Wednesday, May 18, 2011
The Well is Covered
He also put a steal door on the basement. Unfortunately, people have been known to steal such things as pumps (actually, a gas stove was stolen from someone's house last year - and that was no easy feat!). So, we are trying to be careful, particularly since the house remains vacant. Tomorrow, they will begin laying the pipes and the electric in the ground.
"You know Shelia," Iryna said to me, "We have to get this done before winter. I cannot think about ___ living at the stadium again this winter. It is very possible she could die out there this time. And, what about ___ living near the bazaar? We said we could have two mothers with their children in that big room, but if we have to, we can put three mothers and their children. It isn't ideal, but we could do it."
"How much will it cost to do everything we have to do to make the house livable?" I asked.
She thought about it awhile and replied, "Maybe $8000."
I had previously suggested we approach a national firm, called "New Line," and ask them to donate new windows and doors. They had provided such donations for another project on which I had worked and this seemed just as noble a project. So, I brought up this idea again.
I could see the wheels turning in her head. I thought maybe she was doubting me; she never believed volunteers would dig that trench and they did!
"Iryna," I said, "I cannot think of a better cause than providing for homeless, orphaned youth; besides, the worst they can say is 'no'."
She replied, "You know if we are going to build that second building in the future, we should think about asking them for a larger window on that opposite wall, instead of two small ones where we will put the other building."
Monday, May 9, 2011
Down in the Trench(es)
"When Shelia told me we would get volunteers to dig the trench, I told her that Ukrainians would never do this," said Iryna Sydakova, Director of Opika. Said Youth Bank volunteer, Oksana Kydora, "I don't think any of us thought we could get this done in one day, but we did it!" So, what was it that made 21 volunteers come out and work for five hours straight to dig a 100 meter long and 1.5 meter deep trench in a day?
Motivating volunteers isn't just about giving them food - but that's important! Not just because of the free food, but because it is a cultural custom among most of the world's peoples to celebrate with food. Iryna had asked for enough female volunteers to "make lunch," but about 1/3 of the volunteers down in the trench were women - unusual for such hard work in Ukraine. These women stayed in the trenches and, it was actually a guy, Sasha Shelevey, who built the fire and baked the potatoes for lunch. When asked about the role of women and men in such tough work, Misha Vakula, used to working alongside American Peace Corps volunteers likes the equitable way in which Americans work. He explained the Ukrainian mentality this way, "I think men do the heavy lifting when digging things like trenches, but women have more endurance and can last for longer." Indeed, Oksana Kydora, a 21 year old Ukrainian and Youth Bank member, picked up her shovel with the first wave of volunteers and was one of the last to put it down. "I like the hard work; I like knowing that I helped dig that ditch with my own two hands."
PCV Erin Sims was onsite, as part of a project to make a documentary film abotu Peace Corps for the 50th anniversary, and asked volunteers why they came out today. Here is what our volunteers said about why they were here.
Because We Wanted To Do Good
Perechyn Community Foundation Youth Bank member, Bogdan, declined to be interviewed, but when I asked him why he came to volunteer, he smiled and said, "Because it's what we do!" Youth Bank member Mykola Radchenko agreed. "We are trying to activate people to do more for the community. We are an example for what others can do if they just take a little time out of their day to do good for someone else." Igor Vyshnayk said, "I love my community."
Because We Want to Give Back
"Why does everyone call Iryna 'mama'?" asked PCV Erin Sims of Maxim Olah. "Because she took care of us these years." Iryna took him into her home after he left the boarding school. He lived with her for seven years while working and finishing college. "I would be living on the streets if not for her." Max knows this house is a place where kids just like him will have a chance to transition to life on their own.
Misha Vakula, a volunteer from the village of Turya Pasika (20 kilometers from Perechyn) explained that he came today because Peace Corps volunteers have done so much for him. Returned PCV Neil Patrick O'Toole (2007-2010) helped him learn English, but even more importantly, taught him the importance of community service. Misha was recently selected to participate in the prestigious UGRAD program (funded by the US State Department) and leaves in August to study for a year in an American university. "Volunteerism has changed my life; it is something I will always do."
