What About Education? Part 9

Graduation without computer skills )-:

Great beginnings!

In 2006, I planted a seed of inspiration. MUCH completed the Sweet Dreams II mattress and bedding project and now it was time to think of another project that would motivate the children to reach for higher goals. While meeting with the administration at the orphanage, I asked if they would be interested in starting a computer laboratory for the children. I suggested that it would take some time to raise enough money for to buy three or four computers. They began the investigation process.

When I returned on my next visit three months later, I had approval of my Board of Directors to begin the project. To my surprise, they had purchased six computer systems. The federal government had given grants to the orphanages of Ukraine, thus, they decided to use some of that money to begin the computer program. When they confessed that they did not have any money in the budget to pay a teacher, I asked what it would cost to have someone teach one computer class a day. I was told $20 a month would be enough.

This spark of encouragement, agreeing to provide this stipend, moved the idea into second gear. One of the teachers found a class to learn how to teach computer skills to mentally challenged children. When I asked this man about his background in computers, he told me that it was limited. I further asked where his aptitude would come from. He answered, “I am a teacher. I will learn it, and then I will teach it.” I later learned that his degree was in teaching the Ukrainian language. Yet, he had been hired to teach art and woodcraft. He is truly a man who lives who he is, a teacher.

They now have seven computers and a PowerPoint projector and screen. They are teaching the children graphic art, word processing and other Office programs, and a number of other skills that will help them compete in the 21ts century. They are also using the computer classroom to facilitate other classes and programs.

Our part in the computer classes for the children remains small, although we continue to sponsor this program. We are seeing great changes in the children. Instead of going outside and getting into trouble, or sitting in front of the television for hours, many of the children are going to the computer room to practice their skills. Games are available, and, of course, many of the children like to play the games. Even so, for these children, hand eye coordination, speed skills, keyboard skills, and organized thought processing, will develop abilities that will make them more marketable in the job market.

What About Education? Part 10, we will look more deeply into the benefits of computer skills and knowledge for these children whose parents, if they have parents, are lost in this emerging country.

What About Education? Part 8

Happy days for today!

Some of us will be looking for work soon!

Continuing our discussion about morality and sex education in Ukraine, we should remember what it was like to be a child looking for answers about sex. In the orphanage/boarding school (OBS) that I focus on in this series, the children have many opportunities to watch movies, which have been approved by the administration, without supervision. Part of the reason that movies containing sex and violence are approved is because it is better to satisfy the curiosity of the children within the walls of the OBS. Unfortunately, there is no discussion or evaluation with the children about what the children see. They are left to make their own conclusions.

In Soviet times, mothers would not necessarily prepare their daughters for puberty and the biological changes that would take place. Imagine experiencing this in an OBS. I have watched the girls grow up over the past ten years and I was aware of the ones who were having difficulty dealing with their growing pains. It was obvious which girls were interested in boys, and which were lost in their self-consciousness. In either case, the girls need good examples and clear understanding of sexual morality.

When we started our program, a number of years ago, the focus came about because some of the children were sniffing glue. As we battled this chemical abuse toward the body, we began to understand other problems that the children were encountering. The program that we support, provided by a local church, reaches out to the children before they lose their innocence, if that is possible in an OBS. There are no funds available in the OBS budget to provide a program like this, so MUCH looks to a local church that already has this type of program. It is a big task. MUCH has been making a monthly donation to the church for someone to come to the OBS to teach the children. The personal attention helps the children, but we see bigger changes because of the program.

Looking at national statistics, I see big reasons to be afraid for the children. After leaving the OBS system, an alarming number of the children become involved in crime, end up in prison, or commit suicide. The very sad statistic is that 60% of the girls become involved in prostitution. There are many reasons for this, many are not their own decision, but the question remains, “What can we do to change the future potential of the children?” MUCH is opening doors to create new opportunities in education.

This church-run program is one of the three programs that MUCH supports at this OBS. In What About Education? Part 9, we will look into the computer program that is piquing the interest of many of the children. Their enthusiasm is on the rise.

What About Education? Part 7

Unless you have seen their eyes ...

