A PERSONAL REFLECTION: Our blessing from Artemivsk, Ukraine

by Yurko and Angela Honchar

CARNEGIE, Pa. - In 1997 Ss. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church here in our hometown began a clothing drive for children in an orphanage in Artemivsk in eastern Ukraine. As members of Carnegie's Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church, we as a family of four became involved in the drive to help these needy children. It is the Christian cooperation between our two parishes that eventually led to our "blessing."

On the other side of the world, in Artemivsk, the orphanage director, Andrei Oleksievych Tupitsia, was in his office writing a letter of thanks to this community in America for the wonderful project in which they were continuing to take part, when a young girl named Eryna walked in and asked if she could add a note and the outline of her small hand to his letter of thanks. (To this day Eryna insists that a "spirit" whispered into her ear to enter the office and offer to help!) At about the same time, my wife Angela and I, realizing the many blessings that God had given us, began considering adoption as a way of sharing our good American life.

Thus began the story of our adoption of our now 9-year-old daughter Eryna.

Eryna is a smart, energetic girl and is adapting very well to our family. She has been a blessing to our family. It did not take long for Eryna, and our sons Yurko, 9, and Nick, 12, to blend together to become, in fact, brothers and sister. Eryna will do well growing up in America.

Since she was considered an "older" child, Eryna's chances of being adopted were next to nothing in Ukraine. She would have had little or no opportunities after completing school, had we not adopted her. But, since coming to America, she has set her goals high - to be a doctor! And with her drive and study habits, that's a definite possibility.

There are over 160,000 orphans now in Ukraine, from infants to teenagers. We know it's unrealistic, but our goal is to try to empty the orphanages over there.

Following is a copy of the original hand-scribbled letters that I wrote to family and friends while living in Ukraine in January 1999.

We hope that God will use these letters to move people to adopt one of these wonderful, thankful children. If you or someone you know has any interest in adopting a child, whatever the age, please contact us. We will be more than happy to help. (Write to: Yurko and Angela Honchar, 36 Sigrid Drive, Carnegie, PA 15106.)

P.S.: Our adoption took much longer than normal due to some extenuating circumstances. Normally, adoptions take much less time.

January 16-20

Howdy Folks!

I hope all is well with you and your family back home. All is going fairly well here in Ukraine. (I apologize for writing a photocopied letter, but, believe it or not, the adoption process takes a big chunk out of the day, so it's very hard to write to everyone.)

Our Eryna is a very sharp, very active little girl. She's got so many traits of her brothers: like Nick she'll stay up late at night reading books, like Yurko she likes singing, chewing gum and hugs. The strangest trait, she shares with her mother. When Angela's tired or stressed, she rubs back and forth with her fingers whatever cloth is nearby, whether blanket or coat. I noticed Eryna doing this in the car when she found out she'd be seeing her beloved Babusia (the orphanage director's 80-plus-year-old mother, who farms some land way out in the country) for the last time. Like both boys she loves animals, too. But unlike the boys, she loves to play the piano, even though she's not had any lessons! We'll have to break her of one habit once we return to America: she has been trained at the orphanage that after she bathes she washes out that day's clothing in the bath water!

Angela stayed with us near our orphanage in Artemivsk until she flew home from Kyiv on January 14. The kids loved her helping to teach English. Angela even tried to teach the kitchen staff how to make spaghetti for the first time. What a mess that was! I doubt they'll ever make it again! I miss Angela (and our boys). But I'm glad she's back home safely, caring for the boys.

Life is tough here for almost everyone, but especially around Artemivsk and especially at the orphanage. The kids really depend on our shipments of clothing and shoes from America, since the government no longer provides any clothing or shoes. The local government can no longer provide adequate food. Before this week, our Eryna last had an egg to eat in the second grade, over a year ago. The kids are lucky to get milk and/or meat once or twice per week. They get one orange per year, on Christmas Day.