Because It's Fun
Craftmaking
They have quite a bit of experience working with beads; here you see "pidsnig" flowers (I believe we call them snowdrops), crafted from beads. They are also making small "yarn dolls." If you are interested in having something they made, just let me know and I will be sure to get one to you!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Mother's School Training Days 3 and 4
This session was focused on puberty, sexual reproduction, and sexually transmitted diseases and how to educate young people about them. Here you see Balint, a graduate of the school himself and local mentor to youth, practicing how he will provide basic sex education to the teenagers at the boarding school. The participants learned about contraception and how to demonstrate such things as condom use to the youth, while also discussing with them abstinence and waiting until one is older and in a committed relationship and married.
We discussed the growing rate of HIV/AIDS infection in Ukraine - the fastest growing in Europe. While Western Ukraine has a slower rate of transmission than that in Eastern Ukraine, graduates from orphanages are at five times greater risk for transmission of the disease.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Open Your Heart for Good
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Visit to the Svalyava Infant Orphanage
As I wrote before, one of the reasons we started the "Mother's School" project was to educate young people and build the capacity of mentors to help educate young people from the orphanage to reduce the rates of teen pregnancy among graduates of the Perechyn orphanage. Over the past five years, more than 50 lives births have occurred among 38 teenage mothers graduating from the school. Most of these children have ended up here - in the Svalyava orphanage.
Iryna's goal, by taking them to see the actual orphanage, was to make this process "real" for them. She wanted them to see the place and understand what happens when children come to this place. We were not able to go into the school, as this is forbidden by Ukrainian law (only those who are authorized to be there are able to go in). However, we heard from people who know about life in this place and we facilitated a discussion with the children. The message was not to suggest that the children aren't cared for in this place - they are certainly cared for as much as they can be in an institutional setting. But, the bond between a parent and a child begins very early and the message was that they should consider their actions and their readiness to care for a child before having one.
Two members of our group know this very well. One of them, whom you see here with her child, was only able to keep her child from this place because a community mentor took her and the child into her home, and she is helping to care for them both. Another young mother was not so fortunate and as she stood peering through the gates, I couldn't imagine what she was thinking wiht her child in there and her standing out here in the cold. She was on the verge of getting her child back when a quarantine was put into place at the orphanage and she learned she would not be able to visit the orphanage or take her child until this quarantine lifted. Quarantines are common in Ukraine, as the availability of vaccines and medicines to combat outbreaks of such things as Hepatitis, the flu, etc. are not available.
Many thanks to Erin Simms, the PCV in Svalyava, who arranged for us to have a classroom at her school where we could hear from presenters and have our discussion. Erin is hoping she might be able to work with the infant orphanage herself.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Training at the Boarding School
The teacher/mentor was able to pass along information she learned to the young people. They discussed such things as teen pregnancy, the developmental needs (physical and emotional) of pregnant mothers and their babies, as well as, the material needs they require after they have been born.
This kind of open dialogue is important with these children, as many of them have no parents (and thus, no examples in their lives) and/or little contact with adults who provide them such education. We take this for grantide in our everyday lives.
These kids are like every other teenager in the world. Their bodies are changing and the hormones are causing them to act in ways they may not understand. Many of them say they know these things and understand them, but we often found that their information was skewed and incorrect. The training, as much as anything, was important to changing their perceptions about how to become pregnant and how sexually transmitted diseases are passed on to others. But, just as important are the softer issues like psycho-social and moral issues as they relate to the choices these young people make in their lives.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Stan, Julie and their 3 girls
They visited three schools in Ukraine, before finding a good fit with our own here in Perechyn. Like all new parents, they ran the gamut of emotions the month they were here, from nervous to happy, from tired to overjoyed. As they explained in their interview with a reporter from the Perechyn Kalaidescope newspaper, from the first day, the girls were absolutely certain that these were their parents – all of them, including the youngest who, barely able to read and write, insisted on signing the paper herself that it was her sincere wish to go home with this couple (even though she had an advocate who could sign for her). If you had met them, you would understand why; goodness and love transcend language barriers.
After trying to work out of his hotel room, Stan, a computer programmer, and I met at the time when he was considering returning to Kyiv in order to have regular internet access. Each day they were allowed to see the girls for three hours at a time and Stan and Julie would have been away from each other and from this experience together. So, it was quite provident that our office was equipped to fit his needs. Stan became a regular part of our “collective” and he fit right in.
