Racing the Statistics

“Well its a good thing that Ukraine is full of crazy drivers.”
Yep, that thought passed through my brain.  And there wasn’t an ounce of sarcasm. 
We were in Kulykovka,  waiting on Petro to get some papers signed at the hospital, and then we had to rush him to Kiev so that he could sign some papers at his work there.  We had arrived in Kulykovka at 10 in the morning, and his work was on the other side of Kiev, and I figured we needed to get him there by at least 5.  No sweat, it should be about a 4 hour drive easy, even if traffic wasn’t great.  So, here was the initial plan.

Pick Petro up in Kulykovka at 10:00
Drive him to work on the other side of Kiev
Get him there by 5:00

But as always in Ukraine, it wasn’t quite that easy. 
Petro showed up an hour late with his friend Losha, and told us about a few more stops on the way.  Oh, and his boss had said that he would only wait till 3.    So, Plan B. 

Pick Petro up in Kulykovka at 11:00
Take him back to the hospital to finish getting his papers signed.
Take him to Nizhin to get one more document
Get him to the other side of Kiev by 3:00

Nizhin added a minimum of 30 minutes to the trip.  So we had about 4 hours to make a drive that would normally take me 4 1/2 hours.  I started getting worried, but I could still do this. 
We didn’t leave Kulykovka until 11:50, we had to wait, go get a doctor, wait, and then take the doctor back to his house before we could start on our way. 
So I’m sitting there thinking, I have to fly on the way to Kiev. Its a good thing Ukraine is full of crazy drivers.  I should be able to pace someone who is driving really fast. Wait … did I really just think to myself, “It’s a good thing Ukraine is full of crazy drivers?”

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Petro and Losha with their conscription documents and army haircuts.

Petro had been conscripted into the army the previous week.  It’s a total fluke the way it happened. 
Every male under 25 is supposed to serve 12 months in the army, unless they can get out of it, which in Ukraine, normally means they have the money to pay off their recruiter.  They had tried to conscript Petro twice before, but he’s been in two accidents and apparently hurt his head, so the doctors said he wasn’t fit for service in the army.  But this time the recruiter wasn’t hearing it.  It was time for Petro to serve his time.
Petro graduated from the orphanage five years ago. He went to trade school to become a truck driver.  Graduated, without a license or ever having driven a vehicle of any kind.  And with the help of Doug has been looking for a job for the past three years.  He’s helped a lot at Smile House, and while he struggles painting a straight line, he does a fast job of moving a lot of dirt.  He really wants to be a good worker. 
So in March, finally, Doug helped him land a job at Ford.  He was washing cars, but he also had potential to move up.  Within the next year if he worked hard, he could be a mechanic, and if he learned English there were plenty of other positions that he could move into. 

Petro and Doug before Petro’s interview

And he loved working there.  Cleaning … and driving … nice cars.  In fact, one of the first days there another worker chewed him out for working too hard.  Petro just shook it off, “I’m gonna do my best.”  he said. 
Then two weeks into the job, Petro found out the company was taking everyone on a paid trip to Budapest, Hungary.  It was funny to watch how excited about this trip … especially considering that he couldn’t go.  Petro doesn’t have his international passport.
But the company wanted to work with him, and gave him a few days off to take care of his papers and get his passport.  It seemed like, after three years of closed doors, things were definitely looking up for Petro.  And to top it off, Petro was living, at least temporarily, with the Stoddard’s, in Smile House.  That means we had two kids from the orphanage in our transition home 4 months ahead of schedule. 
But that’s when the army got him and his friend Losha.  Doug thinks when guys like Petro apply for their passports, they force them into the army to keep them from leaving the country.  Seems a little counterproductive, but what do I know.  We hoped that maybe Ford would pull strings and keep Petro out of the army, but it didn’t happen.   He had to get a lot of paper work filled out and get his things in order.  And it just happened to be on Easter weekend, when everyone closes early, and most people just don’t feel like doing their job. 
Then we found out that if Petro didn’t get back to work by closing time Friday to fill out some paperwork, Ford wouldn’t even have to pretend to hold Petro’s job for him. 
The sad thing is Petro could have stayed out of the army if he would have paid off the recruiter.  Or he could have had his paperwork stamped at the hospital a day sooner if he would have slipped the staff a little money.  According to the newest stats, Ukraine is the most corrupt nation in Europe.  But Petro has been spending too much time with Doug who refuses to pay bribes.  I happen to agree with that approach, corruption has to stop with the individual.  But its times like these that we doubt that stance. 
Anyhow, that’s how we found ourselves giving Petro a lift with a very quickly approaching deadline.

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I made it to Nizhin in record time, and we got the documents.  Then we made a stop for Petro to say goodbye to a friend.  And then we went across town for one more errand.  Janna and I thought the guys were telling us they had to pick up their uniforms for the army from some place.  But when we arrived, only Losha got out. 
And we waited.
Then, Losha came back about 8 minutes later, wearing a different T-shirt.  Apparently, he hadn’t changed clothes in a while and wanted a different shirt. 
I wanted to scream,  that little foray had just cost us about 25 minutes. 
We ended up leaving Nizhin just before 1.  Two hours to make a three hour trip. 
As I cruised down the road at about twice the speed limit, trying to keep pace with a black SUV that had a little more horsepower, the boys in the back took a nap. 
That’s when I was hit with this overwhelming sense of hopelessness, we weren’t going to make it.   Janna and I came to Ukraine to help these kids because we didn’t want them to become statistics. 
I felt like we were being chased by the statistics.  It was this big monster just waiting to finally devour Petro, and no matter how much we tried, I couldn’t drive fast enough to save him.

