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 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.

Children of Hope

A relationship of love!

"Suffer not the little children ..." 

Click on the picture to enlarge.
What do you see above? Look at them from a distance; look at them close-up. Look at their clothes, the expressions on their faces, and look into their eyes. What do you see?

I see children. Each one has a story unique to him or her, as do all children. What they are at this time in their lives can be summed up in a few words. They are children. What will they become; how will they change; where will they go?

The answers to many of these questions depend upon adults. How will we touch their lives? Will we be responsible toward them; will we care; will we reach out to them? Will we help them become the next generation who will run this world?

The children pictured above live in the orphanage in Marganets, Ukraine. They are special children, not to say that every child is not special. They have special needs. Each child that you see has some type of learning disability. Each child has either a dangerous family environment from which they have been removed, has been abandoned by their parents, or their parents have died, leaving them as orphans. They will grow up in this orphanage system with children similar to themselves, totaling an average of 156.

Statistics tell a very sad reality of what happens to children after they leave the orphanage system in Ukraine. Prostitution, suicide, prison, and a life of crime wait for the majority of them. What can be done?

I don’t have many answers, but I have a few. MUCH has been gradually changing the lives of these children in small ways. Can you see the change in these pictures that span four years?

Four big needs based programs are touching the personal futures of some of the children. Massage therapy is changing the children from the inside out. The neurology of massage is habilitating them. Computer class is opening new avenues for the children, preparing them for a world of graphic art and word processing. The new music and dance opportunities will enrich the quality of the arts in their education. Finally, the drug and alcohol program is molding the children in areas of morality, self-image, and self-respect.

We have stepped up to the bat. MUCH is helping these children in these ways. We believe in them. We believe they are the future of Ukraine. What will you do? Will you help our children through MUCH? Will you help any children? What will you do to change the future of societies on this planet?