This article, prepared by Miles Jesu member Ruslan Markiv, and David Lock, a British longtime volunteer in Bortnyky, first appeared in Continuity Journal, co-published in the United Kingdom by Miles Jesu and the Continuity Movement.

A special thanks to those of you who have donated to the Miles Jesu Bortnyky orphanage for boys in Ukraine.

The daily life of the orphanage can best be understood through the eyes of the boys who live there. In this issue we’ll take a quick tour of Bortnyky through eyes of one of the boys who is 11 years old. We’ll call him Victor.

Victor’s mother was recently released from jail but she was judged unfit to care for her son and daughter. Victor’s sister is now with the Miles Jesu orphanage for girls in another village, not far from Bortnyky. The children have telephone contact with both their mother and father, who is also in and out of jail.

It’s Saturday. Victor has not wet the bed for nearly a week, which is a record. A volunteer has been waking up the boys twice a night to go to the toilet. This morning Victor is going with three other boys to the dentist. The boys tend to come to us with bad teeth and each boy makes regular visits to the dentist in L’viv, which is the nearest real city. Victor has braces and is due for a check-up. He had breakfast and then brushed his teeth, ready for the two hour journey to the city.

Many of the boys have lived on the streets for most of their life. But going to the city with us, they look at the world from a new point of view. They enjoy looking at the new cars, and at all the shops and buildings. When we approached the dentist’s office, the boys ran ahead to get the best seats in the waiting room. While one of the other boys was being seen by the dentist, Victor and another boy went to look at the computers, flat screen TVs and MP3 players in a store window. Victor wants to save up to buy an MP3 player for himself. While we don’t like to encourage the boys to think that they can buy happiness, it is still important for them to understand that to have these things, they need money, and to have money they need a job, and to have a job they need an education.

Victor is very smart. He studies well at school, although like most boys he can be lazy at times. He seems to have a very analytical mind. He sees a situation and is able to plan and foresee potential problems.

After all of the boys had been seen by the dentist, we took a drive through the Lviv city centre and stopped at a few more large stores so the boys could have a look around. One store had an escalator. This was the first time some of the boys had seen one. At first they were apprehensive, but after they saw others use it they followed along.

From there we made our way to the Miles Jesu community house and church (St. Josaphat and All Ukrainian Martyrs, located atop one of L’viv’s hills) where the boys visited with Fr. Robert Nicoletti, MJ. After a brief visit during which the boys told jokes to Fr. Nicoletti, we took the boys to buy some produce for the kitchen, and a few things for a quick lunch, which included some ready-made rolls, fruit juice, fruit and a pack of doughnuts. On the way home Victor devoured his food in no time leaving only the wrapping as evidence. We got home at about 4 pm, unloaded the car, and then the boys disappeared into the woods. We wanted to stop at the Miles Jesu home for girls (in the village of Birky, just outside of L’viv), where Victor’s sister lives, but today it was not possible.

In the evening, since the weather has been good, we will have a barbeque outside. Victor loves to eat sausages cooked on a stick in the fire. After the barbeque, we will have evening prayers and then get the boys ready for bed. Before sending the boys to bed on Saturday nights, we watch one of the BBC Blue Planet specials, translating the English for the boys. After washing and brushing his teeth, Victor will probably take his cover into the TV room and lay on the big pillow on the floor like the rest of the boys, as we watch the BBC special together.

After having been reminded to go to the toilet before he goes to bed, Victor will go off to sleep in a dorm which he shares with some of the other boys. We thank all the people who support our orphanage in Bortnyky and give these children the chance to live a normal life.

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