Personal stories of Yaroslavl's orphans

It seems that all of the kids in Yaroslavl's orphanage have experienced more sadness in their lives than is possible to comprehend. After reading some of their stories, perhaps you'll be able to see why we feel it's so important to give them the opportunity to have a happy and productive adult life.

Please note: Many people visit our site and fall in love with a child whose photo they see here. We've received numerous requests for information about the adoption of these children. While we're overjoyed when adoptive parents welcome a child into their family, Friends of Russian Orphans is not an adoption agency; our mission is to help improve the lives of the vast majority of Yaroslavl orphans who will not be adopted. If you're interested in adopting a child you see on our site, please contact a reputable adoption agency that may be able to locate the child. (All names on this page have been changed to protect the children.)

Alyosha

Abused by his parents, at age 11 Alyosha sought refuge in the basement of their apartment building where his grandmother often brought him food. One day, word reached the staff at Pyatyorka Orphanage that a youngster was lying in a nearby basement unconscious from sniffing glue. The staff located Alyosha and nursed him back to health in the sanctuary of the orphanage. Three weeks later, he was making eye contact and beginning to play with us. Seven months later, he was even more open and engaged. Alyosha now makes the effort to send out cards for the New Year holiday.

Artyom

Artyom is beginning to find success and happines as a waiter/barman. However, his younger life told a typical orphan's story of loss and depression. Still a teenager when both parents died, he was moved into the Pyatyorka Orphanage, where he became bitter, confused and rebellious. Following the mandatory ninth grade, he attended vocational school to become a cook, hoping to avoid combat during his military service. After the army, Artyom -- a naïve, easy target -- was swindled out of his severance pay and the apartment to which he was entitled as an orphan. He joined the many homeless on the streets of Yaroslavl. On the verge of suicide, Artyom was saved by the support of his old Pyatyorka Orphanage director, who guided him to housing and a new career at a restaurant in a neighboring city.

Masha

Masha, 16, and her brother both live in an orphanage. Two years ago, Masha came home to find her mother lying in a pool of blood. Their father had murdered her. Both children seem remarkably happy and well adjusted. Masha is studying in a vocational school to be a floral designer.

We noticed that Masha never revealed her teeth when she smiled. After some investigation, we learned that two of Masha's front teeth were black and one was badly broken. We asked the orphanage director if we could help have Masha’s teeth repaired. After 10 visits to a private dentist and considerable anxiety, Masha now has a lovely, open smile and new confidence. Total cost: $300.

Oleg and Yana

Oleg, seven, and Yana, nine, are a wonderfully energetic brother-and-sister pair. The city welfare department took them from their single mother, an alcoholic living irresponsibly in a squalid one-room apartment heaped with garbage, and placed them in one of the city's orphanages.

Yana wanted desperately to rejoin her mother. The orphanage sent Yana home for a trial weekend, dressed in some relatively new clothes. When she returned, her newer clothes had been replaced by old worn ones. Her mother had sold the new clothes to feed her habit.

Sasha

Like many of the children in Yaroslavl's orphanages, Sasha, 11, has grown up in the streets of Yaroslavl. One day while we were there he walked into the orphanage in tatters, head down, scarred, and filthy. He was quiet and sullen. Orphanage staff worked to clean him up. A few hours later Sasha had disappeared and no one could find him. Eventually, he was discovered on the roof of a large storage shed, where he had slipped away to sleep in relative security. Seven months later, however, Sasha had been fully integrated into the life of the orphanage. He seemed healthy and happy.

Tanya

Tanya, a lovely 12-year-old girl, concerned us because of her sharp mood changes. At one moment she was engaged and playful, relating well with her peers and with us. At another she seemed lost in a distant world, removed and unaware of those around her. We learned that when she was two years old she had watched her father kill her mother. Apparently, she has never spoken of this traumatic event with anyone.

Vitaly

At 15 years old, Vitaly is a bright, curious, well-adjusted, optimistic lad. He creates, among other things, numerous complex, sophisticated paper airplanes that fly great distances. He also fashioned a smooth-running bicycle from pieces that he had collected from around the neighborhood.

When asked how he liked life in an orphanage, Vitaly answered that his mother had also grown up in an orphanage and that he thought it was just fine.

Yegor

Yegor, age nine, is one of the first children at the Pyatyorka Orphanage to have a Big Brother, and is very proud of his connection. Orphanage personnel have discovered that Big Brother/Big Sister mentors often fill a large gap in the lives of children who don't have caring parents.

Yulia

Yulia, age seven, came to a Yaroslavl orphanage in the spring of 2002. For the three prior years, she had cared for her mother, collecting wood and coal, lighting the stove, cooking noodles or any other food neighbors gave her. One night not long ago, her mother fell into a ditch while drunk and froze to death. Yulia has impressed all at the orphanage with her physical strength, spirit and self-confidence. Two years after arriving in her orphanage, Yulia was adopted by some former neighbors - one of the rare instances of local adoption of a child over age three.

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