This web site describes our trip to Ukraine (August 2009). We include
text for your review and reflection as well as a link to some pictures (scroll
to the bottom of the page).
We (Elva, Zoya, and I) left Harrisonburg on Aug 3 (Monday
afternoon) and drove to Miracle Meadows (Salem, WV) and picked up Katya.
We then drove to Pittsburgh, PA and spent the night at a motel near the
airport. The following morning we
left our car at the motel and took a shuttle van to the airport.
We took a Delta flight from Pittsburgh to NYC in the morning.
Then we took a 4:15 p.m. Delta flight from New York City to Kiev,
Ukraine. This was an overnight
flight about 10 hours long. The
difference in USA Eastern Time and Ukraine time is 7 hours.
We arrived in Kiev at 9:00 a.m.
Then we took another flight in the afternoon from Kiev to Kharkov and
arrived at Kharkov around 3 p.m.
At the Kharkov airport our driver, Anton, met us. He held up a sign that said “Miller” on it. Anton couldn’t speak English but he took us to our hotel, Kharkov Hotel. This four star hotel is located adjacent to a large park in the central part of Kharkov and also a block from the Lenin square. Our hotel room was a suite with a bedroom where Elva and I slept and a sitting room with a foldout couch where Katya and Zoya slept. Included in the hotel price was a Ukrainian buffet style breakfast which we enjoyed each morning. We were tired on Wednesday so soon after arriving at the hotel (late afternoon) we went to bed.
On Thursday morning (Aug 6) we met our interpreter and
guide, Ed at the hotel. We decided
to visit Ivan, the girls’ birthfather, who lives in Kharkov.
We arrived at Ivan’s apartment late morning; Ivan was waiting outside for
us and greeted us warmly. His wife,
Getalina was also there and smothered us with Ukrainian welcome kisses.
We went to Ivan’s apartment which was typical Soviet style – a small
bedroom, small living/dining room, a very small kitchen, a closet toilet, and a
bathtub in a small closet room. We
washed our hands in the bathtub. We
ate a very delicious Ukrainian lunch that Getalina had prepared with three
different kinds of meat and various Ukrainian dishes.
Ivan gave the girls a lot of presents
including cell phones and other items.
The girls had prepared gifts for Ivan; each girl had
purchased a very nice picture frame and put their individual picture in it.
Ivan liked their gifts very much.
We spent several hours in Ivan’s apartment with Ed interpreting our
conversation. We had brought along
a couple dozen pictures of our home and of the girls in various activities,
which we showed Ivan and Getalina.
Several hours later we left and returned to our hotel; we later walked in the
park and ate a light supper at a park restaurant. (Picture at Right: Ivan,
Galena, and Ed)
On Friday morning (Aug 7) we went to visit the Orphanage at
Krasnikut (the place where we first met the girls in 1998).
That was about a two hour drive from our hotel.
Our driver, Anton, had a BMW sedan; Anton and Ed sat in the front seats
and we four crowded in the back; Elva held Zoya.
We arrived at the orphanage late morning and met the Director who
remembered us from 1998. Our
adoption process was the first American-based adoption from this small
orphanage; later other American adoptions occurred.
The Director had several photo albums with pictures of the adopted girls
and included some of Katya and Zoya.
We toured through the orphanage which was much improved since 1998.
It was clean and brightly decorated;
seemed
like they had more things – toys and accessories than I had remembered.
One donor had provide funds for an out-door swimming pool which was a
very nice addition. We met some of
the children groups at the orphanage.
After a couple of hours, we left the orphanage and started to drive back
to Kharkov; we stopped at an outdoor Ukrainian restaurant for a late lunch and
then returned to our hotel. That
evening, Ivan and Getalina, came to our hotel.
We walked together in the park and communicated through Ed.
