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Operation Hope Project
Preface by Tanya Yurlova
In June 2003, a group of orphans from Tomsk, Russia came to Seattle to spend a few weeks of their summer vacations with host families who were seriously interested in adopting them. The children were escorted by a legal guardian, Ms. Irina Korneva who was also the deputy editor-in-chief of one of the most popular newspapers in Tomsk Region, Tomsk Week. When the Operation Hope participants returned to Tomsk, Irina published an article about their visit in the Tomsk Week (you can read its translation below).
Since the children left, their host families have been diligently working on their adoption papers. One family has already returned from Tomsk after adopting their Russian guest and her brother, and two more families are getting ready to travel to Tomsk as I write these words.
In 2003, CHI held Operation Hope in Seattle, New York, Nashville and St. Louis. 28 children visited the US and 27 were adopted by their host families.
"From an Orphanage – to the US"
Published in Tomsk Week, an independent regional newspaper, on September 11, 2003 By Irina Korneva (translated by Tanya Yurlova)
 When Liz Wolf who lives in Auburn, a small suburb of Seattle, first saw the photograph of Nikita O., a resident of Pervomaiskoye Children’s Home, she got goose bumps. She couldn’t believe her eyes… Liz’s old computer was slowly opening a photograph received by e-mail. First she saw the top of a head covered with dark hair, then the serious face of a six-year old boy … dressed in a blue T-shirt with the word “basketball” in English. Liz was surprised at the coincidence. Basketball was her favorite sport and in high school she played for the basketball team… Under the word “basketball” appeared a number – 32. And precisely at this moment the fun-loving 39-year old American felt that she was getting goose bumps! 32 was her number when she played for the high school team. She still kept her blue basketball jersey with this number. And now, from a place so remote she couldn’t imagine it, all the way from Siberia, a little boy named Nikita dressed in a blue T-shirt with the word “basketball” and the number 32 was coming to Liz to spend his summer vacation at her home! Liz Wolf felt that destiny itself looked her in the eye from the computer screen.
Nikita, Nadya and Vica from the Pervomaiskoye Children’s Home, and Katya and Misha from the Eagle’s Nest Children’s Home spent more than two weeks very far from their homeland – in the United States of America, in Seattle where they were hosted by American families. Another group of six kids from Pervomaiskoye and Tomsk Children’s Home # 1 spend their vacations in New York. This trip was organized by Children’s Hope International to give the orphans a unique opportunity to see another country, to expand their horizons, and to have a chance to experience life with a family and relax from constantly living with a big group of other children.
The families who hosted the little citizens of Tomsk spent months preparing to participate in the program. They were all checked out by the agency and only after that received permission to participate in the summer program which is known as Operation Hope. Each host family sent their guest child a letter and some photographs, so that the child could have an idea of the people waiting to spend a few weeks with him in another country.
Seattle welcomed the kids with exceptionally hot weather. Usually, June is pretty cool here, however, throughout the visit it was very hot. The Americans joked that we brought this heat from Siberia. And they thought Siberia was a cold place… Every single day of these miraculous vacations was a surprise. Horse-riding, visiting a huge Zoo where animals do not live in cages but in large and comfortable enclosures, skating in the middle of summer, trips to the waterfall, a whole day at an enormous water park…
It turned out that Nadya, an eight-year old beauty, had a talent for English. By the end of the visit, she interjected her speech with English words. Nikita proved to be a great baseball player. He was so fascinated by this game that he wouldn’t take off his baseball mitt and was glad to spend hours playing baseball with Liz Wolf and her son Caleb. And Ted and Candice Hoffman nicknamed their guest Vica a photo maniac because in just one day Vica went through three disposable cameras and immediately mastered Ted’s digital camera. The 13-year old Misha was able to start a huge American automobile all by himself and even managed to drive it for a few feet…. Katya learned to swim by going every day to a pool with heated water.
Looking at the Russian children, who were so smart and adorable but for some reason, totally unwanted by their biological parents, the American families could not help but admire their beauty and talents. When it was time to say good-bye, the Americans cried as if they were parting with their own children.
"Family reunion"
by Tatiana Yurlova, OH coordinator
In the orphanage of the town of Safonovo of Smolensk Region there lived three siblings: Edward and his two sisters Kristina and Mariya. The children were available for adoption. On a spring day an American family from Hendersonville, TN adopted the sisters. It was difficult situation when the children said goodbye. There was not a dry eye at the orphanage as the sisters left their brother.
I promised Edward and his sisters to find a family for him in the US. This sweet thirteen-year-old boy with blue eyes needed immediate adoption and hopefully by a family in the Nashville area, close to his sisters. I hoped the three of them would be reunited. I knew the girls had been praying every night for a family for their brother.
The Duncans weren’t really even thinking about adopting but Edward’s story told by a woman in their church spoke to them. They really felt that God was calling them to give Edward a home and a family. They decided it was a match made in heaven. So on February 21, 2003, the Duncan family from Nashville met Edward. Edward was very exited and tried to do everything very well. He liked the family and wanted to please them. The Duncans immediately fell in love with him. On March 2, exactly 11 months after Kristina and Mariya arrived in the US, they flew home from Moscow with an excited boy who asked every hour, “How long now till I see my sisters?” The reunion at the Nashville airport was as emotional as you can imagine. Kristina and Mariya were the first to embrace Edward. A grand party put on by the neighbors welcomed Edward to Nashville, and to his sisters.
Both families are now closely connected. They make sure that the children have the opportunity to see each other and spend holidays and weekends together. Now that the kids no longer worry about each other, they are happy and truly enjoy their childhood and the life with their families.
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