 In 2002, I was introduced to the children of one orphanage in Ukraine. After touring the facility and experiencing the hopelessness of the situation, my heart was broken. When I was spoken to, I could not reply. This reaction was only because of what I saw. It was not until many years later that I began to understand the hidden secrets of life for these children in the orphanage system.

A bit of history will shine a bright light on what I will share with you in this article and the next. Stepping back in time about thirty years, during the Soviet Union and shortly after its break-up, sex, having children, and abortion, were looked at quite differently than they are today in Ukraine.

In soviet times, sex was taboo outside of marriage. Within a marriage, as children were conceived, they were a welcome addition to the family. In many cases though, if the second child was conceived too soon after the first, abortion was a normal option. There was little, if any, information available for the general population about sex and contraception. (Actually, all information that was available was controlled by the Soviet Government. The Soviet system was anti-family, focusing on work and reproduction of workers.) Little attention was given to planning to have or not to have children. Abortion was considered a normal solution for unwanted pregnancy. It was not uncommon for a woman to have ten or more abortions in her lifetime.

Today, Ukraine is filled with written information, the Internet is available to everyone who can afford it, and sex outside of marriage is looked at with much more freedom. Abortion is no longer the normal solution, but rather contraception and planning are desirable. Even so, abortion remains a solution in some cases.

With this in mind, consider the orphanage system. It is a boarding school for children from difficult homes and children who have no parents. This system is a government facility. In 2002, there was very little attention given to the children in the orphanages. The children were treated as non-citizens, therefore their education about sex and morality was limited, if not completely absent. When children would go home for the summer break, if they had family to go to, a girl might return to the orphanage in September, pregnant. Few, if any options were available. The doctor or nurse would take the child to the hospital for an abortion.

In this short article, you can see the great need of the children, particularly the girls, in the orphanage system to be educated about sex and morality. What About Education? Part 8 will continue the discussion about the real needs of the children to understand sex and morality. Their future depends upon it.

What About Education Part 6

My second focus of outreach during my first six weeks living in Ukraine was the Emmaus Food Program. I began to support this program, operated by the local Baptist church, which reached out to children from difficult homes. Some of the children came to eat without having showered for days, some of the children arrived with lice in their hair, and others appeared in clothes that seemed to be stuck to their bodies.

After interacting with the children for a few years, I realized that no matter how good the program was, the children aged out when they graduated high school and had nowhere to go for help. What was next for them? This was the big question that entered my mind. My evaluation was that the children would continue to live with their parents, and many would follow in their footsteps, using alcohol and drugs to escape the seemingly hopeless situation of their lives. How could this cycle of poverty be broken?

One very powerful answer must be viewed as higher education. In 2007, I had a vision of helping students in financial need who qualified for higher education with transportation to and from Odessa. MUCH began the Transportation Scholarship Program, beginning with two students enrolled in a four-year university program. Transportation to and from Odessa universities in 2007 cost about a $1 a day. In 2012, the cost has risen to about $2.50. One of our students graduated last year, see our January 2012 Newsletter, but it was unfortunate that the second student dropped out of our program. Our third student began university in 2010, and she is doing very well. You can read about her in the June 2012 Newsletter.

Our first student who studied to be an English teacher, has since married, and she has given birth to a baby girl. In the future, she will use her education to help her get a good job, but for now, her education will help her to be a better mother. Our third student is studying nursing, in the area of pharmacology. Each student works through difficult times, but their desires and goals were stronger than the challenges that they faced.

I began to investigate the number of children in Illichevsk who are in need of financial help for higher education. I didn’t have to go far to learn that there are many. My current goal for the school year beginning September 2012, is to add four students to our existing program, which will total five students. To send five students to university, the transportation cost will be about $300 per month.

What About Education? Part 7 will focus on the educational programs at the Marganets orphanage that MUCH supports. These children all have some type of mental or physical challenge. Their ability to learn is different, therefore we want to focus on what motivates them the most and help them to excel. We will look more deeply into their needs in the next section.

What About Education? Part 5

Stretching their money to the limit!

When children graduate from the tenth grade, that is normally the time that they will leave institutional care, they begin a new life that will be much different from that of their past ten years. Depending upon their intellectual capability, they will either continue their education in college or trade school. They may go to work in minimal skill labor jobs, or for the children who cannot function independently in society, they will be sent to a home for the elderly. Here they will live the rest of their lives, that is, of course, unless they have family or relatives who will care for them.