Picture at Left: Orphanage Director talking to Katya and Zoya
On Saturday morning (Aug 8), we again left Kharkov to travel to Ukrainske village, the birthplace of Zoya and Katya. Ivan and Getalina also wanted to go. So Ivan drove his car; Ed rode with them which gave us more room in Anton’s car. Ukrainske village is about an hour and half drive from Kharkov. It is a very poor village with about 400-500 residents living in mostly run-down houses. Twenty years ago, Ukrainske village was the center of a thriving collective Soviet style farm which included a large dairy and apple orchards. The major agricultural crops grown in the area are wheat and sunflowers. The wheat harvest was past but the sunflowers were in bloom and not harvest yet. Ukraine exports sunflower seeds and oil. While we saw large fields of wheat stubble and sunflowers on the way to Ukrainske village, we did not see any thriving agriculture at the village. Rather some people had small subsistent gardens; we saw individually owned cows tied out in the fields for grazing as well as some goats. Much of the agricultural land with its rich black soil was grown up in weeds; the apple orchards were neglected. When the Soviet Union broke up the collective farms were also altered and divided. The government kept 20% of the collective farm acreage; 80% was divided among the people. So for an example, Ivan, who lived in the village at the time, has title to about 8 acres of land. Yet these small plots are not farmed or cared for. The individual owners did not have small equipment to farm their plots and so they simply left them alone. I asked Ivan if he planned to do something with his land; he responded by saying “I spit on the land” because it no longer provides for us. Ivan left the village at the time the girls were placed in the orphanage and went to Kharkov where there were jobs.
When we first arrived at the village we visited the graveyard which is located outside of the village. There we saw the graves of the girl’s siblings: four children from a second fire started by their mother and then the grave of their youngest brother who died in the third fire from which Katya and Zoya were saved by a neighbor. The graveyard also contained the bodies of one of Ivan’s brothers, who died young as an alcoholic. Another grave contained the body of Ivan’s mother, Zoya. One of the customs for many of the graves is to include a photograph in the gravestone. That was basically so for the more recent graves of the adults; the girl’s siblings graves didn’t have photographs. Rather they were marked by iron crosses inscribed with names and dates. We had only been in the graveyard for a short time when we saw two elderly village women walk to the graveyard. The village knew that we were visiting and these women who had remembered the girls came out to greet us. The one woman was a former neighbor to the girls; the girls, especially Katya, used to go to her house and she would give Katya some candy or cookies. The other woman was a grandmother to Katya and Zoya’s half-sisters (Tatyana and Olga, same mother, different father). We went to the village and first visited outside of the home of the neighbor women. Then we drove to the other side of the village and stop at Tatyana’s home. We went inside and Tatyana served us tea and cake. Tatyana is a school teacher and is married to a carpenter; they have one son who is about 10 years old. Tatyana was very gracious and welcomed us warmly. Later as we were leaving her home, one of Ivan’s brothers who lives in the village stopped by with two of his children. So the girls were able to meet an uncle (I don’t remember his name). We visited the school and stopped by one of the neglected apple orchards and picked a couple of apples to eat. Then later in the afternoon we started back toward Kharkov. Ivan had planned to barbeque chicken for us for supper. We first stopped at a fresh-water spring and got some water and then at a roadside park/woods area which was rather primitive. While we were there we encounter a middle age couple and another woman from Ukrainske village who were returned from the farmer’s market in Kharkov. They had gone to sell some of their home produce, cheese, and butter. These folks knew Ivan; the couple was Zoya’s god-parents. The woman recognized Zoya and greeted her and the rest of us enthusiastically. They did not have a good day at the market and so had left over items. They gave us some butter and a couple of different kinds of cheese which we added to our picnic supper. Ivan made a charcoal fire and barbecued chicken for us; along with some other picnic food we had a nice time there. Late afternoon we left and drove back to our hotel.
Ivan had made arrangements with Olga (the other half-sister) who lives in Kharkov to meet us that evening. That evening Olga came to our hotel; Ivan, Getalina, and Ed the interpreter were also there. We spent some time walking in the park and talking to Olga through Ed. Zoya had our pictures and showed them to Olga and explained a bit about our life in the US. Olga works as an assistant chef at an upscale restaurant on the other side of Kharkov. She is married, but separated from her husband who abused her and hurt her on numerous occasions. They have two children who are currently living with her husband. Saturday was a very eventful day and provided many memories.
On Sunday morning, we left the hotel with Ed and Anton and went to a large Ukrainian Orthodox church. As babies, Katya and Zoya were both baptized in the Ukrainian Orthodox church. This large church/cathedral was filled with icons and images. Worshippers typically purchased candles, lit them and placed them in front of various icons. There were no benches; people stood or milled around. During the time that we were there a large chorus was singing from a balcony and a small ensemble group sang antiphonally from a section on the main floor. The songs were primarily chants in harmony and were of course in Ukrainian. While we were there a Orthodox priest came out and served communion to those who wanted to partake. People lined up and went to the main alter and were served bread and wine by the priest. We left the church building and talked a bit out in the church yard; during the whole morning people were coming and going to the church.
