Stories from the kids living at the house
Kostya’s story
Kostya, 23, has been living at the House of Grace and Hope since October, 2007.
The Harrisons first met Kostya when they were members of a Kids Outreach International (KOI) team visiting an orphanage in 2005. After the Harrisons moved to Russia, Kostya came to visit them regularly at their house and the family quickly developed a close bond with him. After serving in the army for a year, Kostya returned to live with the Harrisons in 2006.
Kostya lived with his mother and brother until he was seven years old. He never knew his father and he has good memories of his mother up until that time.
Around that time, his mother started dating. She also began to drink heavily and left Kostya and his 8 year old brother to fend for themselves. By the time Kostya was eight, he and his brother had not seen their mother in over six months. She had gone out for cigarettes and never returned. Kostya and his brother survived by eating out of garbage bins and asking neighbors for food. Eventually the neighbors called the authorities and Kostya was taken to an orphanage.
Not long after, another two children arrived at the same orphanage. It was announced to all the children and staff that the new children were there because Kostya’s mother had killed their mother in an argument over a television set. This made Kostya’s life even more of a struggle.
Within a year, the orphanage director called Kostya and his brother to her office. She informed them that his mother’s boyfriend had killed her in a drunken fight and she had been buried the week before.
After leaving the orphanage, Kostya was training to become a cook until the army called him up. All males must serve in the Russian army for at least 12 months!
Life in army was very difficult for Kostya. During the first six months of his service, the Harrisons regularly wrote to Kostya. Kostya, in turn, would send the Harrisons wonderful drawings, although the mail service was slow. After six months passed, the Harrisons strongly felt they needed to travel to the Russian mainland to visit Kostya. While there, they bought him a mobile phone which gave them a daily link through SMS to pray for him and encourage him. The Harrisons continued to visit Kostya every two months to encourage and uplift him during his service in the army.
Kostya has grown a lot since he returned to the House of Grace and Hope. He is employed, attends church and is part of the church music team, and participates in youth group meetings held at the house. In his free time Kostya likes to draw and the Harrisons are encouraging him to find a career where he can use his amazing talents. Presently he is turning out amazing architectural drawings using MS Paint!
Katya’s story
Katya, 20, has been living at the House of Grace and Hope since June, 2007.
Katya lived with her father, mother and brother up until her mother killed her father when she was 5 years old. Katya and her brother witnessed the killing. The children were taken by the authorities into a refuge and later permanently into an orphanage because there was no one else to look after them.
After Katya’s mother was released from prison, she had another baby and that baby too is now in an orphanage. Sadly, Katya is not allowed any contact with her little sister.
The Harrisons first came across Katya in an orphanage visit with a KOI winter team in 2005. In 2006, Katya left the orphanage and moved in to the student dormitories in the city to study hairdressing. Katya came to visit us with her friend on regular basis.
In June 2007, some of Katya's friends noticed she was struggling and spoke to Peter and Tracy because they were concerned for her welfare. It turned out that her mother had come home from a drinking binge. (It is quite common in Russia for people to disappear for periods of time - sometimes the entire summer, walking and drinking.) Katya's mother discovered the neighbors had broken their front door down because the plumbing had burst and the apartments were flooding. The mother then went to her neighbor's house and stabbed him to death for breaking the door down.
The Harrisons felt it was best that Katya stay with them for at least the summer so they could give her some moral support during that time, and she agreed and moved in with them. The Harrisons spent the following 12 months helping Katya as she was forced to testify against her mother in the murder trial.
Katya's mother received a prison sentence of seven years, and is currently serving her sentence on the mainland. Katya has not been allowed to have any contact with her mother, but the Harrisons have encouraged her to write letters and put together care packages. They've also encouraged her to forgive her mother as a necessary step in the recovery process.
Katya is doing well, has finished her hair dressing course, is working full-time outside the house as a nanny and has become a vital part of the House of Grace and Hope family.
Zhenya's story
The Harrisons first met Zhenya in 2005 by chance at an airport farewell for one of the House family members. They invited Zhenya and some other boys to come back to their house for refreshments and Zhenya never left! He is now 21 years old.
Zhenya's father has been in prison since Zhenya was one year old. Zhenya was four years old when his mother went off with a boyfriend and left him to look after himself. Between four and six years of age, Zhenya ate from garbage bins and an elderly neighbor helped feed and look after him. Unfortunately the neighbor's husband and the boyfriend of his mother (when they both returned occasionally) would beat Zhenya in their drunken stupors. They also found humor in getting Zhenya drunk. At 6 years of age, he was taken into a refuge and then given a place in an orphanage.
Zhenya has low level education and he drank heavily all through his school years. At 16 he had to leave the orphanage and went to a technical school to learn mechanics during which he spent nearly every day drinking alcohol. He had no ambition or drive within himself to achieve anything.
When he first arrived at the House of Grace and Hope, Zhenya could not hold a job down and the Harrisons had trouble even getting him to get out of bed at all. Alcohol binges still continued regularly and he would come and go from the House according to whether he was feeling guilty or not.
Gradually, the alcohol binges became less frequent and Zhenya held his last job for a steady six months. He sometimes cooks meals and regularly helps around the house without being asked. Zhenya's relationship with others in the house has improved dramatically of late. He is learning to budget and saved and purchased a mountain bike which he regularly rides through the mountainous area near the house.
Zhenya is very intelligent and good with his hands. The Harrisons are
working to encourage training and development of Zhenya's many
talents.
orphanshouse.org
