Helping a Foster Parent in Russia
March 17, 2011
MIR, in partnership with Stoneworks, is helping Alina as she becomes a foster parent.
Alina participated in MIR’s New Family program a few years ago. Alina is partially supported by donors in the US, a family that hosted these children as part of MIR’s hosting program. Stoneworks helped build the connection between the US donors and Alina.
This is one example of how we help others do what God is calling them to do.
Here is a note from Alina:
My name is Alina. I work at a movie animation studio. I’m a Christian. God put on my heart to take part in the lives of orphans.
In 2008 I met three children (two brothers and a sister) and I began to take them on weekends and holidays from the orphanage to my home. [The picture at top left is from one of their first meetings.]
They have a mother, but she has a schizophrenia; she visits them, but they cannot live together.
I want to arrange care for the two younger children, to take them into my home. The older boy turns 18 soon and it isn’t possible for him legally to be a foster child.
We have become very close to each other and now we are like family. God blesses me so and gives insight into how to build relationships with teenagers and how to help them in the process to growing up. We love each other.
I believe it’s a miracle and a great blessing from God that the staff of the orphanage opened their heart for these relationships, they did not hinder our acquaintance and they support our fellowship for these past three years.
With the children we attend a church, go to movies, go boating, learn to cook, do homework, read the Bible and much more.
This gives children a sense of family life, that they are loved and cared for.
Nastia was born in 1998. She is a very nice and talented girl. She loves to draw, sing and dance. My friend gives her piano lessons at the church we attend.
Daniel was born 1996. He’s a very sweet boy. He studies physics and mathematics, almost perfectly. He loves the Lord. When we first met, he repeatedly told me that they have didn’t have any relationship with God, so I began to take him to church. I feel a special anointing on it. Now he tells his friends about God. He, like Nastia, draws very well and sings, and loves pets.
Nikita is the eldest, born in 1993. He attends the same physico-mathematical lyceum, preparing to go to university to study physics. He loves to play sports. I pray for his spiritual growth, and that God would give him faithful friends.
Good News from Montenegro
March 16, 2011
From Vladimir!
Dear friends,
Thank you so much for your prayers. God answered in miraculous way! The mini bus is found! It was less than 5 minutes away from police station by walk! Parked in parking lot between buildings even unlocked. Police was taking fingerprints from doors searching for those who did this crime. It has few stripes on both sides and one hit on the back. The fuel was spent almost totally and I could see that they were driving close to 500 km. I am thankful that there is no more damage than that. It is obvious that they are not skilful to drive so big vehicle. The battery was totally dead but we managed to drive it back home.
Thanks God they didn’t have good plan to make money from it even they wanted.
Today some police inspectors came to our house and since I wasn’t at home Marijana had opportunity to talk about the faith and church. They were really interested to know more.
We are so thankful to the Lord and also to you for all your prayers. Thank you for your shared concerns for this issue.
Regarding Marijana I just got information that she is going for MR in Novi Sad, Serbia on 13th April (waiting list is making schedule for August!). We hope that then we will have all information regarding the stage of her endometriosis.
Many greetings in His great love,
Vladimir
Hard-knock life
March 15, 2011
from On Life in St.Petersburg by Elizabeth Hulley
There have been many new arrivals to the orphanage this year. Sometimes if we have tea together the counselors tell me about them, but I was still missing information on several of them. Not that it’s my business, but it helps to know.
For example, why would a 17 yr old end up in the orphanage? She’s at the age where she could already be in a dormitory.
I started noticing Dasha in my favorite counselor’s group about a month ago. She kept to herself and sat quietly doing homework, or something. There was something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. She was quiet and serious in a way that reminded me of a child who had brought up in a very conservative household, perhaps religious. Actually, she reminded me of an adult. When she brought me her English homework to check, I saw what had kept her so busy…lines and lines of painstakingly neat penmanship. There are other kids with neat handwriting, but this was done so lovingly.
Dasha seemed eager to learn and even more excited about her grades. She was getting A’s and perhaps a few B’s. She brought out her book to show me the good marks. She told me (voluntarily) about the different subjects she was studying. Doesn’t this seem weird to you, if you picture the typical teenager?
When we started writing an autobiography together for English class, I started to wonder. My name is Dasha. I’m 17 years old. I’m in the 8th form. Being in 8th grade at age 17 just didn’t add up, even in Russia where kids might start first grade at 7 or 8 years old.
