Nowhere To Go

While this is such a joyful time for our family, nothing can prepare you for visiting the orphanage and seeing the faces of all the other kids who have no one to care about them. The sad truth is that very few of the these children will ever realize their dream of having a family. The gorgeous young lady pictured above was suddenly orphaned two years ago when both of her parents died. I'm told she is "brilliant," studying both English and French, and excelling in all her courses. But the future for her, and thousands of other older orphans is frightening. A large percentage turn to prostitution, crime, and ultimately, suicide.

A handful of wonderful people donate their time loving and nurturing these kids. Others spend their time and resources doing everything they can to find families to adopt them. But thanks to the efforts of a stouthearted American woman named Clara Pascal, there is hope for children who age out of the orphanage, with no hope of adoption. Clara's program is called the Orphaned Teen Scholarship Program. Please take a moment to read about it here.

Seen here explaining the program to Dana, Clara focuses on the kids who are about to, or already have "graduated" from the orphanage. Each child is asked to write a profile of themselves as an appeal to a potential sponsor. One girl writes:

My father died in an automobile accident when my mother was pregnant with me. In 1997 when I was finishing the 1st grade, my grandmother died because of Liver Cirrhosis. For that moment, my mother lived with a man. He lived with mother for ten years and I considered him as my father. He brought me up and taught me like a father does his own child. In 2000, he died. After that my mother began to take alcohol and because of it died in 2004. I believe in God and trust Him in complicated situations and He often hears and helps me. I read the Bible. I ask you, dear sponsor, your help and support. I ask to understand me in a difficult moment, to share my success and failures and to be my friend. Thank you in advance.

As important as the $57 monthly donation is to help meet their basic needs, these older teenagers desperately want to know someone cares about them. You can read more of their profiles here.

Vika is one of our Nastia's best friends. She aged out of the orphanage a year ago and is a great candidate for Clara's program. Vika is sweet, motivated and loved by all. But without help, her future is grim.

Volva is a precious 14 year-old boy who greets us happily every time we see him. I have not been able to forget Volva's smile since first meeting him. He is one of many faces we will hate to leave behind when we head back to our comfortable middle class life style in the states.