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For Unto Us a Child is Born As our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, said in his Sermon for Christmas, 'on every child shines something of the splendor of that 'today', of that closeness of God which we ought to love and to which we must yield ' it shines on every child, even on those still unborn.' In honor of the birth of Our Blessed Lord this Christmas, we feature a couple of the children from our Boys' Town and Girls' Town in Ukraine. Vitaliy Vitaliy is 11 years old and the youngest of three brothers at the Boys' Town in Ukraine. They are orphans because their father died in an accident in 2000 when he was only 32 years old, and their mother died in September of 2004 because of alcohol. The boys were sent to Boys' Town by the government when the mother died because there was no one to care for them. Vitaliy is not only the youngest of the brothers, but is also one of the smallest boys in Boys' Town. He looks like he is only 8 years old. All the brothers neglected school when their father died because the mother could not take care of them. The older ones had to work while Vitaliy stayed alone all day with no one to give him attention or care. Vitaliy is trying hard to catch up to the same academic level of his classmates. He has a beautiful voice and likes music. He is very friendly to all and spends a lot of time playing with the younger boys. Roksalana Roksalana is one of eight children. Her mother kept all of her children except the two youngest, Roksalana and her younger brother. They were left at a government-run children's home in L'viv, where children can stay only until they reach the age of seven. Her mother was at one time an instructor in a music school and later worked for a government office. Eventually she began drinking and lost her job. The family now lives in a very small house about seventy miles from L'viv. Roksalana was one year old when her mother left her at the state-run home. We don't know why she didn't want to keep her two youngest children. Since the time that Roksalana has been with us, no one from her family has come to see her at all. When she first came to us she was very difficult, often throwing tantrums. We tried giving her a lot of personal attention, and this helped tremendously. She has changed so much in the past years, becoming a very sincere, fun-loving little girl, and doing well in school, too. She once told us that when she grows up, she wants to be a clown in a circus in order to give people joy and make them laugh. |