It’s almost OK.

Today I sat down to talk to Ina who is in charge of our street patrol. My intention was to let her know my hopes and plans with certain street kids, Zoluchka, for example, whose nickname means Cinderella. She is thirteen and looks to be about ten. She has ten sisters and brothers who live I don’t know where, and I am trying to get her to come to The Way Home and find out if there is room at The Way Home should she decide to come… but Im getting away from the point of this story. When I sat down with Ina, I said, “OK….”

And she interrupted by saying, “(and this was all in Russian) Robert, you always say ‘Ok’ at the beginning of what you are going to say and it’s not OK; I know it’s not OK because we wouldn’t be sitting down and talking unless something was NOT OK. We haven’t gotten to OK yet, It’s not until we get to the end that you are supposed to say OK!”

So, it is almost Christmas too, it’s not quite OK. We wait, Advent suggests, We live in hope.

I’m guessing that what is on your mind this Christmas is the economic crisis. Spending is down in the States. Americans wait and hope… as do many people across this world, for an end to this financial crisis.

Here, even, I am feeling the crunch. Two banks refused to give me American dollars; only one bank in the city center will take my visa card and draw dollars from my account. I pity those who do not have a foreign account. “Nyet” is what they get. So people are losing cars and other items bought on credit if payment is due in dollars. The reason is clear. The dollar has gone from 5 grievnas to 10 in the past six weeks; now it is back to 8. People want dollars because they can put them under the mattress and make money a month later when they exchange them for dollars.

Here, they wait, for an end to the “Creesis.”

Here are some things I am waiting for:



I am waiting for Andre, Anya and Olya to return. Two weeks ago they left for the streets and They left The Way Home two weeks ago to live on the streets.
“We are grown up now and don’t need The Way Home or This Child Here; we can make it on our own.” Olya just turned 13.
These are pictures of all three attached from the last time we went shopping for clothes.





I am hoping to bring several kids, like Zolushka, Igor and Artur into the shelter of The Way Home. In this new band of children that I discovered two weeks ago are some kids who are younger than most and they are sniffing a lot of glue. There are usually 8 to 10 kids living under the Privat Bank. Below are Artur 13 and Igor 15.

Then below that Tanya, Vika and Zoloushka on a mattress where they were living below the Bank.






Sometimes I have seen as many as 15 when other street kids come to visit. It is an odd arrangement, the Bank representing the market crisis on top, the band of street kids representing that crisis, living below.



grace and peace this Christmas
Robert Gamble