Orphans

There are orphans in Russia. Many. How can we love them toward life? In an effort to answer this question, we joined a group of volunteers in Ulan-Ude and started spending time in orphanages. When you spend a little time with orphans, you start imagining programs you could develop that would help them cope with life when they leave the orphanage. When you spend more time with orphans, you realize that programs are not what they need. They need something much more human and basic. They need love, family, and restoration.

What works? Time spent with the kids is a great start. The kiddies love to have weekly visits. When you really get familiar with the orphanage, meet the people who work there, get a feel for the rhythm of life within its walls, and make heart connections on the playground and in the nursery, you get a grasp of the difficulties of life as an orphan.

Time spent led us to pursue the idea of championing children being placed in families. Seems obvious right? One problem we face in Russia is that most people never consider adoption.

What we do in short:

We spend time with the kids each week. We kick balls around, give piggybacks, dry tears, color and sometimes teach lessons. We bring attention to the possibility of adoption into the Russian public eye. We do this by hosting informational meetings for the public about adopting, and placing the issue before society through print and radio media.

Current Goals:

We also want to help orphans with physical disabilities get medical treatment. To do this we need to raise money. Often there are orphans who have serious medical conditions that go untreated. We believe if there is treatment for medical conditions, orphans should have access to it.