The Heart and Soul of ukraineorphans.net

Two surprising sources that motivated me.

Laws of Life by Dana Shumanska

.Дана Шуманська, age 16

.Stryi Gymnasium, Ukraine, 2003

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Life – is a gift from God, which is given to people only once. It always has the beginning and has the end. Some people say that it’s like dream, but we are sure that this is a great chance for everyone to do his mission in the world and to show himself. To my mind everyone understands life in different ways. And we can not condemn them.

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Life is a very private thing, because everyone has his inner world and lives in it too. I think that only a man must be the master of his life. But this gift as far as I’ve mentioned is from God and any time God can take this present back from us. So we must live due to some principles, due to some rules.

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I think these laws have already been set by God and are called Ten Commandments. They are based on the faith in God, but contain also laws concerning relations between people: do not kill, do no steal, respect your parents and so on. And after realizing all these laws we understand that we have some restrictions and after death we will be punished for violating them.

Some religions say that there is one more rule; our children will be punished for our sins. People should be responsible for their actions. They should not think only about themselves, some people are very egoistic. This way God makes people think about future generations.

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I think we should value the life, value the great chances, given by destiny. We should be decent, through maybe our destiny depends on our ancestor’s actions. I’m sure that people should be respectable, helpful, thankful to everyone who helps them and of course kind and generous. If everyone were kind our world would become a very pleasant place to live.

Dana Shumanska

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This essay was published on the web in 2003 as part of a collection by Ukrainian high school (gymnasium) students. Most were in Ukrainian but several noteworthy examples were in English under the sponsorship of Stryi Gymnasium English teacher, Halina Stetsko, an internationally recognized teacher of English as a second language.

I well remember grappling with Dana’s difficult subject at the same age but did not achieve her level of understanding. When reading her concluding sentence I exclaimed, “She’s got it! She nailed it!” (The emphasis on the closing sentence is mine.)

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David Cottrell, 2007 (I found this in 2006.)

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Bob Hodson’s “I’m Nobody”.

Date: Saturday, 21 Feb 2009.

Bob and I were chatting about George Stuart and his mission to the orphans in Odessa. I suggested that Bob come to this spot and read Dana Shumanska’s essay. Bob offered his story and it is a pure example of what Dana wrote.

Good morning David, Yes it’s ok to post this, and I live in Edmonton Alberta, Canada.

The boy who said, “I'm a nobody.”

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A school bus driver and a parent were talking about a sign on the school bus that read, “Everyone on this school bus is a somebody.”
A boy of 10 years old commented, “I'm a nobody, no one loves me.”

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To that, the bus driver said to the boy, “No, you are a somebody.”The boy, sadly and with his head down asked, “yeah, who?”
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The bus driver went on to explain that the boy is a somebody to his friends, aunts, uncles, etc, but mostly to his parents who also love him very much. Also without his parents being together he would not be here.

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The bus driver suggested the boy talk to his parents about this and see what happens. Well sometime later, the bus driver ended up at the school where the boy is, saw the boy run to him, give the driver a big hug and said, “You’re right and thank you. I talked to my parents and I am a somebody because they told me they love me.”

After the bus driver and boy had talked, the bus driver got back on his bus with a tear of happiness in his eye because he helped change a child’s life.

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I like telling that story because it's a true story. I tell the story whenever I hear a child say, “I'm a nobody.” It's a true story because I’m that school bus driver, but to this day I don't who the boy is.
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Even though I am single, driving a school bus had taught me how fragile children’s thinking is. Children DO believe what they are told about themselves. That’s when I decided to do what I could to be a positive influence to children.
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Thanks for reading this story David. Even though I don't drive a school bus anymore I will always remember that boy who went from a nobody to a somebody because somebody cared enough to tell him.

The Thanks are for you Bob,

David

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Bob Hodson. born 1949, died 2012 He was a true friend of the Ukainian orphans. He will be missed.

I don't think it would be any surprise to learn that Dana Shumanska went on to graduate with two specialities from a prominent Ukrainian university. Bob Hodson went on to sponsor and help two orphaned Ukrainian boys.