March 28, 2003 ...time with Natalie

Clarke:

Though we are situated in the largest ghetto we’ve ever seen,(entire city of 1/2 million), our interior flat is very nicely furnished.   There are ornate rugs hanging on the walls and spread across the floors.  All the concrete walls are covered in thick velvet like wallpaper of floral patterns.  Evidence is everywhere that things are cared for.  It is obvious that when something breaks around here, it doesn’t get fixed.  It is nice to graduate to cleanliness in our bathroom situation, and even standing up in the shower.  WE have timed our showers when the city has allocated water to be turned on .  Yesterday the water was turned of for the entire day because some official was in town for a visit.  We are amazed at the influence of one official on ½ million lives.

George and Sasha conducting business on our behalf.

Today we leave at 8:30 am to continue our paperwork chasing and to visit Natalie.  Yesterday we initiated our change of name from Natalya to Natalie on our first what seems to be an endless trail for stamped and approved documents.  Breakfast is awkward, as expected, but George, Nikoli and Nadia have already eaten.  (That’s good since the kitchen is about the size of our bathroom at home.)  It’s off to the orphanage and to present more gifts.  The doctors, Marina and Galena, get an “expensive” box of chocolates and the director gets a $120.00 Hrynia phone card.  Take note that the average income here is $600 hryvnia per month.


Our drive through town is like a U2 video, a bombed out rubble filled military zone.  We are grateful for our driver, Sasha, who is a happy man with pleasant blue eyes.  He speaks little English, but shares with us a pile of photos mixed with wrinkled and folded reference letters for the USA.  Splashing through potholes of mud and ice, it is a relief to arrive.  I unfold my legs and stand up from his low and compact little car.  Everywhere you look there are little old women and men shuffling about with their wool attire and bags of whatever.  Some are carrying homemade brooms of sticks, branches and strings.  Others are wheeling sacks of potatoes to sell on the street.  The people are tenacious for preserving.  When many of them smile, we are shown more gold than we posses in our jewelry box at home.

Entering the orphanage, we are ushered to our small meeting/play room, where we will again spend time with Natalie.  They take longer than normal in drawing blood for blood work, so we can’t see her in the morning, but instead go to sign our petition to adopt with the NAC and have it notarized. 

Texas Express Grill - Lugansk, Ukraine

The afternoon slips by quickly with lunch at the way too funny and out of place “Texas Express” grill.

Soon after we try our luck at the Internet Cafe, but are disappointed that we can not read our emails but only send a few.  Another visit to the "Administration" and we sit again in the car while George "makes paperwork".

The 4:00 O'clock hour is nearing and we are anxious to see Natalie. We were asked today the official name for Natalie so we gave her the name:

Natalie Anne Stoesz

Our evening visit is 3 hours long till the hour of 7:00 pm.  By the end, Natalie is teasing us by pulling everything out of the cupboard one by one.  She spreads everything onto the floor and most of the time takes great joy in putting everything back very neatly.  Natalie is starting to play with more vigor.  We engage in a game of cat and mouse and I start tickling her.  Her laughter is soft and sweet.  It seems a bit late for supper, but it is finally 7:00 pm and she must go join her “groupa” for supper.

Natalie's bright eyes and looking for our reaction! 

I only say “finally” because our visitation room is small and we have been through every toy eight times.  We can’t wait to take her out into our world.

Orphans starving for attention and love

As we walk her to her group room, and not because she doesn’t know her way around this complex by herself, we are greeted by a mob of grimy, scratched, messy, bundled and layered, anxious little orphans about 3-4 years old.

They are all deprived of special attention, and begin almost clawing at me crying “Dya-Dya” which means “uncle.”  The looks on these faces are vacant and abused.  Though we are in a caring place with lots of help, there is no money for anything but the most basic necessities and clothing.  Squabbles among each other are evident by the numerous scratches and facial injuries many of them have.

Natalie is different, with herself usually isolated from the others.  She is commanded in Russian to put her doll and photo album away in the other room.  She is still fixated on her book, on us, not watching where she is going and smacks straight into the end of the half open door!  Ouch!  Now she will have a bruise for blending in with all the other kids.

We return to the usual café for potato and cabbage pirogues.  Sasha and George enjoy their fish and seaweed salad.  The interior is stark and clean, it presents well, but something is clearly missing.  It is a walk up style buffet with baked goods, ready to eat food and some dairy products.  Behind the counter, there is beer, vodka, chocolates and coffee.  The merchandise is not stocked, but rather displayed as thought it was fine jewelry, two small boxes set at an angle on a four-foot glass shelf.  The prices of manufactured goods and food are very high and sit for a long time.  The boxes are not dusty, but close examination shows very old price stickers.  Supper for all four of us is under $8.00 USD, inexpensive for us to buy, but very expensive for the locals.

Cafe Lugansk - point and choice cafe

After dinner, we all get into our punee car and zip up the bumpy road to our flat.  Sasha kills his light and motor as he coasts to a stop at the base of our crumbling steps.  I’m not sure if he is trying to imitate a mafia character or showing his economizing behavior in everything that he does.  We head up to our flat.  We first pass through a locked solid steel door.  The inner door is open.  We have forgotten our flashlight, and make our way up the dark stars slowly.  Its great to get past the first two flights of stairs, where the earlier smell of the animal urine was unbearable.  One more solid iron door, and two more solid wood doors and we have passed to apparent safe harbor.  We kick off our shoes, hang up our coats and don’t make it to our room before Nikoli our host is mopping up our smudged seaty sock footprints in the entrance.  We are in time to use the bathroom before the water shut-off time.

Soon we are fast asleep.