It’s A Hard-Knock Life
by Ron Gehrke II
For the last few days we have experienced life as a group of Ukrainian orphans. We have worked together, learned together, and showered together (it’s not as bad as it sounds, see Lori’s blog).
Here are a few things we’ve learned about living in an orphanage:
1. Eat FAST. Breakfast & Lunch - 10 minutes. Dinner - maybe 20. If you don’t, be prepared to hear it about it from the kitchen staff. Being yelled at by the lunch lady was never fun, much less when it’s in Ukrainian.
2. It is cold. It is spring and we are all freezing. These old soviet era buildings lack insulation and while they seem to be equiped with heating systems, nightly temperatures in the 50’s (F) apparently do not merit their use.
3. Forget privacy. Not only do you eat in a large cafeteria; you sleep in room with 6 other guys (in beds smaller than a twin, I think these matresses are custom manufactured for orphanages). Furthermore, you shower in a room with stalls, but no curtains, and the toliets, well, have no stalls.
4. Entertain yourself. We managed to procure internet from one of our friends at YWAM (thanks, Andrew!). But free WIFI apparently isn’t on the list of amenities at your standard orphange. There is a tv room with a whopping 27” old school tube TV where we were able to experiece “Cabin Fever” complete with Ukrianian sub-titles (perhaps the only thing that could make this movie experience “complete”).
Those are just some of the physical challenges that are faced by the adolscents living here and while many of us cringe at the thought of not being able to settle every argument via instant access to Google. As westerners, we are completely unfamiliar with the lack of hope for a life with meaning and our worries for the future are more about the comfort level of survival than our actual survival.
Life as an American pretending to be an orphan for a week doesn’t compare. We get to leave, they have to stay. While I hope that this team will be able to make a difference in the lives of the approximately 100 students here, I know that at least 13 people will leave this orphange changed forever. Next time I am having a hard time, I will look to my queen sized bed and 50’ TV and remember that hard is a very relative term.
