Freely You Have Received, Freely Give

It is almost four years ago now in August, 2004, that we welcomed the first five children to our Miles Jesu girls home in Lviv, Ukraine. These girls were all between the ages of six and seven and all were either orphaned or had been for various reasons abandoned by their parents. They came to us from a state-run home for children in Lviv, where they can only stay until they reach the age of seven years.

One of the girls, Svitlana, had been abandoned by her mother at the age of two years. She was left with an elderly woman who was no relation at all to her family. Later this woman admitted that she was planning to sell Svitlana because it was costing too much to feed her. One day when she was three years old Svitlana wandered off and fell through the ice of a frozen pond. A man who was passing by pulled her out, saving her life, and took her to a hospital. After recovering she was taken to one of the government-run children’s home in Lviv, from where we received her into our home four years ago. Svitlana had difficulties in school the first year that she was with us, but she made fast progress in our home with the help of Olga and Natalia (the directress and vice-directress of our home) who gave personal attention to Svitlana with her school work.

In November, 2007, Svitlana was adopted by Miles Jesu Vinculum members, Andrew and Mara Poole. Though it was a little bit sad for those of us left behind, it was a very happy and long-awaited day for Svitlana and her new family, which includes besides Mom and Dad, two little brothers, Joseph and Aloysius. The Pooles spent a month in Ukraine between October and November working out the final details of the adoption. Svitlana felt very ready and happy to go since the Pooles made a huge effort to bond with her during the two and a half years which they had to wait for the adoption process to be completed. Besides calling and writing her regularly, they also made several visits with the whole family, staying with Svitlana from two weeks to a month each time. God bless you, Svitlana, and your beautiful family. We hope and pray you always remember how much you have been loved by so many people from around the world!

We now have eighteen girls with us from the ages of seven to sixteen years. Most of them are in the first, second, third and fourth grades. Each of our children has a history similar to Svitlana’s, though most
of them cannot be adopted because their parents still have parental rights even though they have failed to provide their children with adequate care. Each child wants more than anything to be loved. Our goal in the orphanage is to keep the atmosphere of a home where the children find the security of unconditional love – the love of those with whom they live and the knowledge of God’s immense love for each one personally. The girls are brought up learning about our Catholic Faith, especially in daily living and participation in the sacramental life of the Church.

The girls enjoy a family spirit in our home, including the celebration of their birthdays. The past Spring we celebrated two birthdays: Marichka and Anastasia. Anastasia turned eight on March 31st. This is the fourth birthday she has spent with us. We were remembering when she first came to us in February of 2005 at the age of four years. She was brought to our home by the police wearing just a pair of tights and a sweater. Her fingers were blue with cold, and it took several days to completely clear her of head lice. The police think she had probably spent two days out of doors. Someone had found her sleeping in a dog house. We were asked to keep her for a week or so while they looked for her mother or the family members who had left her on the street. Within the week they had located her mother who asked if we could also keep another daughter of hers whom she didn’t feel capable of raising at home. So Krista, who was eight years old at the time, came to live with us also.

Both of these girls are such a joy for us. Krista was having problems in school the first year she was with us because she hadn’t been attending any classes up to that time. She has made great progress and is doing very well now. Anastasia has been a very good student from the beginning. They’re both happy and very much at home with us.

Marichka turned eleven years old on March 13th. She is one of the children who came when we first opened our home in August of 2004. She loves sports, swimming, bike riding, and hiking. Everyone sees that she is a leader among the girls, and takes a real interest in learning new things. She loves reading the encyclopedia. For awhile she was constantly retelling us the history of Cleopatra which she found fascinating!

Our home is an officially licensed home and recognized by the Ukrainian government as such. The director must be of Ukrainian nationality and with at least a degree in education. Olga, a domus member here, has been the licensed directress of the home since its beginning in 2004. Another domus member, Natalia has been the vice-directress since that time. Both Olga and Natalia are committed full-time to the care of the children and the home, including the teaching and formation of the kids, and the technical running of the orphanage. Of course they receive plenty of help from the rest of the community. The other young Ukrainian women in our community are students working on degrees in medicine, education, and English language at the Lviv Catholic University and Lviv Medical College.

Local people also help us very much in caring for the needs of the children. Not a week goes by without people from our Greek Catholic parish coming by with fresh produce, milk, eggs, and meat as well as children’s clothing. This year for St. Nicolas Day, members of our parish answered specific letters with requests to St. Nick from our children, supplying even sleds and ice skates! And that afternoon the girls also had a surprise visit from our dentist with gifts from himself and his co-workers, including tooth brushes and a live demonstration on how to brush properly!

Our Miles Jesu members in the community make an effort to prepare the girls for real life and to remind them that there are many children and others who are less fortunate than themselves. During the four weeks of Advent this year we also had the girls take part in the spirit of giving.

On four weekends they came in groups with us to our kitchen for the poor where we provide a hot lunch for 200 to 240 homeless and poor people in Lviv. Those days the girls helped to prepare and distribute sandwiches. They even decided on their own to put aside some of the candy they received from St. Nicolas to give to the children who came to the kitchen.

For Easter (which was celebrated this year in Ukraine on April 27th), the Lviv City Council donated breakfast for all the people who have been coming to our soup kitchen. For each person there was a container with sausage, ham, boiled eggs, cheese, Ukrainian pascha bread and a bottle of juice. Our children also helped to prepare the breakfast, coming in on Holy Saturday to get everything ready. Then Easter morning, after the Liturgy, we went to the kitchen together with Fr. Robert Nicoletti, MJ, who blessed the breakfast before the children and Sisters distributed it to the poor.

Close window