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?

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.

A Miracle in My Child’s Life

Svetlana and daughter Olga

Olga with her 2nd child, 7 years later

This story began 7 years ago. My daughter Olga, (she was 17 years old), began to notice that her hip hurt more and more every day. She began to experience muscle contractions that would not relax (charley horse). She told me about her pain, but I did not give it special attention. It was one year later when I noticed that her left leg was thinner than her right that I began to worry. As her pain intensified, I could hear a crack in her hip when she would walk.

My heart was breaking; I blamed myself that I had not responded to her complaints in a timely manner and did not seek medical attention. My daughter and I began to pray and cry out to God. Every evening, when Olga was undressing and getting ready for bed, I saw the difference in the thickness of her legs, and my heart bled. I kept the pain to myself, not showing my distress to Olga.

Soon we decided to seek medical attention. The neurologist looked at Olga, made an x-ray, and identified her diagnosed as coxarthrosis of the hip. Olga was assigned a long list of medications: pills, injections, and intramuscular injections directly into the joint. She and I went to the drugstore and bought everything that was prescribed by a doctor. It was very expensive. At home, we read the abstracts for these drugs and were horrified by the possible side effects. When Olga learned that the injections would go directly into the joint, she was even more terrified. She tearfully said firmly that she would not take this medication, but it would be better to pray and believe that God would heal her. It was a large measure of faith, but without hesitation. Her young faith (only four years old) that God would heal her inspired me.

We prayed for one month, two, and three. Nothing happened. My faith began to waver, seeing the physical condition of my daughter, when I would look at her left leg, thinner than her right. I looked through my physical eyes of fact, not my spiritual eyes of faith. The fact was that my daughter was sick.

At this time, I had conversation with my co-worker. She was disabled. Until now, I did not know her diagnosis. It turned out that she had the same diagnosis as my daughter. She had been taking medication for many years, such as was designated for Olga. This disease leads to disability. This fact shook my faith even more. I told my daughter and she said, "you can give your co-worker all my medications, I still will not take them. I believe that God will heal me."
I did just that. My colleague was very pleased to receive the drugs, and looked at me with surprise when I told her why I was giving her the medications. When I gave her the medication, my faith increased. Somewhere deep in my subconscious I always thought that we would still have to use them.

My daughter and I continued to pray and believe in God's miracle. And it happened! One year later God answered our prayers!

I was working the night shift and I had some free time. I opened my Bible and began reading: Psalm 34: 19 - 21 “The righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all. He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned.” (NIV) “Not broken” - will not rub off! (When the disease is a deformed femur). God, in my spirit, has sent word and healed Olga! As it says in Psalm 107: 20 – “He sent forth his word, and healed them …” (NIV)

Immediately, I called my daughter with delight and joy (words cannot express my emotion at that moment) to proclaim my wonderful news: “God will heal you!” And she screamed with joy, too: “Yes, I know. God healed me! He just told me!” God said this to Olga and me at the same time. It is a miracle!

A week later, we decided to have a medical examination. The doctor made an x-ray and said, “You will do well, you're healthy.” Even so, we have two pictures that prove the healing.

Luke 18: 7-8 “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him night and day? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” NIV

Let my story be an encouragement to those who have faith. Continue to pray, read the Bible. Everyone has a measure of faith. Let your faith grow. Trust God. God responds to faith and wants to see faith in our hearts.

Friends and Family

During the past 7 years, I have developed an acquaintance with a shop owner here in Illichevsk. Igor spoke nice English, giving him a good start in business after the fall of the Soviet Union. He previously worked in Odessa outdoor markets and traveled to other countries to buy goods for sale in Ukraine. His family began to grow sixteen years ago, first with his daughter Marina, (now passionate about the English language) and then, a number of years later, a second daughter, and a little over a year ago, a son. His business has also grown, starting with one shop that provides a variety of products. I could buy items such as sandpaper, nuts bolts and screws, or light bulbs and extension cords. As his business grew, he separated the two major product groups, renting the shop directly across from his first.

Our friendship began when I needed to buy some building materials for a bookshelf. Not long after, I built a bed with drawers, and when the massage clinic began, I built a wooden ladder. Over time, I would stop in for one item or another, and we would chat. He was very proud of his growing family, particularly his first daughter, Marina.

When I visited the market last week to buy some light bulbs at Igor’s first shop, I walked across to the second shop to chat with him. We talked about a number of things, including his family, and finally our conversation turned toward my work. He wanted to understand exactly what this pleasant America did that kept him living in Ukraine for so many years. I did my best to share with Igor what my job was all about. I gave him my web address to see what I do.

Upon returning home, I realized that I had bought the wrong wattage light bulb. Realizing that I would see him again the following day, I prepared my business card, adding my blog address that has a blog translator gadget. This would enable Igor to read my blog and website in Russian.

The following day Igor was away when I arrived. I asked his clerk across the way to give my card to Igor, explaining that the web addresses were on the back. He, understanding my poor Russian, said that he would.

That night, I received a comment on my webpage from Igor’s daughter. They invited me to visit with them on Sunday, thinking that a walk by the sea would be a nice atmosphere. We set up the meeting time and place and were ready for a nice, well-translated conversation with the help of his soon to graduating daughter, Marina.

It was a beautiful day to be by the sea. The sun was shining brightly while an ordinary sea breeze scurried by; we tried to ignore the 40 degree F temperatures, talking above the sounds of the lapping waves. We talked of many things, all trickling down to one essential model. The family structure is the strength that will cause a country to succeed or fail. Family must be the heart, the foundation of every community.