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The Family Homes are flats where young
people of varying ages are able to live in a family atmosphere. At the
present time all of them are women, varying in age from 13 to 21. Each
flat has two counselors. Everybody shares in such tasks as cleaning,
shopping and cooking. There are also times of devotions and church on
Sunday. I was able to visit all three Family Homes. |
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The
counselors for the first home are Cecil and Betsy Garrett, from Kentucky.
They have made a one year commitment to serve in this capacity. Three
girls live with them (I was only able to meet one). Their flat is a
three room one, with a common or living/dining room, and two bedrooms
- one for Cecil and Betsy and one for the girls. Cecil and Betsy have
been going to one of the orphanages with Joanna Hess, and they have been
inviting a group of boys from the orphanage over for dinner and a Bible
study on Saturday night. The boys learn more and better in this
setting because they are less easily distracted. |
The next home was a flat very near the Primorskaya
Metro station. There Pam Onchuck and Irina are counselors for two
girls (photo left to right - Oxana, Pam, Katya and Irina). Pam
and I sat in the kitchen talking while Oxana prepared soup for dinner. Pam studied some Russian in college, but since the
other three flatmates do not speak English, communication is a
challenge. In spite of this challenge, Pam has quickly bonded with
the two girls. This is also a three room flat, with a living room, a
bedroom for the counselors, and a bedroom (shown at right) for up to three
girls.
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| The last home I visited was
that of Joanna Hess, where a number of us gathered for dinner. This
has the same setup as the other flats - a room for the counselors, one for
the girls, and a living room. All the flats have kitchens and
bathrooms, of course. For dinner we had salad, bread and
potato/onion/meat pancakes - not to mention chai and dessert. |
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From left to right are ....
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Lucya - Co-counselor with Joanna
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Masha and Olga - The two girls in
the program
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Marina - Director of Family Homes
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Anya - Family Home graduate in
transition to her own flat
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Elizabeth Hulley - Stoneworks
worker
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Joanna - Co-counselor with Lucya
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