Hey friends and fam, I haven’t sent an full update because it’s been too busy since I returned from Japan and I only have a few months left to accomplish what we’re trying to set in place here! My work with the street kids continues, and now it is just myself and a Russian man who has taken the place of the American volunteer who was here originally. I will get an update out hopefully soon on all of that, but meanwhile I am working on something else as well.
My roommate Myra has been going to a village (still a city) about 21/2 hours from here by train. There is a parish there that was also started by the American priests here. She has been working with the poor families and children there, but of course is running into many obstacles. What else in Russia ha ha! We have both seen the need (her there and me with the street kids and orphans) for education on fetal alcohol syndrome. It is extremely common here, and many women are continuing to drink during their pregnancies, not realizing (we believe) the harm it will do to their children and, on a larger scale, to their society.
Through Caritas (an international charitable organization) there have been 8 women’s support centers started in this region. These centers operate on a small budget and do great work. There is no center in Romanovka, but there is definitely a need for it. Caritas has no funds to open another center so we have taken it upon ourselves to start it and raise enough for it to function for as long as possible. We have the blessing of the priest here, who has been instrumental in starting all of these centers, and we already have a director for the center and an apartment to use. Below is a very basic list of what these centers provide. It is the standard list of services, plus we have added the education aspect for our center, which will provide days where a speaker will come in to talk to the women about issues such as FAS.
Centers provide material, spiritual, and emotional support for women in crisis pregnancies as well as pregnancies in normal circumstances (which here is very different than our norm.) Mothers are provided with prenatal vitamins, counseling, ultrasounds, medicine, and help after the baby is born, including diapers, baby food, and clothing. Volunteers are trained by Caritas International, and there will be special speakers who are brought in for motivational and educational seminars.
If you are part of a youth group, a university, a business or a parish where you think there would be support for this type of center, please contact me, and I can send you an exact breakdown of operating costs and a yearly budget. It looks like our center would need $4400.00 a year, which includes everything down to supplies, education, train travel for the director, as well as her salary and a stipend for another worker. Amazing huh? All donations are tax-deductible, and the best thing of course would be to get an organization (or individual) to commit (at least as far as their circumstances allow) to sponsor one part of this center for each year of operation. For instance every year a parish could send the necessary funds to pay for the baby food and diapers for that year. That way we can ensure that this continues after we leave. We are very excited about this and hope you will be too! It is one thing to work here with the problems that already exist and a whole other thing to try to do something proactive and prevent some of those same problems from occuring in a never-ending cycle. God bless you ~ have a wonderful day… erin
