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?

My Memories of Life in Soviet Times

 Written by Svetlana Koehler

 Translated by Mark Koehler

I cannot say that the times were bad, although when you have nothing for comparison; it is difficult to estimate the comfort of your life. There were many things about our life in soviet times that were good, in my eyes; there were also some things that were not so good. We had only our good experiences to judge other experiences.

What was good about soviet times? Secondary school provided an excellent education, a solid foundation for my future studies. Knowledge that I gained was most helpful to me in college. Higher education was free at colleges and universities; I lived in a youth hostel during my medical college years. I studied to be a nurse at one of the medical colleges. Without the stress of financial responsibility, I was free to focus 100% on my studies. I was a first-rate student. In those days, many young people attended school, college, and university, graduating with qualifications to do their jobs well. There were superior teachers and students hungry for knowledge.

Unfortunately, things are a bit different today. Many young students who are not ready for college or university pay money to get in, and pay money for their grades and sometimes their diploma. The sad part is that these “experts” are not doing an expert job. This is particularly dangerous if they are a doctor. In some cases, the students who do have knowledge but do not have the money are passed by in the selection process.

What was bad about soviet times? You may have seen some stories about soviet people standing in line for bread and other products. I can tell you that it was a fact. Buying food and clothing required us to stand in long lines for many hours, sometimes starting our lines at three or four o’clock in the morning. The government stores, that was all there was, would receive shipments of only a few products at a time. Maybe shoes one day, coats or shirts another day, but milk was available every day. As a young mother, I would go to the store with my milk bottle. This also was a long process. From the milk truck or large canisters, milk would be scooped and poured into the three-liter bottle of each mother. I would wait in line for one hour or longer. I was always worried because my two children were at home alone.

To buy furniture, you had to sign-up in sequence at a shop on a register book. This position could require you to wait for one year. While waiting, it was necessary to come into the shop and confirm that you were still interested in the product. My parents bought some furniture for a long wall in the large room, but received it after waiting for one year.

With regard to housing, problems were not large. Young families could get a room in a hostel for free, paying only the monthly utility service thereafter. Young professionals were also provided with housing. If a person worked at the plant or factory, after eight - fifteen years, they could get an apartment for free. My son and his family now live in the three-room flat on the tenth floor that the government gave to my first husband and me. In Soviet times, many houses and high-rises were built. Now we need to pay money to buy a home, and many young families live with their parents not having the money to purchase an apartment.

I soviet times there was no religious freedom the government promoted atheism. The Russian Orthodox Churches were allowed to remain standing, but were not allowed to function actively. I you were practicing religion and it was revealed, you would lose your job. Bibles were forbidden, and could not be found anywhere for purchase. Things have changed very much in this aspect. Today, there is much religious freedom, but the government and many people who practice Russian Orthodox are very negative toward other branches of Christianity.

Telephones were another luxury. Of course, there were no mobile phones, but there were also few landline phones in the private homes. To have a landline phone in your home, you had to enroll at the telephone exchange and wait for as many as five to ten years to have this service. So, how did we communicate? It was acceptable to visit friends without invitation. Or, if I saw a friend at the market, a daily adventure, I would invite her to visit that evening. Life was very simple in those days.

What About Education – Part 1

 

A result of Soviet un-family concept.

Orphan or from bad family, they are alone.

Many debates have occurred about education over the years, everyone has their opinion, and many people have theories, so I will do my best to write with an interesting new perspective. My article will begin with an overview of the basic needs of education from the perspective of preparing children to become responsible adults.

What is the opposite of a responsible adult? Being more specific than to state the obvious, an irresponsible adult, the answer must be an adult involved in criminal activity. The results of improper or incomplete education often will result in criminal activity. Why? Because people are not completely prepared to function successfully in job and society. We will briefly look at the basic education first.

Reading, writing, and arithmetic are the core of survival in the world, but those alone will not suffice. Science, geography, art, music, history, economics and social studies are some of the additional subjects that add to understanding the life experience, but these are still not enough. The soviet education went to great lengths to expand the understanding of each subject, but, in fact, this was not enough.

Life in the soviet system was a forced lifestyle. Not only were children required to study high-level courses in high school, but also they were require to find work after completing their education. If a person was out of work for more than six months, he/she was sent to prison. Can you believe that?

What is missing? Maybe the answer is about family. A wholesome family is the heartbeat of a healthy community. How does this happen, where does it begin, what is the starting point? I believe that sex education, morality, and family structure, are three of the main starting points.

There has been great debate about sex education over the last 60 years. Can sex education be looked at without religious foundation, without rules and regulations and still have a positive outcome? If morality is taught along side, it can. If the value of family is taught as an outflow of the two, it can.

The point is this. When teaching about sex, the end result must be expanded upon. In the past, pregnancy, abortion, single parent homes, and STDs have been the results focused on for not having sex outside of marriage. Of course, getting married so that you can have sex does not provide a good outcome either.

In part two, we will begin to unravel why sex education, morality, and family are the instruments that will cut the chain-link in the cycle of poverty. Illichevsk, Ukraine is a port city, a seaside resort, with a growing economy, yet we have a serious problem of poverty that will not go away. Continue with me as I unravel this problem that is common to many cities.