I'm sitting in an old Ukrainian flat - eating yogurt with the Open Arms team.  This is home to Annie, Melissa, and Anika - three girls who have devoted their lives to showing love and compassion to the orphaned children of Ukraine; those who have been abandoned not only by their families, but by society as well. 

Open Arms works closely with Pravda orphanage, developing close relationships with the children there.  The girls do all they can to make these children feel special and loved - giving them birthday parties, mailing them special letters, and just getting to know the little details that make each child unique. 

When the children graduate from the orphanage system - at anywhere from age 14 to 17, they are turned out to fend for themselves.  The mortality rate for orphans in the Ukraine is staggeringly high.  Most turn to lives of crime, drug addiction, and prostitution and eventually end up institutionalized because they find themselves unable to successfully adjust to functioning normally within society.  The Open Arms team targets this problem specifically by offering their apartment as a home and shelter to graduated orphans, assisting them to find schooling and jobs, and providing the emotional support of a family. 

Currently, the work of Open Arms would be considered "small" from the outside.  They house 3 boys who have graduated from the system, they travel to the Pravda orphanage once a week, and they visit one of their boys who has been incarcerated once a month.  On paper, it doesn't look like a whole lot... but after living with these girls for almost two weeks now, I can tell you that the work they've done here in a year is more than most have done in a lifetime.  The support and love that Open Arms is providing these children is priceless and of utmost importance.  To hear the laughter of children in the orphanage when they are held by the girls of Open Arms... to sit around the dinner table and eat with the boys who finally have a family with Open Arms... and to witness the beaming smile of a young boy in prison as he soaks in the love of his Open Arms sisters... it's all more than I can express or describe.

I'm so blessed to be here, working with the girls and the children they love so much.  I want to share just a few images of what I've been experiencing here in Ukraine - and to show you what the passion of Open Arms is all about...

This photo is from my first visit to Pravda orphanage.  These girls picked wildflowers on their way and brought them to Annie, showering her with kisses and hugs.


This is Vitalik on his birthday.  The girls make a point to make birthdays special at the orphanage for the kids, buying each child a little gift and giving them a cake with candles.  Without the girls at Open Arms, most birthdays would pass without even a single "Happy Birthday" wish.

Here, the other boys surround Vitalik as he opens his special present and birthday card.


On our last visit to the orphanage, we learned that Vova is going into the hospital this week for heart surgery.  The girls tell me that one of their biggest worries for the kids revolves around the horribly inefficient and minimal health care they receive from the governmentally funded system.    
 
This is Losha and Denise.  Losha is one of the lucky children who get to travel during the summer months to France through a host family program to live with a family there.  Denise was hoping to have the chance to go to America through one of these programs, but just learned that he was not selected to go.  Open Arms puts on a summer camp for the children who remain at the orphanage.