September 15, 2005
Ukraine, teacher conference
The new president of Ukraine has pretty much dismissed his entire government. There were outcries of corruption, private interests may have been prevailing. It's hard to watch this democracy struggle to take shape. The adoption community is waiting to find out how any of this affects them, and the children waiting for homes. And they're waiting to find out when the National Adoption Center will close for a few months in order to form a new adoption process that will hopefully be more streamlined, more sane, more successful.
When I look at Tara's bright blue eyes, I see so much hope. She will be three years old in January, yet in some ways she seems so much older and wiser. The people of Ukraine have a lot of hope. If this little child of their country is any indication, they will persevere.
These are the words that Tara's teachers used to describe her at our first parent-teacher conference this week: cheerful, determined, affectionate, very friendly (I'm told that each teacher thinks they are her favorite--maybe the word here is political) smart, fast-learner, helpful to younger kids, very aware of her surroundings (hey the toilet is overflowing, stuff like that) playful, loves art, likes to sing, a little stubborn, a bit defiant at times.
Did I mention that we like her at home, too?
Posted by Laura at September 15, 2005 02:43 PM
Posted to Adoption News
Yeah--I was wondering what you thought of that whole "dismissing the government" thing...forgot to ask you. I was talking to this young handsome MBA we have here from Ukraine. I think he's the only one in the school. Boy, is he handsome... anyway.
I was telling him how we went to get Tara and I was saying how nice Kiev was and everything. He seemed kind of down about Ukraine, I was trying to be enthusiastic and he was like, yeah....not really catching the spark. He said he was in Kiev for all of August. I got the feeling he has mixed feelings about the place; maybe what's going on there now. He said you adopting Tara was a "noble" thing to do... I said, no, it was totally selfish. How could anyone NOT adopt Tara?
Anyway, it was interesting....
Yes Sal, I agree with your observations. Seems as though reform comes slowly, and change is never perfect. Things don't get bad in a heartbeat, they don't get better overnight either. It can be disheartening to the people. But Ukraine will prevail, they will work out the bugs and move forward in a postive direction, I believe the spirit of the Ukraine is as strong and as determined as ever. But I sure am happy to be in the USA.
Posted by: karen wiz at September 17, 2005 08:17 PM