Lifted from Dr Robert Gamble's public email. Read the story Train to Vinnytsia, link below, about his trip to bring her back safely after she ran away.
This girl on the left is Olya. She was ten or eleven in that picture. The next image is her at thirteen.
That's when she left the shelter called The Way Home where she was staying in Odessa, Ukraine and disappeared along with another girl and a boy. That was 2007. A month passed, then I remember an all night train ride to a city called Vinnytsia and an early morning bus ride to remote village half an hour away, where we found her in a cabin with less room inside than your normal living room. The kids came back with us.
This third picture was given to me on my last trip to Ukraine. It is her today, eight years later.
The train to Vinnetsia was a remarkable moment in my ten years of directing the work of This Child Here in Ukraine. Seeing this photo reminded me how the right kind of love and attention can help youth and children grow with grace into adulthood. Without the effort we put forth, you might be looking at a very different face.
Olya's face is so hopeful and full of joy.
Robert Gamble
If you want the story, it's an 8 min read, click on Train To Vinnytsia on Medium.com.
My Mobile phone when in Ukraine: +380638229070
We do not Believe in
Ourselves until someone
Reveals that deep inside us
Something is valuable,
Worth listening to, worthy
Of our touch, sacred to our touch.
Once we believe in ourselves we can
Risk curiosity, wonder, Spontaneous
Delight, or any experience that reveals
The human spirit.
e.e. cummings
This girl on the left is Olya. She was ten or eleven in that picture. The next image is her at thirteen.
That's when she left the shelter called The Way Home where she was staying in Odessa, Ukraine and disappeared along with another girl and a boy. That was 2007. A month passed, then I remember an all night train ride to a city called Vinnytsia and an early morning bus ride to remote village half an hour away, where we found her in a cabin with less room inside than your normal living room. The kids came back with us.
This third picture was given to me on my last trip to Ukraine. It is her today, eight years later.
The train to Vinnetsia was a remarkable moment in my ten years of directing the work of This Child Here in Ukraine. Seeing this photo reminded me how the right kind of love and attention can help youth and children grow with grace into adulthood. Without the effort we put forth, you might be looking at a very different face.
Olya's face is so hopeful and full of joy.
Robert Gamble
If you want the story, it's an 8 min read, click on Train To Vinnytsia on Medium.com.
--
Dr. Robert Gamble,
Executive Director of This Child Here a 501c3 nonprofit
serving vulnerable youth and children in Ukraine.
If you would like to THINK ABOUT GIVING, Click Here;
or to read more about us go to: thischildhere.org
see also: facebook.com/ThisChildHereUkraine
see also: facebook.com/ThisChildHereUkraine
(you may need to copy and paste the link)
Please send donations to:
This Child Here
245 Seaview Ave.
245 Seaview Ave.
Daytona Beach, Fl 32118
My Mobile phone when in Ukraine: +380638229070
We do not Believe in
Ourselves until someone
Reveals that deep inside us
Something is valuable,
Worth listening to, worthy
Of our touch, sacred to our touch.
Once we believe in ourselves we can
Risk curiosity, wonder, Spontaneous
Delight, or any experience that reveals
The human spirit.
e.e. cummings
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