******

Doug has been pouring into Petro for a long time, doing what he can to help Petro not become a statistic.  Cause let’s face it, for kids coming out of the orphanage, the statistics are rather bleak. 

70% of girls resort to prostitution
60% of boys will turn to crime
40% will end up in prison
10% will commit suicide within 5 years of leaving the orphanage

The thing is, I got those statistics from the internet.  Who knows if they are really accurate, or up to date.  Doug loses track of almost all of the kids when they leave the orphanage.  Mostly because for a long time, he was the only one here, and was trying to do the work of about 5 full time workers. 
But the kids who get kicked out of school, turn to prostitution, go to prison, or just become drunks … they aren’t the one who will take the time to seek out Doug, just to catch up.  That would make a bleak postcard.  If they become one of those statistics, normally, we’ll never know. 
This year, through Petro, we’ve been hearing about some of those statistics come to life.  One of his friends tried to commit suicide, and ended up in an asylum.  Not long after another friend did commit suicide.  His younger brother is already a drunk.  His older brother is in prison for murder (which he didn’t commit), but a guy has been hanging around Petro who served time for a murder he did commit.  Most of the girls in his class already have kids, many without husbands.  And we’ve been hearing more and more stories.
Its easier to just know the statistics. 

******

It had been a rough month. We had been running non-stop for a long time.  Progress in Smile House was going wayyy too slow for my taste.  Even though we had Anya in Smile House, she wasn’t motivated to do anything, including learn. The kids at the orphanage had learned some cuss words in English and so they repeatedly would say them to us to see if they could get a reaction, and I mean repeatedly.  All of that was compounded be the fact that Janna and I , both were in a low slump of culture shock.  We just didn’t want to deal with anything.

  Petro wasn’t going to make it on time. His boss said he might wait till 3:30 but he probably wouldn’t.  And even then, if they didn’t want to hold a job for him, they didn’t have to.  I know we will have a lot of failures, but I was hoping we might get one solid victory first. 

There was no possible way for me to do what was needed.  I couldn’t get him there on time. I felt like I had failed.  And, unfortunately, I felt like giving up.

Janna sensed my mood. My despair. “You’ve done everything you could. You have to let that be enough and trust God.”

So I prayed at 140 kph, eyes open.  God needed to come through.  Petro needed Him right now.  I prayed for a little miracle.  And I prayed Petro would see that it was God if that miracle happened. 

One of my favorite stories from the Bible is in Mark 9, when a young boy possessed with a  spirit is brought to Jesus, and Jesus tells the father if he believes all things are possible, his son can be set free. 

The father answers in one of the most honest statements a man has ever uttered.  “I believe; help my unbelief.” 

I don’t pray that prayer enough.

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I know someone is going to ask, “What’s so bad about spending a year in the army?  Its done many a troubled young man good.” 

It’s a good point, and a lot of guys in Ukraine come out of the army and have a chance to join the police or become a security officer where before they served they didn’t really have any career choices.  But we live in the most corrupt nation in Europe.  I just read this article, its not really well written, but I don’t think it was originally written in English.  There isn’t boot camp.  Most of the young men conscripted into the army simply become cheap labor for whoever can pay army officials enough.    Grueling hours, doing anything that is demanded of you, and I mean anything.  And often the rations are far from adequate.  Many families arrange to send their boys food so they have enough to eat.  Honestly, things haven’t changed that much since WWI, and before. 

When Petro and Losha were trying to decided where they would serve, one recruiter told them that they didn’t want them in their branch because they were orphans and would bring their regiment down.  It didn’t seem to phase Petro, he’s heard this before.

Personally, I think if Petro worked at his job for Ford for several years he would learn more about hard work, duty and responsibility.  And if the Army means Petro loses the one job he’s been able to find … I’ll probably need to punch a hole in something. 

******

We dropped Petro off at the first Metro station.  At that time of day the Metro would go faster than a car and Doug would meet him on the far side of town.  It was out of my hands.  It was a few minutes before 3.  Petro said that his boss might stay till 3:30.  I screeched to the curb, and waved them out of the car.  Petro thought that was funny and decided to take his time getting out. 

I yelled, “GO!!!”  I knew that it was too late but he still had to try. 

A few minutes later, I was pulled over by the police for going 5 kph over the limit.  If that’s not irony …

******

Petro made it to his work at 3:37.  They weren’t expecting anything, but his boss had waited.  He filled out his forms.  A few days later he was paid for all of his work … more than he expected.  It seems like there is a good chance that Ford will keep a position for him, at least that is how they are acting.  It’s a blessing

We have a lot of hard work ahead of us.  We have to finish the house, we have to work with the Ukrainian families that step in and take over this ministry.  We have to try and network so we can help the kids get a leg up in life.  But at the end of the day, the system, the culture and so many other things are against these kids.  We’ll work hard, but it comes down to chance, and so we’ll always be needing that little miracle.  Its that daily reminder that we NEED God. 

I spend most of my time at the orphanage with the youngest kids.  We speak more the same language.  Sometimes I look at them and wonder if they will become statistics. 

I know I will often feel like we will never win. I will have to keep fighting the overwhelming desire to give up.  But, we will keep racing against the statistics.  And I’ll have to keep praying for God to increase my faith.  I’ll keep confessing that I believe, but I need help with my unbelief.