Of the 200 plus orphans here, five kids need operations, one of whom has damaged DNA, having been conceived a few months after her father was irradiated when Chornobyl exploded in 1986. We'll try to raise money for their operations once we return home.

On the bright side, there are many intelligent, healthy, well-behaved, thankful kids at the orphanage who would be blessings to American parents if they were adopted.

The adoption authorities have been extremely cooperative. For instance, we arrived on Christmas Day, January 7. The local director of education, Vitalii Ivanovych Laher, met with us on Christmas Day to accept our documents and to get our process started. He then scheduled to have the judge lined up that weekend. Over and over, he almost worked miracles. These people are extremely ethical and helpful.

Then there are the extremely dedicated teachers, and the orphanage director, Andrei Tupitsia. They work in shifts so that they are there at the orphanage from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.; some of them sleep there with the kids. Most of the teachers take kids home on weekends. They love these kids. Those who did not dropped out long ago. Yet they make the equivalent in U.S. money of $40 per month! And the local government is months behind in paying them! After they retire, at 65 or 70, they can expect to get pensions of the U.S. equivalent of $10 to $15 per month.

The steel mill is working at 20 percent of capacity. The glass plant is shut down. Most men are sitting at home, out of work. Electricity and water are on only part of the day. Streets and buildings are crumbling. If an American wanted to see what the Great Depression looked like in the 1930s, Artemivsk would be the place to come. If an American wanted to feel it, he would come with no money. Thank God for the blessings we have in America! Good-bye for now.

P.S. Ukrainian national television thought our adoption story was interesting. Angela and I, and photos of all three of our kids (and Carnegie Elementary School), were on national TV all over Ukraine on Friday, January 15, to try to promote adoptions ... an "evening magazine" type show. Angela and I also took part in a very moving commemoration of the 3,000 Jewish men, women and children buried to death in a salt mine in Artemivsk in January 1943 by the occupying Nazis. We saw wonderful Ukrainian Jewish/Christian cooperation. The proverb from the Talmud hits home in our experience this month: "When you save one life, you save the whole world." Also, one of James' epistles says we must help orphans (and widows).

January 21

Howdy Folks!

Today Eryna officially became our daughter! She is now a Honchar. Thank God! Diakuyu Bohovi! Great cooperation from the orphanage, judges, everyone. Tomorrow on to Donetsk (a steel and coal city, very much like Pittsburgh 50 years ago), to authenticate her birth certificate and to get her passport.

Later, Yurko

January 24

Howdy Folks!

Donetsk went fairly well. We are now in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, being helped by Christina Spak, a very able young lady from Lviv, helping to process documents and to get an exit visa for Eryna, etc. (Christina works for Patrick and Marlies Murphy of Adoption Consultants, International of Bethesda, Md., our advisors in our adoption).

We're staying with the Lebediv family - parents with six kids. Great Christian people raising very unselfish, wholesome kids in a five-room apartment. Luba, the wife, is a sister to Vladimir Kuzmenko, who lives behind my mother in Carnegie, in my brother Mike's duplex. Eryna (but she likes the nickname Era, pronounced "Eera") is quite a character! She's teaching the kids to dance here in the Lebediv home, also gymnastics.

On one cold, snowy day, Eryna and I went walking around town by ourselves. She was attracted to a window full of shoes. She was amazed, admiring the shoes. But I didn't have the heart to burst her bubble. This was a used-shoe store. She apparently has no idea what new shoes look like!

Kyiv is like civilization: water and electricity on 24 hours per day! Attended liturgy at our Ukrainian-rite church here - very moving experience, since the same Ukrainian hymns taught to us by our parents and grandparents, and taught to my children by me, are now being re-learned by the locals (following the four generations of Soviet repression of religion). We hope to be home in early February.

May God bless you until we see you again,

Yurko

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, October 10, 1999, No. 41, Vol. LXVII

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