Today we drove to Kotovsk to get Anatolia’s new birth certificate. She was born in a small village near there, but the regional authority ministry of justice office is in Kotovsk. It is about 3 hours northwest of Odessa, so we left at 6:30am. A lady named Alyona came with us as our facilitator. She and her husband are currently running a Christian charity camp for orphans to give them good experiences with the gospel and with others. She was really fun to talk to, and seemed pretty confident speaking English. She has traveled many places, including Dallas and San Antonio, Texas!
The first two-thirds of the journey we traveled on a highway similar to a US interstate. Except for the signs and a few Soviet-era cars, it was easy to imagine we were back in the States. The latter third of the route, though, was on a road that had more holes than paved surfaces. Often our driver would choose to drive on the shoulder, if there was one, rather than the road. Because it wasn’t busy, he had the freedom to pick his path, and he ranged from one side of the road to the other, even using the oncoming traffic lane if it looked any smoother. The last third of the trip probably took as long as the first two-thirds. ;)
The two-lane bumpy road, as well as much of the highway, was bordered by small trees and field after field of sunflowers. We also saw field corn and potatoes, and areas that were freshly harvested (maybe wheat?). At one point on the way back Alyona told us, “Just over that hill is Moldova.” Our driver, who has a quirky sense of humor, had mentioned Moldova on the way in, but he said it this way, “Five kilometers that way, Mordor!” We looked on the map, and we were about 25 km from the border.
We passed small villages and hamlets with family farms. Traffic was light, with a few cars, some older farmers on bicycles, and two horse drawn carts! Jokingly, our driver called them, “Kotovsk taxis.”
Kotovsk is not a village, but a town. It felt very different than the middle of Odessa with its flash, fashion, and fiesta feel. It was more like the outlying areas of Odessa, minus the tall apartment buildings. Cars were older, roads were more narrow and worn. Most of the homes were very, very small, one-story cement structures on tiny lots. It had some lovely parks and the characteristically small Ukrainian shops. While waiting we walked through an outdoor market, and I bought Anatolia a shirt.
We walked by a school, so I asked Alyona how the school system works here. She said that children ages 2-6 attend a “kindergarten.” They can attend for up to 12 hours each day, if both parents work long hours, are fed three meals, and receive instruction. Their last year of kindergarten is equivalent to our U.S. first grade. Regular school is usually held in one building with separate sections for the 11 grade levels. Alyona was surprised to hear that our children’s high school has about 2000 students for just four grades. The building we were passing couldn’t have served more than a few hundred. It was empty for the summer but looked old and weather beaten on the outside. I would have liked to seen the inside when school is in session.
Ben, Alyona and I had lunch in a small cafe below an apartment/hotel. We walked in during our wait for the birth certificate to be made and ordered what we wanted to eat for lunch so she would have a heads-up. Perhaps that is what you do with such a small place? We had soup/salad and bilini, which are very thin pancakes that are folded burrito-style around cooked, ground meat and then fried in a pan. You eat it with sour cream. Lunch was very much like what one would eat at home in Ukraine, and that was neat.
While there, we asked Alyona about foods Anatolia would have commonly eaten at the orphanage, and she said that it is traditional to eat soup for lunch (oops! She and Ben had soup at the cafe, but I had salad!) It sounds like the children eat a lot of different soups: red or green borscht, pea, pasta, pickled vegetable, chicken noodle, chicken vegetable, etc. Alyona said that they often eat kasha with milk or small macaroni with milk or oatmeal with milk for breakfast. They might have mashed potatoes and cutlets (kind of an oblong meatball) or pasta for dinner. They also eat a lot of fruit. We know that Anatolia likes cucumbers. The common ones here look like pickling cucumbers, about three to four inches long and an inch or so around, but aren’t bitter. She really enjoys them.
We are now on our way home to Odessa. Ben took a picture of the birth certificate, and it made me tear up to see Anatolia’s new name written there in Russian and us listed as her parents.: Anatolia Kathleen Cloward, you are ours, and we are yours — forever!
P.S. I would liked to have gone to the village where Anatolia lived her first five months, but we didn’t have the time to wander around. However, driving to Kotovsk gave us an idea of what her life might have been like if she had grown to maturity there.
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