Anastasia lives in a Chernobyl Children International Home of Hope in the Minsk Region of Belarus. A report from a recent visit:
Anastasia, a sociable 17 year old girl, tells us that she doesn’t want to talk about her past, but rather her future.
She shows us her art projects, and and proudly tells us that she
frequently places in exhibitions. She plans on attending the Academy
of Arts in Minsk, and will study interior design.
I ask her to tell me
more about her life before she joined her new family.
“I only
have this to say, and not much more. My mother had a choice between
alcohol and her children. Alcohol won.”
“My mother was always drunk. My
father hated her and had affairs with other women. He would beat my
mother, I saw it all. I tried to protect her, but I couldn’t. When I
was 8 years old, he woke me up one night and told me he was leaving.
He asked me to go with him, said that life would be better. But
couldn’t go! I had to take care of my mother, and my young brothers!”
Three
years later she and her brothers where placed in an orphanage. After she and her brothers moved in with their new family, “I still
hoped my biological mother would change. I still see her from time
to time. She hasn’t changed. I expect nothing from her. When I came
to this family I learned, for the first time, the meaning of love,
respect, and generosity.”
Our Homes of Hope program takes children like Anastasia out of dismal orphanages and places them in real, loving homes of their own. We call this program "Homes of Hope," because it breaks the cycle of
child neglect and abandonment, and sets the children on the path of a
hopeful future.
Each Home of Hope provides a family for up to 10 previously
institutionalized children. Most of them come from shocking backgrounds
of neglect and abuse. So far, we have placed almost 200 children in these families. We need your support, click here to Donate Now.