On Men’s Day (also known as Red Army Day and Soviet Army Day), he celebrated with us in the kitchen. I joked with him that we are so much like a family, that we would normally be eating from the big plate of the chicken with our fingers. Plates and forks had been passed around in his honor. Stan, sat up and brightly asked if it would be ok to eat with his fingers; I smiled and translated his question to the rest of the office staff. Everyone let out a great laugh and the forks were put aside. Stan shared with us that our camaraderie reminded him of the four years that he and his wife Julie spent in Morocco.
In true Ukrainian fashion, theirs was a time of hurry-up and wait. Things would happen very quickly for awhile and then full-stop, while they waited to be added to the docket of the local courthouse line-up, or stood in line for a stamp, birthcertificate, or passport. Had I not gone through something similar (marrying a Ukrainian), I could not have appreciated the amount of patience they had, even though they had hired a facilitator to help them navigate the system. As we entered a very long holiday weekend, there was a mad dash to get all the paperwork completed so they could get to Kyiv for medical interviews and final visa checks (before the holiday festivities began and offices closed down).
I went shopping with Julie as she prepared a party for each of the girls’ classes at school. I had this vision of her with a Tupperware full of cupcakes, she had made with one of her daughters, sitting in the backseat of a minivan two years from now; after dropping her girls off at school, she made her way to her job as a nurse practitioner at the local hospital. Life - ordinary, beautiful.
On Tuesday, they waited in a local government office all morning, and then rushed into our office to pick up the cakes they had left in our refrigerator the day before. They were off to the classroom parties. At the end of the evening, Max (my husband), Michele (another Peace Corps volunteer in Perechyn), and I happily celebrated their new “simeyni zhittia (family life)” at our apartment. It was Julie’s birthday and the birthday of their new family. We talked about their experience and their journey to get to this place - really, just the beginning.
Many people ask about the language barrier between the girls and the new parents. Stan and Julie speak some Russian, but anyone who has spent any amount of time in a foreign country knows that when you cannot communicate with words, you learn other ways to express yourself. In some ways, this expression is more meaningful than words could ever be. It is non-verbal communication that brings people to their most meaningful relationships, whether or not they speak the same language.
My husband, Maksym, took the day off to clean our apartment and make a traditional Ukrainian meal in honor of Stan and Julie. Just before we ate, he made this toast. “I grew up in the boarding school, myself, and I want to tell you that what you are doing for these girls is a great thing. Here’s to good people who do great things.”
Friday, February 25, 2011
Mother's School Training: The Case of Two-year Old John
Today, we spent the morning learning about early childhood development and the needs of the child from conception to age three (using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs among other theorists).
But, the most powerful part of the day was the end, when we watched a film about a young child named John, who was left by his mother at an orphanage for nine days. There were around 8 children in two rooms being cared for by 3 or 4 nurses.
The black and white film showed how over the course of nine days, the child’s experience day in and day out was impacted to the point that his personality almost completely changed. The first few days he was sad, but calm, by day three he was using a teddy bear as a surrogate mother, while attempting numerous times to sit on the lap of several of the nurses. By day six he was acting out and, because of this, he did get more attention, but by days seven and eight he was depressed and could not be consoled by anyone. He stopped eating and by day nine and there was concern for his health by the nurses. He would go back and forth from belligerent to inconsolable.
On day nine, John’s mother returned. At first, he wouldn’t go to her; he was put in her arms and was calm, but after a few minutes he started screaming again. The mother wanted to comfort him, but couldn’t. The child, after a struggle calmed down again. Several times he left her, hysterically. There was a point near the end when he was sitting on the lap of the parish priest and he looked at his mom with an unbelievably difficult face to forget.
I was reminded of what I know about post-traumatic stress disorder. It is possible to recover from it in a function way, but there is a window of exposure that makes it harder and even impossible to recover. This was nine days – imagine those children growing up in these institutions; not hard to imagine, since it is a reality in Ukraine. It has nothing to do with the nurses not caring for the children. They clearly were doing the best they could, feeding, clothing, bathing and putting the children to bed. But nothing could replace the important bond that forms between a parent and child which contributes to their stable development to adulthood.
The consultant showed us a chart later that showed, roughly, that 75% of our learning in life takes place before the age of three. In this case, could 9 days before the age of three, be equated to months or even years of time as an adult?
