Hosting the Lovely Miss O.
As many of you already know, we are hosting the sweetest girl, Olga (pronounced O-lah or Oh-la). She is 11 years old and she is from a Ukrainian orphanage. That is the extent of the personal information about our host child that I can share. However, I have a lot of information about orphans, Ukraine, orphanages and hosting that I can share.
I heard about hosting about 4 or 5 years ago. My mom was reading something on ksl.com and mentioned it to me. She said, "Mary, this couple is adopting a sibling group from Ukraine and the kids look like your kids." I immediately looked into it. I forget which article it is, but here are a few links: Host kids go to zoo , Ukraine orphans adopted , and Family adopts set of 3. The last article had the actual hosting organization, New Horizons for Children. I looked into this several times, but I was in school or just out of school and didn't have the time or the money to pursue it. Jeremy has been a champ and willing to go along with whatever I decide to do. (And he also wants another daughter. He and I both think that Liesel needs a sister.)
Anyway, I just kept looking at it, looking at the kids available for hosting. I fell in love with several different children, at different times. Finally, this spring, we found a darling girl who looked like Liesel's sister. We filled out the paperwork for a cute 13 year old girl, N. Once we had money down and paperwork in, we were turned away. NHFC is a Christian organization that does not recognize Mormons as Christian. Well. I was devastated for a day to two. But undeterred. NHFC gave us the names of 2 more hosting organizations that do not have a religious affiliation. (But I have discovered that they are both Christian based as well. They were good with Mormons). We got the websites and filled out the pre-application paperwork for Project 143 and http://www.heartforhosting.org/ Guglielmo's Hope. There is also the website CCC or Children's Cultural Connection After much searching and talking with the kids, we picked Miss O.
What we knew about her before she got here: She is 11. Likes dogs and cats and elephants. Likes to draw.
To prepare for this adventure, we have been given much training and info on what to expect from Ukrainian orphans. Here is a short list of what I know, in general:
I heard about hosting about 4 or 5 years ago. My mom was reading something on ksl.com and mentioned it to me. She said, "Mary, this couple is adopting a sibling group from Ukraine and the kids look like your kids." I immediately looked into it. I forget which article it is, but here are a few links: Host kids go to zoo , Ukraine orphans adopted , and Family adopts set of 3. The last article had the actual hosting organization, New Horizons for Children. I looked into this several times, but I was in school or just out of school and didn't have the time or the money to pursue it. Jeremy has been a champ and willing to go along with whatever I decide to do. (And he also wants another daughter. He and I both think that Liesel needs a sister.)
Anyway, I just kept looking at it, looking at the kids available for hosting. I fell in love with several different children, at different times. Finally, this spring, we found a darling girl who looked like Liesel's sister. We filled out the paperwork for a cute 13 year old girl, N. Once we had money down and paperwork in, we were turned away. NHFC is a Christian organization that does not recognize Mormons as Christian. Well. I was devastated for a day to two. But undeterred. NHFC gave us the names of 2 more hosting organizations that do not have a religious affiliation. (But I have discovered that they are both Christian based as well. They were good with Mormons). We got the websites and filled out the pre-application paperwork for Project 143 and http://www.heartforhosting.org/ Guglielmo's Hope. There is also the website CCC or Children's Cultural Connection After much searching and talking with the kids, we picked Miss O.
To prepare for this adventure, we have been given much training and info on what to expect from Ukrainian orphans. Here is a short list of what I know, in general:
- Ukraine is currently in a half-occupied state. 7 things to know about what is happening in ukraine
- Poverty and alcohol make for a bad combination. Some people are so absolutely destitute that they have relinquished their children to the state.
- There is a foster system. There are not enough homes. I do not know how one child gets chosen for foster care with a family and one gets sent to the orphanage.
- It is the custom for children in orphanages to leave in the summer for hosting. It is seen as a type of summer camp for the kids who are being good.
Here are some videos:
Watch as these kids transform!! It is just amazing!!
The video above describes why these children need someone, anyone to love them.
We decided to be a part of the solution.
To be continued......
This is awesome Mary. She looks like a darling girl. She is blessed to be a part of your beautiful family for a summer.
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