June 9, 2001
It’s hard to believe that it has already been four weeks since we returned from Russia with our new eleven-year-old daughter Anastasia and her five-year-old brother Alexey. They are truly a double blessing and have changed so much from the quiet obedient children we met at the orphanage. Now they are a bundle of energy and with blossoming personalities of their own. From where I stand I can see into each of their rooms where they are both sleeping quietly in their beds. Two beautiful children but a complete contrast in sleeping styles. Anastasia lying peacefully on her back and Alexey curled up almost face down in his pillow. And in a way, watching them sleep so differently reminds me of the sharp differences we experienced during our recent eighteen day trip to Russia.
Russia is a country of wide contrasts; rich and poor, new and old. Sometimes Moscow and the rest of the country seemed to be living in different centuries. As a general rule, I would say that for every mile we drove away from Moscow, we went back one year in time. There were some things, however, that never seemed to change such as a totally confusing alphabet, wary pedestrians, a lack of ice, smoke belching busses, and bone jarring potholes. I don’t know why they just don’t put up one giant ‘Caution - Potholes Everywhere’ sign over the highway as you exit the Moscow airport. It would save a lot of money over having to put up thousands of little ones all over the countryside.
Even if you only spend a short time in Russia, the contrast between rich and poor, new Russians and old Russians is as clear as the differences between the shiny Mercedes and rusting Ladas that they drive. For fourteen days we stayed at a modern German built hotel in Tver with hot water twenty-four hours a day. But just across the street people filled buckets and milk cans with water from a pipe to carry into their homes. I will admit, however, that you couldn’t always tell a person’s income level by their clothing since they always seemed to be wearing their ‘Sunday best’.
As any parent who has adopted a child from another country knows, the emotional contrasts that you experience to bring your new children home can be as sharp as any physical ones. And we, of course, had our share. From the wonderful happiness we felt in meeting Anastasia for the first time to sadness in seeing the eager faces of so many beautiful children at the Andreapol Children’s Home that we could not take with us. From the joy of witnessing the reunion of a brother and sister for the first time in three years to the unhappiness of having to wait yet a few more days before they could be together permanently. From the tears of happiness in phoning our oldest daughter Shannon just after coming out of court and having the ten day waiting period waived to tears of frustration when we had to tell her two days later that we couldn’t get back in time to see her receive her doctorate degree. From the feelings of impatience when dealing with a complex government bureaucracy, to knowing their compassion when seeing tears in the eyes of the government inspectors as they testified in court about the conditions at our children’s orphanages. From the lows of having to live for weeks out of suitcases in a small hotel room to the high of walking off that airplane for the last time with our new daughter by our side and our new son in my husband’s arms.
One of the most memorable contrasts from our trip to Russia was the difference between the orphanages where our son and daughter lived. As a background, our new children came from the Tver Region of Russia, which begins about seventy miles northwest of Moscow and is approximately the size of Missouri. It has four baby houses, forty orphanages for very young children, three orphanages for ages three to seven, ten for children from eight to sixteen years old, two orphanages for children with special needs. In all, there are about five thousand children in orphanages in the Tver region, of which ten percent are eligible for adoption.
Alexey was almost five at the time of the adoption and was, of course, in a different orphanage than his older sister Anastasia. As a general rule it seems that the younger children have better living conditions than older children. Their orphanages are closer to major cities and in better buildings. As an example, Alexey’s orphanage has been in the town of Bologoye for over 35 years on the shore of a large lake and not far from the Moscow-St. Petersburg Highway. In contrast, Anastasia’s orphanage for older children was just outside of the remote town of Andreapol over three hours away from Tver. It was spread over five buildings of a former Soviet Union military outpost. The roads in the region are not numbered after you leave the Moscow-St.Petersburg highway and in order to find Andreapol, we had to ask for directions at least 15 times from a complete cast of characters including everyone from a man selling dried fish on the side of the road to a factory gatekeeper to women buying vegetables out of the back of a truck to men standing next to a broken down car.
The atmosphere at Andreapol was very open. The children, who ranged in age from eight to sixteen, were even free to walk two miles to town if they signed out. Their schoolhouse was a single story paint peeled wood frame building with very small classrooms. When not in school the children mostly just walked around and they had only one soccer ball for 98 children.
In contrast to Andreapol, the orphanage at Bologoye was a small complex of three masonry buildings attached to one another. During the brief tour we were given of the facility, we saw brightly colored playrooms well stocked with toys. One room even had eight tiny treadmills lined up against a window looking out on the lake. We believe there were about fifty children in the orphanage, although we only got a small glimpse of them and usually everything seemed as quiet as a convent.
The diet for the older children at Andreapol had little variety. They mostly ate bread, beet soup, rice, potatoes, macaroni, and tea. Sometimes they had meat in their rice, but not very often. Our daughter told us that they had not had fruit or milk in the two and a half years she was there. We happily bought out all the oranges from two fruit vendors and every child and staff member received one. We also made sure that they had more soccer and volleyballs bouncing around the grounds when we left.
There can be a wide variety of reasons for differences between orphanages, and some go beyond the structure of the child care system. We are sure that the strong personality of the director at our son’s orphanage was a significant factor. She had worked for 35 years at the children’s home and her stamp was on everything there. There is no doubt that she found ways to make sure it was adequately funded, although it probably had to go without hot water at times like most of the rest of Russia. Also, the more frequent adoption of younger children from Bologoye has generated much more income for the orphanage than at Andreapol where we were one of the very first to adopt from there.
In all that we have said, it is important to note that both orphanages were relatively clean and run by a caring staff. They do the best they can with what they have to work with, which is often very little. Sometimes their sacrifices were very moving. When we took gifts of cosmetics and hosiery to the staff members at Andreapol, they gave them to the older teenage girls, although I’m sure they would have liked to have kept them for themselves. They ate the same food as the children and lived under the same conditions for sometimes as little as $12.00 a month.
We hope that our story has given you an interesting insight into two different orphanages in the Tver region of Russia. If you have already adopted internationally, you probably have some great stories of your own to share. If you are in the process of adoption or are a waiting family, we hope that we have helped you in some small way to prepare you for your own great adventure.
Perhaps you would like to know how you can help. The best way, of course, is to consider adopting an older child. There are so many affectionate, beautiful older children who need the love of a permanent family. Another way is by directly helping needy children through the assistance Children’s Hope International. We are currently working with CHI to provide a small tractor to the orphanage at Andreapol to help them work their vegetable gardens and potato field.
And last but not least, you can help the
children with your prayers. Adoption
is a journey of faith. And, we
could not have completed ours without the love and prayers of our three
children, Shannon, Chris, and Leslie, our family and friends (especially Elena
Popova and our CHI Regional Coordinator Galina Savicheva).
God chose two wonderful children to be part of our family forever and
we are truly blessed.
Jim & Susie Walter
4787 Deer Run Loop
Carthage, Missouri 64836
417-359-5320