For many families going thru the International Adoption Process, a visit to a Russian orphanage is an exciting and memorable experience. Their first visit to the home usually means they are meeting their child for the first time. There is so much information being passed back and forth between the family, Orphanage staff and the child, parents may not have a chance to have all of their questions answered.
Once everyone makes it back home and all the traveling and paperwork is complete and changing a diaper is more of a reflex than a process, parents often find time to reflect on their journey. More often than not, they are left with one nagging question,
“What happens to the children that are not adopted?”
is no easy answer to this question and not every un-adopted child falls to this fate, but the answer is that the child’s life will be tough. Evidence reveals several systematic disadvantages imposed on young Russian orphans, which stifle their fundamental rights to survival and development, and place them in a underclass. According to Russian law, the state must provide all orphans leaving the care of the Education Ministry with an initial stipend, housing and employment, but economic uncertainty since the introduction of market reforms and privatization of apartments makes this increasingly difficult. Indeed, the thought of life outside the orphanage is a source of great worry to the orphans and child welfare experts alike.
About 15,000 Russian orphans, ages 16 to 18, leave the homes each year with little or no formal schooling, very limited life skills, and no one to turn to for assistance. Of these, 5,000 are unemployed, some 6,000 are homeless, around 3,000 resort to crime, approximately 1,500 commit suicide, and roughly half the girls are forced into prostitution.
This is not how things have to be.
Life does not end after the orphanage,
it’s only the beginning.
Two years ago, Maria House was just a dream, a dream of a better life for the young adults of the Russian Orphanage System. This dream provides children with knowledge and the resources to move on to the next phase of their life, independence. Now, Maria House is on its way! The combined efforts of Project Sunshine, European Adoption Consultants and the Ministry of Education in Vladimir have pushed our dream closer to reality.
In Lukhtonovo, Russia (Vladimir Region, four hours east of Moscow) there is a Children’s Home that houses over 120 orphans and is part of a self-sufficient farming community. The land and the buildings have a rich history and are now owned by the Russian government. The vast countryside includes stables, a heating complex; it’s own water pumping station, arable farmland and a mansion. The mansion was built in the early 19th century and served as an orphanage after WWII; it has been unoccupied since mid-1980 and fallen into disrepair. This building is the ideal place to create our educational community.
Maria House will be a technical college designed around the needs of young adults coming out of the orphanages. Many children leaving the homes have had no skills training to prepare them for their future and most lack the basic knowledge of how to live independently. In cases of slowed development due to neglect, abuse or medical issues, Maria House will serve as a Rehabilitation Center with on site professionals to provide special needs education.
Recent estimates have over 700,000 orphans living in 2,000 state-run orphanages in Russia; 75,000 will be told to leave the homes in the next three years. Every year, more and more children are “emancipated” from the orphanages and hurled into an intimidating world. This is our chance to do something MONUMENTAL and change the lives of children thru education, the arts, compassion and love.
Plans include classrooms for learning practical work skills, rehabilitation rooms for developmentally delayed students, a library & computer lab and dormitory rooms to house twenty-four students during their education. There will also be a bakery/cafe and a bed and breakfast to expose students to a real world business environment and provide low-cost bread to surrounding orphanages.
The Maria House Project places a special emphasis on the Arts. Education through expression is very important for the development of all young adults. A portion of the Maria House is designated as a fully operational Theater space, complete with lighting, sound, and audience accommodation. This theater will provide many opportunities for student involvement such as public speaking, acting, costume making, set building, play writing and basically letting their imagination run wild.
Creativity rooms will offer various other ways for the children to express themselves. Painting, music classes, carving workshops and more will provide a fun and therapeutic outlet for their rapidly developing minds.
No Educational Community would be complete without a library full of books and other research materials. A history museum within the library will display important artifacts to provide hands-on learning of the rich, Russian culture.
What is it worth to help a child with no family, no home, little education and no social network? What value can be placed on providing a future for a group of children unprepared for their rapidly approaching adulthood?
Since the Maria House Project began, the critical purpose of the project has been obvious; to help orphans enter adulthood with a sense of enthusiasm, promise and pride. We want to provide a place specially designed around the children and equipped with all the tools and resources needed to improve their lives.
The task of building such an Educational Community is enormous. The price of building Maria House is huge. The benefits of such a school will be MONUMENTAL.
We need your help. Work begins in Spring of 2007. A reinforced foundation and a new roof will be in place Winter. Beyond that, there is currently no funding. We plan to be ready for the 2008 construction season with donations received throughout 2007.
There are many ways to help. Cash donations, network fund-raising with your family, church and community, distributing Project Sunshine literature, providing your skills (especially grant writers), asking your employer to help.
If you are interested in supporting Maria House, please fill out & return the form below. Now is the time!
