If Not Us Then Who

I wouldn't have put it any better myself:

http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/2012/02/if-not-usthen-who.html

Scholarships Available For These Children!

I was sooo excited to see several of the kids with scholarships today! Please take a look at these precious children and help spread the word about them!

Project 143
http://www.P143.org



$2500 SCHOLARSHIP-U-25 Sveta,Valeria,Natalia NOW if you would like a really great instant family these kids are so amazing.Would be A joy to have in your life.They are HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and love each other so much.They would do anything to be able to stay all together.Older sister leaves orphanage this summer so this is their absolute last chance at a family together.GIVE these siblings a chance.They have been waiting many years to be hosted together.Soon it will be too late.Would be such a blessing to bring into your family.Sveta was one of our favorite girls on the trip.She was very sweet, friendly and affectionate towards us.She speaks and understands a little english.Her Friends describe her as sporty,kind,happy,strong & Beautiful.You could really tell she desires the love of a mother.Valera seems very calm and gentle.let a little boy sit on his lap because he had no where to sit.Natasha has lots of friends.SHE Does not like life in the orphanage and Wants to live in a family with her sibs.

$500 SCHOLARSHIP U-27 (14) WONDERFUL WONDERFUL BOY! Sasha was so much fun to talk to. Very engaging and full of questions. He had a very nice warm smile.He enjoys playing ping pong and volleyball. His favorite animal is a Siberian Cat. He told us he had a little sister who was adopted. When in America he really would like to learn about the culture, Skateboard and Meet some High up Political Officials that are kind :). His friends say he is very funny and is the class clown. Sasha really would love to have his very own Skateboard. He is a Wonderful boy.(AL)

A Couple of Faces

In the far eastern part of Ukraine, right next to the Russian border sits a small industrial town which in its hay day of Soviet Industrialization enjoyed a relative prosperity. Its main railroad takes you right through its heavy industrial park, by the gigantic metallurgical plants, sad ghosts of its Soviet past. As the USSR crumbled, so did the main source of jobs in the town. Displaced workers found themselves jobless with outdated skill sets and no means to provide for itself. In fact the region boasts one of the highest unemployment rates, an estimated 35-40 percent, with the rest of the population surviving on sub par wages. Despite the slow down in the plant and factory production the town is still coated in dense chemical fumes. As if its still strongly gripped by its former proletarian glory. When the train pulls into the main station passengers know to close the car windows to minimize the fumes seeping through the train crevices. The joblessness, alcoholism and the atheistic Soviet regime have created a fertile soil for abandoned and unwanted children. Majority of the orphanage residents are actually social orphans, with either of the parents still alive but unable to care for their children.

You wouldn’t think about it when you look at this child:

 

Or this one

that at the age of 16, with limited education and even more limited life skills the orphanage graduates enter a trade school or go to live a life on the streets, often ending up in drug abuse and leading criminal lives.

Would you consider giving a chance to a child who otherwise will have one? Would you help change direction of a child’s life? You have a great opportunity to help change a child’s life this summer. Please get involved.

http://www.P143.org

And So They Wait

A group of volunteers spent several weeks earlier in the year and visited orphanages in Ukraine to interview and select children for this summer host program. They covered most of the geographic area of Ukraine, which in size is comparable to Texas, having endured record-setting low temperatures, physically and emotionally demanding travel and got to see the children in person, talk to them, love on them and see their living conditions for themselves. I am sure that to most of these women the trip was life changing.

The facilitator had to go to each orphanage’s director and ask for their cooperation and permission to allow them to interview the kids, get their information (which is generally not easily shared) and then get their commitment to help with the documents and the trip preparation if the children are selected. None of that is on the list of any of the director’s job duties and these tasks often add to already stressful job. Yet they agreed. And although the children are never promised a trip to America, instinctively they know what’s up. They’ve seen some of their friends being adopted, they see this group of Americans come and talk to them and take their picture, and these children, having wished and prayed for a family of their own for get their hopes up. May be THIS time it will be them selected. Maybe they will be the ones to get to spend a month in America. Maybe they will end up being in a nice home, with a nice and loving mom and dad and maybe they will be the ones to be adopted, just like some of their friends were a while back. The older ones are not as hopeful though. Some of them have already gone through similar hosting selection interviews, maybe even more then once. They already waited and hoped last year, and the year before that, and maybe they even saw some of their friends selected to go… but not them. And did they wonder why they were not the ones picked? Were they too old? Or should they had smiled when a stranger took their photo? Or maybe they were not good enough? Not deserving enough for a family of their own, even if for a month?

 And so they wait. For another chance. Another hope. Lucky ones will get picked. The undeserving ones will be left behind.

Project One-Forty-Three

There are over 143 million orphaned children in the world today, many of whom will "age out" of the orphanage system and be turned out to the streets by age 16.

Please watch this video and pass it on to others.