And then Dasha started to tell me about how she didn’t go to school for two years. Her mother wouldn’t let her. I didn’t quite get the details about her mother’s mental breakdown, but Dasha is in the orphanage while her mother is undergoing evaluation. Given that her mother had pulled a knife on her…I’m not sure they’ll be reunited. Was it the poverty that prompted her mother to keep her home, maybe a fear that someone would find out?
The not going to school made sense. No wonder Dasha was so excited about her pencils and notebooks; her homework assignments and good grades. She had been deprived, before this, of an education, of a basic rite of passage.
Dasha said that the scariest moment was when the police came for her. “Are you coming to snatch my child?” her mother asked. “No, we’re coming to snatch YOU,” one of the policemen said. “We’re taking your child to safety, because you are the worst kind of mother.” Dasha didn’t seem clear on whether she should be loyal to her mother or not, but she was obviously traumatized by the event. She seems calm on the surface, but got a certain gleam in her eye when mentioning seeking revenge on the woman who put her mother in this condition. She’s in a better place now, but her future fate? Only the Lord knows.
Hard Times in Montenegro – Please Pray
March 13, 2011
Here is an update from pastor Vladimir Cizmanski —
Hello friends,
We were in Serbia for five days trying to make as much as possible for Marijana’s health situation (she was diagnosed two months ago with endometriosis). We were able to make our documents for health insurance and she was able to do checkups by ultrasound in good hospital in Novi Sad. She still needs to go to MR but since the waiting list there is really long (3-5 months) it looks like she will need to go to private medical service to do further investigation.
On the way back to Podgorica I got phone call. Lazar – Simon was calling me to check with me if I was moving our minibus somewhere else in meantime. Very quickly we came to sad conclusion that our vehicle is stolen! It was parked in our fenced yard where our neighbors could see everything!
We have information that somebody took it on Thursday afternoon. The key was in our house and of course the door of our house was broken. Some other small stuff are missing from the house also.
We are very sorry for this happened. All of you who know more about our ministry with kids, teenagers and other church activities know how much we were using this great vehicle that could take 17 people and take many shoe boxes around.
Yesterday when police came to make notes about this, they told us that 90% of stolen cars they find but this is not car! Crime is unfortunately pretty high here and it is very possible that it could be disassembled and transported to Kosovo in parts. It is very clear that this action was managed by somebody who knew that we are not at home. We are always trying to have somebody at home when we are absent but this time we couldn’t find anyone.
We are asking you to pray for police to be led by God in order to be able to find this very needed vehicle for us.
Thank you in advance,
Vladimir
More Progress
March 6, 2011
Liz Hulley reports (from On Life in St.Petersburg)
In which we apply for a civil wedding…
One of the hard things about getting paperwork done in St. Petersburg is that most offices (including banks) have a lunch break from 1-2 or 2-3 pm. So if you get there too close to the lunch hour, you will have wasted time waiting in line and then waste another hour waiting for the place to reopen.
Andrey was free at 1 pm, the lunch break was at 2 pm, and I needed to leave for the orphanage around 3 or a bit later. So we basically had an hour before lunch in which to get everything done.
I arrived a little earlier to reserve a place in line. I was already mentally rearranging my schedule and calling the orphanage to tell them I couldn’t make it. Then I walked up the steps and turned the corner, expecting to see a full waiting room. It was empty-HA! continue reading/-
I poked my head into the office and asked if they were still open and if I could have an application. The woman started asking me about our citizenship and what date we wanted, but Andrey wasn’t there yet. Nevertheless, she took a look at my documents.
I really hadn’t been worried about my documents; it had all seemed easy and straightforward compared to applying for residency. In a way I was glad I had been through that whole process, so that this would seem like nothing.
She looked at the affidavit which I had just gotten back from Moscow. “This will need to be translated.”
“What?” I was confused. The whole form was in Russian. What language did it need to be in?
“This line here, in English.” I looked at what she was pointing at and it was a footnote under the signature: Do not sign affidavit until instructed to do so. That was for notarial purposes! She also pointed to a few lines that said (in English), Russian Federation, U.S. Embassy, Moscow.
“But I can tell you what they say!” I translated them for her, but she shook her head. “That doesn’t matter. WE don’t know what it says.”
I thought I was going to burst into tears. Another trip to the translation bureau? Another few days to wait, now until next week? Sometimes it seems like the small obstacles are even more upsetting than the large ones. I had thought we might have a time crunch, but I hadn’t expected everything to be delayed because of one little line of text.
