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Orphans get star treatment
By Angela Washeck, Special to the News
Several foreign children will add a unique experience to their lives this weekend in the city of Mesquite.
Seventeen Russian orphans and their host families, provided by a program called Angels from Abroad, will visit the Mesquite Rodeo Saturday evening after arriving in Texas a day prior.
Buckner International, a nationally recognized organization that reaches out to at-risk children and families, partners with Angels from Abroad to give children ages 6-13 in orphanages a taste of American culture and the chance to live with an American family for a three-week vacation period. The orphans traveling to Texas will get to share the Russian culture with their host families in hopes of raising consciousness about the increased need for adopting older children.
The Russia program director for Bucker Adoption and Maternity Services commented challenges that face older children if they are never adopted.
“Children are forced to leave the orphanage system at age 17 and many fall prey to alcohol, drugs, prostitution and crime,” said Irina Shytova. “Because there are over 750,000 orphans in Russia, adoptive families are needed desperately, and more specifically for older kids.
“About 75 to 80 percent of the children available for adoption are 5 years old or older.”
Buckner representative Beth Brinkmeyer believes the best aspect of Angels From Abroad is that families have the chance to make a difference in the lives of Russian children while pursuing the possibility of becoming the child’s forever family.
“The kids will have the opportunity to live in a home with a family, eat meals with them, get tucked in at night,” she said, “and just be loved on for over two weeks.”
The children are in for a packed schedule of pool parties, picnics, a zoo trip, Vacation Bible School with Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall and a day of riding boats on the lake during their stay. Although the kids are well cared for in their orphanage by staff members, their time here is a far cry from their day-to-day routines in Russia, Brinkmeyer said. In addition to serving as a means of advocacy for the children, the Angels from Abroad program was established so that Russian children can see the model of a Christian family.
“In James 1:27, we are called to care for orphans and widows,” Brinkmeyer said. “There are millions of orphans out there waiting for someone to act on that command. Everyone can do something to make a difference in the life of even one.”
When the children depart Texas on August 16, Brinkmeyer said she hopes they return to their country with newfound confidence and an extra bounce in their step. Even if the Russian kids are not adopted, she said no child’s visit is a lost cause since Buckner International, if nothing else, hopes to expose them to a once-in-a-lifetime vacation experience.
We know [the children] go back with great memories,” Brinkmeyer said, “the feeling of what it is like to be loved and the knowledge they are being prayed for.”
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