4FhBubiKAMkULSviVg9u2aGmBKgjfAYyzK-LTt4M4ZkDRVe8a2n0X3xuZq0lxRTmOSktolmUwNxyIS9C_uRH4rUNdQ7B68nMoTmhT647Y1Qe_QizGVsd-3LzMaGlXDG7sC5Oj/s1600/DSC_0374.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhllF1_AvE4FhBubiKAMkULSviVg9u2aGmBKgjfAYyzK-LTt4M4ZkDRVe8a2n0X3xuZq0lxRTmOSktolmUwNxyIS9C_uRH4rUNdQ7B68nMoTmhT647Y1Qe_QizGVsd-3LzMaGlXDG7sC5Oj/s400/DSC_0374.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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 :)</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggUEJAvqM_V-K99rqtb7hyphenhyphenQurLNOVsioUY-kL2tGNBj8M5fY-JjA5j0LjNQHKsRRygSFSR_NGTy-wucEVR8LKXur9iqsAZISqqtIca4wZKwYeiDsy4_Mb175L45vXfzXCJhAWS4mXYm-lA/s1600/DSC_0443.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggUEJAvqM_V-K99rqtb7hyphenhyphenQurLNOVsioUY-kL2tGNBj8M5fY-JjA5j0LjNQHKsRRygSFSR_NGTy-wucEVR8LKXur9iqsAZISqqtIca4wZKwYeiDsy4_Mb175L45vXfzXCJhAWS4mXYm-lA/s400/DSC_0443.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"> 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.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">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.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_9quDij46rjVWawcqc7jeDcVB7P1vLp2woaYeORn0jOVe-uzZhaxNg6q72lHrhL3tZt6MbsuUSHKswe-HmQtjgpFHDwY8PRY85wG7nD6QHYgIltpQgeyRPguG0_sxZrE-i_C8G8bo-JjJ/s1600/DSC_0444.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_9quDij46rjVWawcqc7jeDcVB7P1vLp2woaYeORn0jOVe-uzZhaxNg6q72lHrhL3tZt6MbsuUSHKswe-HmQtjgpFHDwY8PRY85wG7nD6QHYgIltpQgeyRPguG0_sxZrE-i_C8G8bo-JjJ/s400/DSC_0444.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-59777285945174100682010-10-21T12:55:00.000-07:002010-11-01T01:30:05.085-07:00Child Care and Street Kids<div style="text-align: left;">Today we had our first full day of shooting footage for the LifeStart Odessa Project! First, we headed off to hear Sergei, the Executive Director of World Hope Ukraine, speak at a seminar to encourage people who work in child care. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;">Sergei telling a joke during his speech at the seminar</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcFGCAtkQkkXjmK-834etgjZgxEdhIuRL34z8p6T2xqg4OnAP-mS6C0Q6zZrr1NTHtUMn8r7ENeAZTg_nhzxoEif51GvHiAoTciS6BRbcXxYxgTAecTcL3mZv5JyrWzBM8o4yjw7AVsQiK/s1600/DSC_0139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcFGCAtkQkkXjmK-834etgjZgxEdhIuRL34z8p6T2xqg4OnAP-mS6C0Q6zZrr1NTHtUMn8r7ENeAZTg_nhzxoEif51GvHiAoTciS6BRbcXxYxgTAecTcL3mZv5JyrWzBM8o4yjw7AVsQiK/s320/DSC_0139.JPG" width="214" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Proof that our videographers are working hard</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-C45LDgKlYoYXILRs7bLh-19SQ3U9wSsGOxPcMIZY1CBg2qOiaQr2qKg9CscPOcXuiH6i2bW3EZ0zOIWfcndz1oRZAiZ1pjYJ0N62F6ZGm6-8Q_xNrviROblTUcAFfMRMSaw5dyknq7ty/s1600/DSC_0120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-C45LDgKlYoYXILRs7bLh-19SQ3U9wSsGOxPcMIZY1CBg2qOiaQr2qKg9CscPOcXuiH6i2bW3EZ0zOIWfcndz1oRZAiZ1pjYJ0N62F6ZGm6-8Q_xNrviROblTUcAFfMRMSaw5dyknq7ty/s320/DSC_0120.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEccWq0bF2uPdNGVoN_HChPLQ7dYset56C_bjo70J3LY3mWHGhgfwVmZdh1NXkvH4twiXBdtbH7dMt3Vv7tWi1An00PHneH6icy3bW_E5aKkNwl-Ohwu6YRaHErpl8iDFt4i1URNex5O1V/s1600/DSC_0121.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEccWq0bF2uPdNGVoN_HChPLQ7dYset56C_bjo70J3LY3mWHGhgfwVmZdh1NXkvH4twiXBdtbH7dMt3Vv7tWi1An00PHneH6icy3bW_E5aKkNwl-Ohwu6YRaHErpl8iDFt4i1URNex5O1V/s1600/DSC_0121.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEccWq0bF2uPdNGVoN_HChPLQ7dYset56C_bjo70J3LY3mWHGhgfwVmZdh1NXkvH4twiXBdtbH7dMt3Vv7tWi1An00PHneH6icy3bW_E5aKkNwl-Ohwu6YRaHErpl8iDFt4i1URNex5O1V/s320/DSC_0121.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">From the seminar, we headed to the First Step Centre (Клуб Первыи Шаг), a drop in centre for street kids. Municipal elections are under way at the moment here in Odessa, so the police have very recently "cleaned" the streets of street kids. That is, the police had combed the city, picking up as many street kids as they could, and brought them to a temporary shelter (Приют). As a result, there were not many kids hanging about the shelter. Nonetheless, we were able to meet and speak with a few kids. I hung out at the shelter, whilst Matt and Adam had the opportunity to see an apartment where two boys live with their alcoholic mother, as well as where kids sleep on the street. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Some of the stories are quite brutal to hear. One boy I had a conversation with a boy (in my very broken Russian and his very slurred speech) who was quite obviously high. I asked one of the women at the shelter what he might be high on. She said it was most likely glue that he was sniffing, but he was a drug addict and would take whatever drugs he could get. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is the cook of First Step Centre. We had lunch at the centre, which was delicious! No wonder these kids stop in! </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Skc2WSz_jCKnFGSCtVFzn8QtYEWYKp9q0ij_uB6N8KVDvrjFFv-I7M7GwIHIJ_ZF6rt1jaik-hwWLowksj4P5YFhKUhnvffra7Nf74WXMWyMgC_LyMKaRdBuByNfKrSKQqHKT3chHzPU/s1600/DSC_0159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Skc2WSz_jCKnFGSCtVFzn8QtYEWYKp9q0ij_uB6N8KVDvrjFFv-I7M7GwIHIJ_ZF6rt1jaik-hwWLowksj4P5YFhKUhnvffra7Nf74WXMWyMgC_LyMKaRdBuByNfKrSKQqHKT3chHzPU/s320/DSC_0159.JPG" width="214" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">We also met a boy, Andre, who, through the shelter, turned his life around. We were able to interview him and hear his story. He was very open about talking, though also quite shy. He was living on the streets and was a drug addict. He would steal to feed his drug habit, but also to provide for himself. Somehow, he came to First Step Centre. For a time, he just came for what provisions they offered: a shower, food, clean clothes. But, after a time and through the relationships he made there, Andre decided to clean up and smarten up. He is now going through technical school, off drugs, receiving a government stipend, and living in the students dorm. He comes back to First Step Centre to maintain the relationships he made there and to constantly say thank you to them for helping him. I asked him what he wanted for the future. His answer was quite simple: he wanted a normal and good life. I think this is an achievable goal! :) </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;">Two girls who come to First Step Centre with Kostya, who works at the shelter and is also our LifeStart Project Coordinator.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihRJPUsr0gPT-rcv-Zye5JIrXdvQoAhRqe2RALUGbd7_m_cH2Cz7w4v10i-5yrlvuZK8NBJTdjksHuu-kbt1YeuKtyt7Jio8LYMxxuFGRoVGpzEEFWQ4ZFUYiWtnKRIAuHpTNQf3QLMNVy/s1600/DSC_0171.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihRJPUsr0gPT-rcv-Zye5JIrXdvQoAhRqe2RALUGbd7_m_cH2Cz7w4v10i-5yrlvuZK8NBJTdjksHuu-kbt1YeuKtyt7Jio8LYMxxuFGRoVGpzEEFWQ4ZFUYiWtnKRIAuHpTNQf3QLMNVy/s320/DSC_0171.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We will be returning to First Step Centre tomorrow to interview the staff and hopefully a number of the kids. The more we learn about the needs of these kids, the better. Meeting and chatting with these kids of the street stood in start contrast to chatting with the energy and openness of the girls in Hope House, a few of whom had lived on the streets and most of whom have only lived in Hope House since June. The kids in the shelter were distant, reserved, and they laughed and played very little. We were also told by one of the workers at First Step Centre that these kids will give false names and they may only learn their real names after months, if ever. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few kids who stopped in and grabbed a bit at First Step Centre</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeOvVmebkfeBipPSsjIABJiWhMit9GU0VNfDNwUnaBl0Wgd1ATnRW_lUR1Cp3OYq7zQ4bkYIoOFtR-cJMAXQLij9qqnCi5dJXCv22EedxsXCJzABQBPQrBmrKC6yjsj1wKDk6JiGMw9WpD/s1600/DSC_0178.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeOvVmebkfeBipPSsjIABJiWhMit9GU0VNfDNwUnaBl0Wgd1ATnRW_lUR1Cp3OYq7zQ4bkYIoOFtR-cJMAXQLij9qqnCi5dJXCv22EedxsXCJzABQBPQrBmrKC6yjsj1wKDk6JiGMw9WpD/s320/DSC_0178.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Yesterday, we also received some wonderful news here at Hope House. There is a girl in the community here, Kristina, (a friend of Luba, one of the girls in Hope House) who needed a bit of support. She was living off 200 grivnas (Ukrainian currency ~$30 CDN) a month, which was the stipend she was receiving from her college. However, from this 200 grivnas, she needed to pay 150gr to stay in the students dorm of this college, leaving here only 50gr to live on for the month! There are a number of problems with this situation. One, the student dorms was terrible. Everything is dirty, more than 20 students are sharing one kitchen with one stove, and there was no adult supervision