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Ukraine Miles Jesu Girls' Home
When you walk in the door of our Girls’ Town, you are greeted by a short-legged, long-haired, strong-lunged welcome-wagon. Everyone has her two kopeks to put in. Rokslana insists on greeting you by bending your hand into a fist and then pretending it’s an apple for her to eat. Emma wants you to carry her around from the moment you arrive until you leave again (even though she’s already seven!) Nastia, at age four the baby of the bunch, expects a lot of cuddling. The whole ritual is very draining, since there are 19 of them. No one, by the way, asks that age-old question: “What did you bring me?” The children in our Ukrainian Girls’ Town have very sad stories. One—already 15 years old—is there because her parents, who love her, are very poor and live far away from any school. She visits them in the summer. They asked us to take her so she could get good formation and have a chance to go to school. But the others are here for more tragic reasons. One has both parents in jail for drug trafficking; many suffered criminal neglect from alcoholic mothers (fathers often unknown); one was rejected by her family because she’s the product of adultery. The worst story is the seven-year-old whose mother twice tried to poison her. The grandmother called the police and begged them to take the child away. Now these children have found a new, loving home. They are busy soaking up all the hugs and attention they can. I see them crowding around the front door like that and thank God that they have found a loving home before it was too late for them spiritually, psychologically, even physically. These little girls are not some statistics on a social worker’s clipboard. We do everything possible to promote a family atmosphere. Whenever a couple of domus members go anywhere, on any kind of errand, they take two or three girls along. The kids love this. Birthdays, of course, are red-letter days, with the domus members hatching a unique and elaborate theme so each child will really feel special on her big day. There’s loving discipline, too. The kids are full of life and usually carry a lot more emotional baggage than children from happier backgrounds. Olja is 13 years old. Her father is an alcoholic who beat her and her mother often, finally throwing them both out into the street. The mother is quite mentally ill. The government office in charge of children’s homes, called us asking us to take Olja, since she had nowhere to go. Her mother begged us to take her daughter, too. Olja is a nervous child but well behaved. When the girls first came to us, they were hyperactive, insecure and did poorly in school. Some of their emotional blocks were so bad, that they couldn’t even draw lines or circles. Now, all are reading and writing and are more calm. God bless you and keep you. Know that your prayer petitions are in our chapel before the Blessed Sacrament. You are gratefully in our prayers.
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Copyright 2012 Miles Jesu. All rights reserved. | |
The Miles Jesu Ladies’ Community opened a soup kitchen in L'viv the late 90’s, including special serving hours for children only. A street lady asked us to take care of her three-year-old, Halia. By 2004, we had finally cleared away all the government red tape and were now “home” to nine little girls aged four to seven years old. August 2005: fourteen girls. August 2006: nineteen girls and counting.
For example, Mirichja is 12 years old. We found her at a state-run children’s home in the Carpathian mountain area. This home, a former prison, housed 160 children. There was no running water and all the children had lice. Mirichja comes from a very poor family in a small village with no school nearby. She was put in this home due to the poverty of her parents but also so she could receive an education. We visited her parents who are simple, honest and hard working people. A friend of ours from the USA who was with us at the time wanted to give a donation to the parents to help them out. The mother said “no”; give the money to the Church instead. Amazing generosity from one so poor! When we asked what we could do for her family, her response was that we find a better home for her daughter. How could we refuse such a plea as that? Mirichja is a good girl, mature for her age and big help taking care of the younger children.