The story continues... We are severely jet lagged and on the wrong time zone. So of course we decide it is a great idea to stay up until 2am watching Netflix (Kim is up till 4) and sleep in the next day. We are awoken by the woman we are staying with "are you guys getting up soon?" She asks. We groggily open our eyes and ask what time it is, she laughingly replies 1pm, and we all start laughing. We aren't going to be picked up until 3 to go and pick up paperwork so we had taken full Advantage of the open day by sleeping. Thankfully we also woke up to a message that Kim's luggage was found and we could pick it up on the way to region.
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Our driver Sergey comes to pick us up and we go pick up our official paperwork and head to get our facilitator Roma and then to the airport. Apparently when we checked in for our original flight they put my name on Kim's bag, so I was the one who had to actually claim it in Ukraine once it was found. I must go in alone to identify the bag and tell this 6 foot 4 Ukrainian man what the contents of the bag are. "Um... Gifts... Like stuffed animals I think". He frowns at me. Oh great I'm going to get hauled off to some Ukrainian jail for carrying someone else's bag. But instead he nods his head and says I can go. Outside Kim wants to know what happened and what they said, I told her and my answer. She starts laughing because the suitcase had money, alcohol, food and a bunch of other stuff in it, and all I said was stuffed animals. Glad she wasn't trying to smuggle anything in haha.
We get on the road for the two hour bumpy ride (like you could get lost in a pot hole) to the region where he kids are. This is the same orphanage Vlad is from, and they tell us we will have to stay at the same "hotel" that we stayed at, which is super ghetto and the water smells like hot dogs and blood. We talk with Roma and he explains everything that we wil need to do over the next few days and talk about the kids. We arrive at the marvelous hotel voyage, literally a bus stop in the middle of nowhere, and by some miracle they have no rooms available. I'm seriously in shock by this because we were literally the only people there when john and I went last year. There is another hotel down the road that we didn't stay at because it was more expensive and didn't have wifi, but they have rooms available so we stay there. And I totally wish this is where john and I had stayed (if there was wifi), because it was like the Taj Mahal compared to the other place. It's in a small building shaped like a mushroom, and all the rooms are decorated in different themes that fee like you are inside a fairytale. It had white robes for you to wear, a shower that didn't flood, and real pillows! They also had a sauna downstairs below our room where we heard strange noise coming from all night and were convinced there was a troll that lived down there. The restaurant attached to the hotel had wifi and our room faced it, so if we stood on our beds near the tiny high mushroom window we could get one bar of Internet, enough to try to skype our families though it cut in and out. Our bodies pressed against the wall desperate for a signal at 1am because that's was the afternoon in California.
After this first magical night we were able to visit the children, and they were so happy to see their momma Kim. If you haven't read her blog about this reunion go here. We were able to see them before going to do more paperwork, and then come back again in the afternoon. I was able to go and check on the kiddos I know from past trips, greeted by tight hugs and kids running up yelling "Aleee" just happy that someone was there that knew them. Over the next two days we were able to visit the children more, bring them goody bags from America with basic needs items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, razors,snacks, and gum. One of our favorite children is a younger heavy set boy who devoured his gum in less than an hour coming and asking for more. We taught the kids how to play farkle, all of them crowding around to play and watch, completely blocking the hallways so that the staff couldn't even walk by to pretend to be working. All of them trying to sit as close as possible to me and Kim, desperate for attention and recognition.
One of the girls ran and got her "art book", which mainly consisted of any type of scrap paper she found, and sat next to me hesitantly asking if I wanted to see. "Of course!" She took her time turning each page and showing me all of her work. You could tell it was something important to her and that she doesn't get to share this part of her often. I told her how amazing they were and she beamed with pride as she went to put her book away. All of them searching for the tiniest of acknowledgment, telling them they matter. Everyone wanted to show us their rooms and bed, where they may have pictures cutout from a magazine taped to the wall trying to show who they are. And there are a few that are very lucky and have an actual photo from their life before the orphanage, faded with curled edges taped with pride above their bed, proving that they were someone before coming here.
The boy that broke my heart is one who was hosted with Vlad his first trip to America, and I have written about him Wanting a family. When I arrived I found him right away and gave him money that was sent for him to buy food. This boy continues to grow taller and skinnier every time I see him. He has reached a point of being hauntingly thin, with his eyes becoming darker and sinking in more as the months go on. At first he tried to refuse the money but I insisted and told him to get food and that I would bring other things he needs like
Soap and shampoo. When we return to the orphanage the next day the assistant director wants to talk to me. She tells me that this boy had asked to be taken to buy shoes but when he got there he didn't have enough money. She told him to ask me and he refused saying he would borrow or just wait to earn money when it gets warmer out. I go to talk to him and ask to see his shoes. They are completely worn and torn, with the sole separated from the top of the shoe looking like it is a cartoon talking to you. And he has been wearing these in 35 degree weather. I give him more money for the shoes and additional money for food, as that is what I knew he needed also. I tried to talk with the staff about finding a way to communicate with me when this boy needs things so that I can send the items or money for them. But I was quickly turned down and told that he needs nothing and they will provide for him... Well seeing as how he didn't have a working pair of shoes and they wouldn't give him a new pair or cover the additional cost for the ones he tried to purchase, I find this statement so infuriating. No child should have to worry about scraping together the money to put shoes on their feet especially in colder climates. But at least the staff didn't find a problem in asking for more money for him at that time, just refusing future assistance.
Sadly the staff at the orphanage are more worried about keeping their very laid back jobs (literally like 15+ staff for 24 children), rather than truly worry about the children's well being. While we were there doing paperwork the orphanage lawyer, an elderly man in his 80's that is a full time employee, asked/stated "there will be no more hosting from here, right". All because these children are being given an opportunity at having a life and a family, not getting sent out on their own when they are 16. They don't want these children to have a family if that means there could be layoffs, which I understand not wanting to lose your job in an unstable economy, but a child's life should come first.