She took the affidavit and announced that she was going to show it to her colleagues, then ushered me back into the waiting room and marched into an inner office.
I called Andrey, who was on his way. I told him the good news, that there wasn’t a line, and the bad news, that I needed a translation. Just then, the lady emerged from the other room. “A translation won’t be necessary.” No translation! Hurray! Andrey went to the bank to pay the fee while I stayed put to monitor things.
When A. got there, we took turns filling out our parts of the application form while the other looked in the computer database for dates that were open. Having a civil ceremony at one of the wedding palaces is by appointment only. Of course it makes sense, since each wedding party needs a room for the ceremony and arrives with an entourage. We would have preferred to just show up at an office and sign a form, but for some reason the fact that I’m a foreigner means that we have to go through the wedding palace.
A few other couples were showing up, but most were leaving as they learned the spots for the summer were all filled up. A potential bride could be heard moaning, “But September is too COLD!” As for us, we were aiming for spring. We’ll get the bureaucracy over with and just enjoy our church wedding in the summer. We hope.
The lady was a little exasperated with the way we had filled out our forms, but we eventually got them straightened out and picked a date, all by her lunch break. She printed out our names on a fancy invitation.
And then we realized that we were getting married very soon…on paper, that is. The plot thickens.
Specific Needs in Russia
March 1, 2011
An open letter from MIR:
Dear Friends,
Unfortunately, a new Russian law makes it almost impossible for us to place a child with US families for hosting any more in Saint Petersburg and the area.
While we are trying to figure out other ways for children in a difficult life situation to get a chance to change their lives, there are some very specific things they need help with as their lives continue in Russia. We thought that you might be interested to know how to help those children who remain here.
Orphanage #35 in Kronshtadt is waiting on its future destiny, if they will exist or not. While the director is fighting for the orphanage, the kids just hope for the best and live on a day-to-day basis. Girls in one group want their dining area to be a better place, more ‘homey’. The girls would like slippers, a set of dishes and a new table cloth. This will cost about $200.
Orphanage #69 in Zelenogorsk would like two sleds (the kind that you push in front of yourself like a stroller) to take disabled children out and 5-10 inflatable sleds (like inner tubes) for non-disabled children to use sliding down the hill during winter time. Each sled is $50 (they asked 2), each inner tube is $45 (they asked 5). So the estimate cost of their request is $350
Orphanage #61 in Pesochnoe has been especially on our hearts since Tanya Zaikina and I traveled to the US with 9 orphans from #61 this winter. They have become very dear to us. Now that children can’t visit families in the US any more, these children’s future will depend even more on what the orphanage staff and doctors can do for them.
Fifteen children with severe disabilities need advanced testing from the Turner Clinic to identify what aids and appliances will help improve the condition of their growing body over he coming year. A specialist came last week to do the initial testing. We are waiting to hear what the expenses would be after this first visit.
The orphanage depends on private sponsors to complete the testing and purchase equipment that will be built individually to suit each child. Please feel free to email us if you want to know more as we get more information.
Peterhoff #2 is a facility for disabled orphans, they are always in need of children’s clothes, shoes, slippers and medicine for those constantly in bed. We are building a fund for Peterhoff, an average monthly invoice they send us is $100-$150
«Krasnie Zori» (Red Sunrise) facility at Peterhoff has family kids from the area around the city, social orphans and true orphans who live in this school. This place needs very much anything from new socks, personal hygiene items to new wheel chairs, walkers and replacement of a mini-bus, that’s running on it’s last legs. We currently have $2000 out of $24 000 in the fund for the mini-bus.
Another option: are you interested in making a trip to a camp where Russian orphans will be? Each year we host mission teams to serve Russian orphans. Send us a note if you’re interested in sending a mission team.
Are you interested in learning more about the life, joys and struggles of kids whose life will continue in Russia? We are building an email update list. Please visit here to sign up for our newsletters.
In addition to these specific needs, we are involved in many other projects helping Russian orphans. These include partnerships with several American and English charities, as well as our own summer camp. Please visit our website or sign up for our email updates if you’d like to know more.
If you would like to support any of these projects or the work of MIR in general, we have two ways:
1) By check to our US partner; make payable to:
Stoneworks International
PO Box 464839
Lawrenceville, GA 3004
write ‘MIR’ and the purpose of the gift on the memo line
2) Visit the Stoneworks website to make a donation using PayPal.
Thank you and God bless you,
Masha Oshkina
Tanya Zaikina
MIR Charity Organization