over the students. Second, 50 grivnas is no where near enough to live off. Kristina, who is training to be a cook, would only be able to eat on Wednesdays at her practicum and would come stay at Hope House on the weekends and eat here. She was only able to eat 3 out of the 7 days each week! Though she and all the girls here wanted her to come live in Hope House, the house was at capacity and there was no more space for another girl. However, due to a change in the wind, Kristina was able to come live at Hope House and become a part of this wacky family. She has quickly adjusted to the routine of the house. The goal of the LifeStart Project is to encourage family-based care for at-risk youth. I think Kristina is excellent proof of the benefits of family-style and seeing how a family will come together to care for and support each other :)</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And here is one of the Hope House girls, Lena, being silly after supper whilst Adam tries to repair the very out of tune guitar. These girls have so much energy and usually are full of laughter :)</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUMwm_8vlogS1zvtoxPsopwPYnhSTXBr2ut_e89oHZjk2_i-o2BLiJU68NhmLvo7zHkcHUDy1Sz0GEIMsnO2FHIufYMZGYRg_BQ1I-65PL4ZsSQ42BZmBFnRLs70T8-CHKYkk0EBHsW4HR/s1600/DSC_0195.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUMwm_8vlogS1zvtoxPsopwPYnhSTXBr2ut_e89oHZjk2_i-o2BLiJU68NhmLvo7zHkcHUDy1Sz0GEIMsnO2FHIufYMZGYRg_BQ1I-65PL4ZsSQ42BZmBFnRLs70T8-CHKYkk0EBHsW4HR/s320/DSC_0195.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-66705300138194660282010-10-19T13:50:00.000-07:002010-11-01T01:30:05.085-07:00Odessa, Ukraine!<div style="text-align: left;">Hello from Odessa!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">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!</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;">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. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_pdOwnpb8GHKljN6QI8p_rJQPXMl3Gw3Xc2GOBj7YbyF29kK_Ns2Rp1a-68gnJ_p9GUi5sNGcxdcXS9V1PjxG2yOEWGCTGiVUcWAyxAJuPle_26seKYLvn5SxN7AGwfp4WtoGSGjFvOXY/s1600/DSC05662.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_pdOwnpb8GHKljN6QI8p_rJQPXMl3Gw3Xc2GOBj7YbyF29kK_Ns2Rp1a-68gnJ_p9GUi5sNGcxdcXS9V1PjxG2yOEWGCTGiVUcWAyxAJuPle_26seKYLvn5SxN7AGwfp4WtoGSGjFvOXY/s320/DSC05662.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">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! </div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">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. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">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.</span></span></span></span> </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxX_Ml1jnxukaigeO4PH1rsYOQgmqcI36KF8EHW6WLSKDVkPSnsbgWghfbupKj9Ryyz1j0FQs_nEjUFswlaQJOj3O29MsYEcxfWIPgbs3aXdzfvg922w1y5cebluCuScjmyuZcT3l5L7G7/s1600/DSC05664.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxX_Ml1jnxukaigeO4PH1rsYOQgmqcI36KF8EHW6WLSKDVkPSnsbgWghfbupKj9Ryyz1j0FQs_nEjUFswlaQJOj3O29MsYEcxfWIPgbs3aXdzfvg922w1y5cebluCuScjmyuZcT3l5L7G7/s320/DSC05664.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">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! </div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Here are 2 of the Hope House girls walking along the road from Hope House.</span></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyegGplVca7irkNYQJ7-i26ZEfgxFt5PMvXhMslzC48NFwpFLZ8n0VeerkLInCAvjjqMivfotYosSyXhUlWMlm5_rMYU-rjrPEjCqU3uX2Ss6eYU6zq_Xr0LaSTKKGWCvOc84CB18KfBlg/s1600/DSC05692.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyegGplVca7irkNYQJ7-i26ZEfgxFt5PMvXhMslzC48NFwpFLZ8n0VeerkLInCAvjjqMivfotYosSyXhUlWMlm5_rMYU-rjrPEjCqU3uX2Ss6eYU6zq_Xr0LaSTKKGWCvOc84CB18KfBlg/s320/DSC05692.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">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!</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijCcmq9nOpysM_qdyFIncivYZaV11md_FzRwJQVolrPtOOW1fGOUWAijTCsoQg9BA98HsBqqKxnJAE6BCTLoiAbB1XIwns61vSxPlLHNo0YnK4kHfrG_lmlJuTbL139LX6Skvg-w-OSOiJ/s1600/DSC05676.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijCcmq9nOpysM_qdyFIncivYZaV11md_FzRwJQVolrPtOOW1fGOUWAijTCsoQg9BA98HsBqqKxnJAE6BCTLoiAbB1XIwns61vSxPlLHNo0YnK4kHfrG_lmlJuTbL139LX6Skvg-w-OSOiJ/s320/DSC05676.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">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. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">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. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">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! </div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And here is a typical street scene in Odessa. Public transit here is an experience unto itself! :)</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdhhHJcBHVvPpmYwbAZO3T0MCb6B-zSLspQnMaXYvfEUB0Sv0wOVEqXHNfL9Ay9VvrxG8QwP81vixZJQ_BLCP4tfB-d4vEpUe8ehVB6n929BuEQ0tSDKQx1s9MvXadVEerMGv984e7QOTd/s1600/DSC05674.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdhhHJcBHVvPpmYwbAZO3T0MCb6B-zSLspQnMaXYvfEUB0Sv0wOVEqXHNfL9Ay9VvrxG8QwP81vixZJQ_BLCP4tfB-d4vEpUe8ehVB6n929BuEQ0tSDKQx1s9MvXadVEerMGv984e7QOTd/s320/DSC05674.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6966795099807784640.post-10085482330003828712010-09-30T21:45:00.000-07:002010-09-30T22:04:23.417-07:00Introduction<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hello! Welcome to World Hope Canada's blog on the Lifestart Project!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am Andrea, one of the Project Assistants working on the Lifestart Odessa Project with World Hope Canada. I would like to introduce you to this amazing project. The Life Start Project is a 3-year project, which is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). World Hope Canada will be working on this project in cooperation with World Hope Ukraine. The intent of this project is to improve the model of care for at-risk youth in Odessa, Ukraine. To do this we have 3 goals or components to this project. First, we will be developing an improved model of care for youth in the orphanages. Second, we are developing a foster care pilot for 6 young women. And third, we are developing a life skills curriculum to be taught in the orphanages. We will launch the pilot program for the life skills curriculum in 3 orphanages in the Odessa region, reaching more than 130 institutionalised youth.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been working on the project since May. My main task this summer has been to research the Canadian child welfare system. Over the summer we had another Project Assistant, Alexei Durglishvilli, researching the laws and legal framework for the child welfare system in Ukraine. Alexei has since left us for law school and we have been joined by another Project Assistant, Kim Howson. Kim has been working on researching child welfare in the European Union (EU). All this research will lead to two reports, which will form the foundation of the work we are hoping to do in Odessa, Ukraine. One report will be focused on international best practices. This report will offer recommendations of how to the Ukrainian system can grow and expand. Our second report is on the Ukrainian system. This report is intended to inform Ukrainian child welfare practitioners of the system in which they operate. Many laws in Ukraine are developed at the federal level, but are not sufficiently implemented at the local level. This report is intended to be a quick resource at the local level.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In addition to this research and report writing, we have begun to develop the pilot programs. Over the summer we have gathered together a wonderful group of expert volunteers to assist in developing these programs. We have one team of 5 wonderful women working on the life skills curriculum, we have a dynamic duo of social workers to help us develop the foster care pilot, and we have savvy team of videographers to help us build a series of educational videos as well as videos for public engagement.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For all of us at World Hope Canada and World Hope Ukraine, this has been an incredible learning process. This project is a huge undertaking, which can be incredibly daunting at times, especially given time restrictions. However, the intended and hoped-for results are a central motivation: an improved system of care for at-risk youth in Odessa, Ukraine. We hope that our project will play a positive role in the lives of these youth and that through this project they will have improved life opportunities and be able to choose a better life for themselves. We also hope that the project will be so effective that the government will adopt the pilots, perpetuate them, and spread them throughout Odessa and Ukraine.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0