When it was close to noon, we went to a Ukrainian restaurant to meet Sasha. Sasha was our Kharkov host when we first visited Ukraine in 1998 at the time of the adoption. We lived in his home for about a week and a half and slept in his bedroom; Sasha provided most of our meals during that time. At the restaurant we met Sasha again as well as Igor, who was our driver Anton’s father. We had a nice time and talked a bit through Ed. Following the meal we went back to the hotel with Ed. We had arranged to meet with Ivan and Getalina that afternoon in the hotel lobby to talk a bit about the girls.
Around mid-afternoon Ivan, Getalina, and Ed came to the hotel; Elva and I sat in the hotel lobby with them. (The girls were in our room upstairs during this time.) Through Ed, I explained a bit about the girls and how life has been for them. I thought he should know about fetal alcohol exposure and told him a bit about that and how that has affected both of our daughters; I talked a bit about Katya’s running away and described our placing her at a boarding school for “at-risk-kids”. I think the conversation was a real eye-opener for them. Later when the girls came down, Ivan talked directly to Katya and told her to be grateful for her American home and to be obedient etc. It was rather emotional and Katya responded positively to Ivan. Ivan told Katya that life in the US was fair better than in Ukraine. In Ukraine there would not be opportunities for education and a job like she has in the US. He told her that if she wanted to come and live in Ukraine, she was welcome to do so, but AFTER she completed college and had a career/job in the US. Following this meeting, Ed, our interpreter left and traveled back to his home in southern part of Ukraine.
Monday during the morning, we were on our own. We visited a couple of art museums within walking distance of the hotel. That evening, Ivan and Getalina, came to meet us at the hotel and we went walking about 15 blocks away to another large park where we spent some time together, without an interpreter.
Tuesday morning, we visited the zoo; then we went back to the hotel and got our things packed. We needed to check out by 1 pm. We did so and waited in the lobby for Anton, our driver to take us to the Kharkov airport where we had a 4:00 p.m. flight for Kiev. Ivan’s had planned to meet us at the airport to say goodbye. When we arrived at the airport, they were already there. We went inside to the waiting room to wait for our flight. While we were there Tatyana and her husband walked in surprising us. They drove an hour and half from Ukrainske village to say goodbye to us. Shortly after they were there, in walked Olga, who took off from her work to come and say good bye. We “communicated” to the best of our ability with them for about an hour. They we said goodbye and went through security and walked to the gate where our plane was waiting. We flew to Kiev; spent the night in a hotel near the airport.
Wednesday morning, we left Kiev for a flight to New York
City. We arrived at NYC in the
early afternoon (plus seven hours time difference) and prepared for a later
flight from NYC to Pittsburgh.
Flights from NYC Kennedy Airport were being canceled because of weather,
however, our flight was still on schedule until about 30 minutes before
departure time when we were told that our flight was cancelled because of a
service issue with the airplane.
There were no other flights from NYC to Pittsburgh that day.
We spent the night in a NYC hotel and then flew the following morning
(Thursday) to Pittsburgh. We got
our car and took Katya back to Miracle Meadows School and then drove home to
Harrisonburg that evening, arriving around 7 p.m.
Picture at Left: Four Sisters: Zoya, Tatyana, Katerina, and Olga (Saying goodbye at the airport in Kharkov
All-in-all it was a good trip and an important one for our daughters. The two most important things for them were the connections that they made with their birthfather and their two half-sisters. Our trip settled some issues with Katya and probably resurrected some others. Last week, on Tuesday, I drove to Miracle Meadows and picked up Katya to bring her home. Katya started school at Calvary Christian Academy last week as a junior in high school; Zoya started school this week as a freshman in Turner Ashby High School (local public school). We are experiencing life again as a family. Katya is trying very hard to adjust and re-enter our life and to improve her relationship with Zoya. All-in-all things are going fairly well these days, for which we are grateful. We appreciate your concerns and prayers.
Additional photographs from our Ukraine Trip are available for your viewing on Picaso. Select the link below.