Open Your Heart for Good

This weekend, the Perechyn Boarding School and Opika welcomed around fifty guests from Holland. As supporters and volunteers of the CHOE Foundation, these are the families who support the organization and host children in their homes every summer.

They spent the morning at the orphanage touring the place where their "summer kids" live the rest of the year. The kids had been

preparing for their visit for weeks, making colorful beaded potted flowers as gifts, cards, welcome signs, as well as, cleaning their rooms and themselves and memorizing new poems, songs, and dances.

At four o'clock, the Dutch arrived at the Palace of Culture for one of the most impressive performances I have seen in Perechyn. I expected to see a group of 50 Dutch people when I arrived; instead, the 400 seat auditorium was standing-room only. Many from the town also came out to show their support, including graduates of the school from all over the coun

try.

Graduates of the orphanage came from as far away as Korea to perform for the guests in a tribute to their generosity for the last 15 years. The performance, called "Open Your Heart for Good" included the youngest of the boarding school residents, seven years old, and the oldest of the graduates on stage, now 37 years old.

"Studio Suprise," the name Iryna gave to her performance group many years ago, boasts graduates who now live and perform all over the world. Joseph, now a performer in Korea, and Oksana, now a professional dancer and student in Kyiv returned for the performance. Sasha, who speaks five languages, just returned from the six months working for the United Nations. He now lives in Kyiv, but plans to return to Zakarpattia. He not only performed, but translated for our guests into their native language.

Throughout the performance, Jan, the founder and director of CHOE and the leader of this delegation of Dutch, moved around the room - hopping from one chair to another. He talked with different graduates he had know from the school throughout the performance and at one point, he sat in front of me. I had told him one of the things that the Americans (Julie and Ted) had told me

about their girls was that they found the school open and the children accepting of their presence and that they thought this was in great part due to the fact that the children from this school had already lived abroad, in Holland, during their summers. Jan told me that this meant a great deal to him to know that this had contributed to the successful adoption of these girls. I imagine it is hard to "adopt" children for a summer and then have to send them back home, just as it is difficult for the kids to have a home life for three months and then return to the institution. But, the Dutch cannot adopt from Ukraine. I am not certain the reason, but when Americans come to adopt children here, it takes quite a bit of time and money to navigate the system. And, being in a school with experience working with foreigners, certainly helps.

I heard Jan speaking some of the "little bit" of Ukrainian the kids told me he knew; all the words he knew were those of love and encouragement - the most important ones.

I couldn't help thinking about the power of one person to be inspired and inspire so many

others to not only give their time and their resources, but to open up their homes for children, who speak another language, to live with them. You could see from the slideshow that these families had become attached to the kids just as much as the kids had to them. I couldn't help thinking, how unfortunate it is that Holland does not have an agreement with Ukraine to adopt children from here. I would bet many of these kids would be permanently with families in Holland already. The good will of the Dutch is legendary here and their international hospitality makes it easier for those of us who can adopt them to build these bonds. I don't know what the future has in store for Max and for me, but I certainly hope that one day it will include opening our hearts and doors for children in our own home. We shall see.