The government has money allotted for each of these children, so there is no neglect in that respect. There is another reason that so many of the children fail to succeed in their lives. There is not an easy answer to this quandary, but in general, the solution is two-fold. The children must be educated to budget their money, shop for groceries, eat healthily, pay their bills when due, and in general, be responsible citizens. The other critical lessons are about building relationships in community. The remaining lessons in life, as I see it, will present themselves to the children as they encounter life day to day.

If these two-fold solutions are not part of the curriculum, how can we introduce these ideas and have them viewed with value? It is a big question. During my regular visits, I was given permission to visit some of the children who had moved on to the trade school.

On one occasion, I offered to take a dorm room of four girls shopping for some food that they could prepare in their room. I told them that they could buy what they needed to last them a week or so. I gave them a limit of fifty grevnya, about $10 at the time. It was interesting to watch them spend the money so carefully. These girls had the beginnings of knowledge and community relationships. Unfortunately, after leaving the educational setting, they chose different lifestyles, not applying what they learned.

What are we currently supporting that is making a change? In one orphanage, we support the computer program, and the music and dance program. These programs are changing the lives of the children in different ways. They both give the children new hope for the future. Developing computer skills is not only cool for the children, but it raises their value in the community. They now feel competitive with their peers. Music and Dance has brought the children into national competition, also raising their self-esteem and self-image.

A third program that we are supporting comes through the local church. This one teaches self-respect and moral values. This is the program that is most difficult to grow in the lives of the children. This is the program that will connect the children with the local community. It will help the children build relationships that will build character in the children.

In What About Education? Part 6 we will look at the Transportation Scholarship Program in Illichevsk. It has taken a long time (ten years), of commitment, but we are seeing doors open, and as we walk through, we are seeing brighter futures for the children.

What About Education? Part 4

Community reaches to the children!

Music is the common denominator.

 In What About Education Part 3, we painted a picture of life in an orphanage in a few different settings. The statistics used in http://ukrainetoutah.blogspot.com/p/facts-about-ukrainian-orphanages.html left us with a massive problem in the lives of orphaned children. Can we put a dent in the problems of the lives of the orphaned children using education?

Beginning with the tragedy of suicide, how could education give children a reason to live? In our program in Marganets, we first touched the lives of the children by improving their self-images with provision of clothing chosen for them. When computers were introduced to their curriculum, their view of themselves was raised to an equal playing field of their peers in the local community. In addition, they now had a new challenge that was interesting to them and within reach.

Someone once told me that prostitution was a better life than that of alcoholism. I had to think on that for a while before I understood the meaning of that statement. Even so, it is not acceptable. Through education, girls need to be taught to respect their bodies. It doesn’t matter the foundation that this respect is coming from, whether religious, governmental laws, or simple morality. What matters is that girls learn that their bodies are not a commodity. Even more so, selling their bodies will not solve their problems. They must be taught this truth.

Some boys will enter a life of crime no matter what their education level is. However, many boys don’t have to make this decision out off desperate circumstances. The boys in the Marganets orphanage have a number of opportunities to focus on that will prepare them for the work environment. Three of these areas are wood sculpture and carving, computer graphics and Office processers, and music and dance. MUCH supports two of the three. Reading, writing, and arithmetic, is basic, but these children need to learn skills that they use creatively in the learning process. They need to see the application immediately. The nature of boys is active. They need to be challenged physically as well as mentally. The correct elements of education can do that.

If twenty percent do find work, how many children are we talking about? The average orphanage in Ukraine houses between one hundred and one hundred and fifty children. Of one hundred and fifty children, 20% is thirty children. That suggests that 130 children in each of the 1000 + orphanages will live a life of failure, if they choose to survive. This is the 21^st century, we surely can do wetter than that. We are talking about a country that has 100% literacy.

In What About Education? Part 5 we will look deeper into the educational needs of the particular special needs children that Sveta and I help through MUCH. As we make efforts to understand the educational system for our children in the orphanages, we see our limits as to how we can help.

What About Education? Part 3

Waiting to be used!

Basics in graphic art.

