Child Care and Street Kids

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. 

Sergei telling a joke during his speech at the seminar

Proof that our videographers are working hard

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. 

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. 

Here is the cook of First Step Centre. We had lunch at the centre, which was delicious! No wonder these kids stop in! 

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! :) 

Two girls who come to First Step Centre with Kostya, who works at the shelter and is also our LifeStart Project Coordinator.

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. 

 A few kids who stopped in and grabbed a bit at First Step Centre

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 :)

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 :)

Odessa, Ukraine!

Hello from Odessa!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Introduction

Hello! Welcome to World Hope Canada's blog on the Lifestart Project!

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.

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.

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.

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.