Roundtable with Local Officials
We had hoped to have have more officials, unfortunately there was only one. However, the mayor's number 2 person was on hand and the mayor herself stopped to recognize Iryna for her commitment to the community (photo below right). The elected official is an oblast (state) representative and if we could only have had one, she would have been one of the best to have (photo of her above with a standing Iryna). Very well-connected and influential, she was clearly interested in the topic and took lots of notes when the consultant talked about our day, the state of things in Ukraine, and how elected officials can help tackle this issue.
About the Consultant
Mother's School Training - Portraits and Biases
- Age 14 to 24,
- Orphaned or removed from situations of neglect,
- Husband or father of the child is unlikely to be part of the life of the mother/child,
- Lack basic material needs - food, clothing, shelter, etc.,
- Psychologically not prepared themselves and unable to provide this for their unborn and living children, and
- A particular cultural aspect unique to Western Ukraine - young Roma mothers.
3. Identified the Top Concerns to serving this population and discussed Ways to Tackle them.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Roof Raised and Entranceway Prepared
This is a big step forward for us, because it means that we can begin work inside the house while winter is still doing its best to keep bundled up and in our warm houses! We shall have to wait until the ground thaws to put in the water lines, but the well is ready to start pumping water.
The bathroom will require quite a bit of infrastructure - including a toilet, tub, sink, tile, etc. The kitchen has a stove pipe, but a stove is needed as gas and water lines. I recently put in for a small grant to an organization called "Appropriate Projects" for the installation of the water line, pump, and kitchen sink. This grant is for $500; I will let you know later how this turns out!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
$642 donation from Seminary UMC
However, we are very happy to report that over the winter months we received a $642 donation from Friends of Seminary United Methodist Church (Big Stone Gap, Virginia) as a special Christmas contribution. Thank you so very much to our friends in Virginia. We cannot wait to once again begin our construction so that we may show you are progress.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Opika Performers at the 2011 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Another piece of great news, some of Opika's volunteers were selected to represent Peace Corps, not only from Ukraine but from around the world, at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival from June 30-July 11.
The ten performers will help Peace Corps celebrate its 50th Anniversary, by showcasing some of the work that Peace Corps Volunteers do around the world. Opika's director, Iryna Sydakova is designing a performance to highlight the best of Ukrainian culture, the uniqueness of the Peace Corps Volunteer experience, and the way in which local communities work together with a volunteer to insure a successful relationship.
But, you already know all about this if you are reading our blog! If you would like to read more about the festival, go to: http://www.festival.si.edu/ or click here.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Chaslivtsi Orphanage
Each year, Opika sponsors a series of New Years concerts celebrations at various orphanages throughout Transcarpathia. Thanks to Dutch and American donors last year and this year, Grandfather Frost and his Granddaughter, Snigura, visited three orphanages, held concerts, and handed out gifts.
In this video, the kids say thank you to the sponsors.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Christmas in Transcarpathia
Holiday spices wafted through the house as mom made wassail or baked cookies. The smell of pine was enough to make you overlook the sap you had to scrub out of the carpet after Christmas. And, making Christmas cards or decorations using the previous year's cards were a big part of some of our Christmas rituals.
Finding resources for such celebrating are becoming more and more difficult. Most funders are looking for "sustainable" projects which change the overall situation in which children live, play and grow. And, while these are extremely important, so too are the everyday things like Christmas concerts and visits by Grandfather Frost and Snigura.
I would say that my family traditions, perhaps more than anything else, contributed to my understanding of belief, tradition, heritage, and ideals. These traditions taught me generosity and what it means to give and to receive. I learned the importance of sharing with others and of appreciating all that I have. And, when it comes down to it, these are the things that "sustain" me in my life. They are the lifeblood of who I am and all that I try to do in the world.
In 2010, I decided to introduce the group of 3rd and 4th graders at the Perechyn Boarding School to a little of the traditions we celebrate around the holidays in the United States. These included not only things like baking Christmas cookies and writing cards of thank you to those people who have been special to you all year round, but our wonderful tolerance of the difference of people and the ways in which they celebrate their traditions - from Christmas and Chanakah to Ramadan and Kwanzaa.
Volunteers from boarding towns shared their holiday traditions - from midnight mass to viewing Christmas lights from the car window, to caroling on the back of a hay wagon, and eating Chinese food on Christmas Day, to lighting the Minorah throughout the eight days of Chanakah. It is our hope that by seeing how we celebrate the differences in each other, so too will these young people learn to celebrate the differences and similarities among them. After all, isn't this the very definition of sustainability?