In What About Education? Part 2, I wrote that we would look at life in Ukrainian orphanages and compare them to other orphanage in other countries. We will begin by looking at a definition with some examples and statistics in different parts of the world.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan

PBS portrays the America orphan in this story about the orphan train.  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/orphan/  In an earlier time, orphans were looked at as a social problem. They gathered them up and shipped them off to a facility.

After WWII, America changed its view on the institution of the orphanage and began to create a new answer to an old problem. Group Homes, a family setting with professional staff, created an environment where children could experience nurturing on a more personal level. In addition, Foster Homes provided a real family that would take one or more children into their home for a short, or extended, period of time.  http://people.howstuffworks.com/adoption5.htm

On every continent, the problem of children without parents is without a solution. Many programs are created with powerful goals, but in the end, few children leave the different systems of care, orphanages, or the various other facilities, and become successful in life.  http://www.sos-usa.org/about-sos/what-we-do/orphan-statistics/pages/global-orphan-statistics.aspx  There are many reasons such as fear in society, limited education, limited life skills, and the list goes on. There is no complete solution for the masses of orphans.

A little closer to my new (ten years) home in Ukraine, the story is equally sad if not tear jerking. Here are some statistics that prove the current system is not working.  http://ukrainetoutah.blogspot.com/p/facts-about-ukrainian-orphanages.html  The mentality in this country is somewhat different from what I am used to in America.

Sveta and I are helping two orphanages/boarding schools (the Ukrainian internat system). Both are set up for children with physical and mental disabilities. Our program focus is different for each, but we see education as the main player that brings change.

In both orphanages, computers are available for the children to use. In both cases, the government gave grants to purchase computers, but was not willing to add money to the budget for a teacher to teach computer classes. One orphanage moved forward, with a little incentive from my organization, while the other waits for money in their budget.

In one orphanage, after I realized that some of the children were sniffing glue, we encouraged a local church to expand their program on morality and drug and alcohol abuse to include the children at the orphanage. The orphanage no longer has this problem.

In What About Education? Part 4, we will look at the post-orphanage problems that the children face and what we can do to better prepare, (educate), the children. In Ukraine orphanages the percentages of failure are devastating.

What About Education? Part 2

In Part 1, we revealed that sex education, morality, and family are the three instruments that will cut the chain-link in the cycle of poverty.

Beginning with sex education, we will explore it from possibly a different perspective. When a child views the body as a positive entity, this begins a healthy foundation. Understanding sex and how it works takes away the mystery of sex, eliminating the “dirty” label, the need for street information, and prepares the child to make health decisions when confronting the views of sex in the world at large.

In my opinion, the strongest factor in building and maintaining a healthy attitude about sex is discussion in a family setting. When children don’t have access to healthy answers, they experience stress, and begin to become secretive about their need for answers. This, in itself, separates them from open communication. They may begin to develop negative ideas about sex.

Jumping forward to puberty and beyond, sex becomes a major factor in the social interaction expectations of peers. Now the questions are: should I or shouldn’t I, do I want the experience, what will people think, do I care what people think, could I get a disease, and what will the results be in the future? Without healthy sex education, many of these questions probably will not even cross the mind of the youth. Have you ever heard a youth say, “Well, I never thought about that.” Sex education promotes thought. It teaches us to consider the outcome of our actions.

 This leads us to morality. Morality may be seen as a list of do’s and don’ts, but I see morality as a guideline. Guidelines seem to be more acceptable than a rulebook, more intellectual, and more thought provoking. When a youth has a moral foundation, he/she will approach each situation, sexual or otherwise, in a thinking mode. I believe that the youth will approach all of life in a thinking mode, evaluating each situation with some degree of wisdom. Of course, it is much more involved than these few words, but I want to lay the foundation for the series.

Finally, family is the social cornerstone for the development of the child. Having parents, a mother, and a father, to nurture the male and female psyche balance in the developmental stages, is very important. I don’t think that this balance is very common today, but it does exist.

People, from birth to death have a need, a deep inner need, to belong to a relationship of family. No matter how strong a person seems, he/she needs mom, needs dad. It is how we are built. Family is an intricate part of who we are as human beings.

In Part 3, we will look at the Ukrainian orphanage system, (the Internat). How does it differ from the orphanages of other countries. What are the living conditions like? Most of all, what are the futures of the children?