Olga

Olga is our oldest sponsored child. She is now 19. We have been involved with her the longest. It all started when we hosted a little girl from her same orphanage. We did not adopt the little girl but continued to correspond with her. In May of 2003 we received a letter addressed to "TINE" which is Tina in german. Well, years before that we were very closely involved with a girl from Germany named Tine. In fact, it was she who convinced us to get involved with hosting programs and possible adoptions. We had so much fun with her and we came to realize through her and the next couple of foreign children in our lives that we were pretty good at loving children from other cultures who usually have a pretty big history to bring with them.

Anyway, back to the letter. Upon opening the letter, imagine our surprise to find written in English-a very difficult task for an orphange kid-a letter from a young girl from the orphanage asking to be our friend. She was available for adoption. However she was already 15 1/2 and we were very inexperienced and were in no position to try to rush to get her adopted before her 16th birthday which is the deadline for American adoption of foreign children.

So we started a correspondance which has lasted all these years. Many times it is frustrating because the only method of communication we have is by traditional mail. So communication is very slow. I am happy to report that she has finally sent an e-mail so now we have an e-mail address to also work with.

Olga lives in Cheboksary. It is a small city in Chuvashia. Chuvashia is an independant federation within Russia proper. So it is part of Russia, but it is independant to some degree. It is south of Moscow and along the Volga River.

Olga is very bright and has stayed out of trouble. So she was accepted into a program where she attends accounting school and has remained under the protection of the government after the age of 16. Most orphanage children are turned out at 16, creating a terrible problem with street teens. Unfortunately she will graduate this spring and then she will lose all government assistance. We haven't been able to help her as much as the other girls because communication is just not good enough. However, we do correspond several times a year and have found a good way to put her on a small allowence like the other girls as soon as we receive a letter from her telling us that she received the last letter which explains the plan.

Olga is very serious, perhaps even a little meloncholy, but very bright, seems to make wise choices and is very logical. She is very artisitic, and has strong perserverance. I do believe she will accomplish her dreams. We want her to know that she is very loved in America and she should never think she is totally alone.