Pictures at Last

These pictures are in no particular order. Sasha wanted to take this one of us lying on our bed at Igor and Natasha's house.
I finally had to negotiate one of these toilets. I had managed to avoid them up until this trip. You have to stand and squat. And they smell bad. Yuck.

An outside market. The meat doesn't look too appetizing.

Sasha at his desk.

School mates.

Sasha's bedroom held eighteen beds.

More friends.

Private lunch served to me and Michael at the orphanage.

Dima was hosted in Phoenix.

Natasha and Victor were also in Phoenix.

Natasha

This was interesting. These very cute siblings were dropped off by their mother about mid morning. The director introduced them, and they were told where to put their few belongings. They looked scared to death. This is how many of the children at these orphanages end up there. Perhaps their dad died or left the mom and she brings them here telling them it is only for a short time. The sad reality is many moms never come back for them and others come for occasional visits telling them (month after month, year after year) that it won't be long before she can get them out. Eventually so many of these adorable children end up living at these orphanages until they age out at age 16. It was heartbreaking to see this process beginning for these two kids.

Sasha and a friend.

Some of the boys in Sasha's class. They had all just had their hair cut (or shaved). They wear suit jackets as school uniforms. The girls wore vests.

Inna

Natasha and Igor, whom we stayed with in Rivne.

The outside of their apartment building.

Sasha writing his formal letter. The inspector is on the left; the director in the middle.

First seeing Sasha.