Ukrainian Orphan Airlift

This past week I had an opportunity to participate in another Orphan Airlift for New Horizons For Children (NHFC).  In June I participated in their summer airlift and brought a group of Latvian children from Riga to the United States.  This time around I would be escorting 87 children and 11 Ukrainian chaperones from Kyiv (Kiev) to JFK Airport in New York.  From there, the groups would fly on to different cities around the country, and I would take three girls from JFK on to DFW.

I left the states on Sunday afternoon and flew to Chicago and then on to Paris.  I had an A-12, my airline's version of a confirmed seat for employees, and was able to upgrade on both flights, which was nice.  We arrived into Paris right on time and the only hiccup was a terminal closing due to a bomb threat, so I took a shuttle bus around the entire airport to get over to 2B and my departure on Ukrainian International Airlines.  The flight from Paris to Kyiv was about 3 hours, but I slept thru most of it.

I arrived into Kyiv around 2:30pm and had a driver pick me up at the airport and take me into the city.  NHFC booked me into an apartment, which was nice, although a little more than I needed for a one night stay.  It was fully furnished and even had a collection of Ukrainian Playboy Magazines!

 

The location was great, just off of Maidan Nezalezhosti, or Independence Square, the sight of protests during the Orange Revolution in 2004.  After meeting the manager at the apartment, I had to go across town and pay for it since he didn't have a credit card reader on him.   The traffic was terrible so by the time I got back to the flat it was dark, but I still went out in the blustery cold weather and walked around the Square.  I "think" I was propositioned by a Ukrainian prostitute, because she was dressed provocatively in spikey high heel boots and a tight skirt, but after thinking about it, most of the women there are into heels, so she could have just been asking me if I had seen her lost cat.

I was getting pretty hungry, so I wandered around the corner from my flat to a place called Walter's that I passed on the ride into the city.  I had a spinach and ricotta cheese pizza and a big ice cold glass of Ukrainian beer.  I have no idea what it was called.

By this point, I was brain dead and tired, so I made it back to the flat and went to bed.  I woke up in the middle of the night wide awake and never really did go back to sleep.

I checked my email and learned that 5 children were denied travel because the government official who authorizes the trip was out sick.  Additionally, 10 kids were denied a VISA into the US, so they were going to make a last ditch effort the next morning to see if they could get them issued in time.

By 6am I was starving again, so I showered up and got packed and then walked down to the McDonald's at Independence Square, however, they don't open until 8:00am!  I think it's the only Mickey D's that isn't open early for breakfast.  I went back at 8 and gobbled down an Egg McMuffin and hash browns!  Whereas it was cold and dry the day before, it was now cold and wet.

At 8:30, I was picked up by Natasha and Tetiana (Tanya) and we made our way to the airport.  They are translators with the Ukrainian charity that partners with NHFC.  Tanya would be coming on the flight as a chaperone and also one of the three who would speak English.

The children started arriving in groups shortly after we made it to the airport.  Some had come all night via train.  

We were traveling on Aerosvit, a Ukrainian airline.  We asked for assistance in checking in the kids, and at first they were reluctant.  Once they saw how big our group was and that we would be half the airplane, they worked with us and started checking us in for the flight in groups.

For many of the kids, this would be their first airplane ride!

I sat across from these two kids: Mariya and Andrii, ages 7 and 13.  They are brother and sister and live together in an orphanage.  I was really touched by how protective Andrii was of his sister.  It hit me that they were all they had in this world and that at 13, Andrii was head of their little family.  What a hard reality to face at that age!

The kids were very excited and I have to give credit to the cabin crew for doing a great job of helping them all find their seats.  And we were very happy to see the final 10 children board at the last minute.  A U.S. congressman made a call to the embassy in Kiev and had the VISA's issued.  A courier rushed them over to the airport and the kids made check in with 5 minutes to spare!  Talk about answered prayers!

Unfortunately, Aerosvit is not set up to provide movies or music, so the kids really had no entertainment on our 10 and a half hour flight to New York.  They handled it pretty well for the most part.  I thought they would eventually fall asleep, but every child took black coffee when the crew came by with after dinner drinks, so they were wired the whole time.  The girls sitting in front of me kept reading me phrases from the Ukrainian/English phrase book!  It was published during the old Soviet Union days and had funny sayings like "The Soviets are show the world how to use the atom for peace"!

I sat next to Tanya, our translator.  We had to complete a customs form and an I-94 immigration form for each child and chaperone, about 100 in total.  We started after the first meal service (if you could call it a meal) and it took us about seven and a half hours to fill all the forms out.  I had nothing else to do, so it helped pass the time.  My hand was pretty cramped by the end of the trip.

Our arrival into JFK was pretty chaotic.  We had some kids with tight connections and some issues with luggage not being checked all the way thru.  Everyone made their connections except for two groups going to Charlotte and Cincinnati.  They just did not have enough time.  Once my Dallas group was ready, we headed over to the Delta terminal.  I had three girls, two sisters, Olena and Kateryna, and another girl, Mariya (or Masha).  I also had the Washington group with me, and helped them get thru security.  The kids were super excited to ride the Airtrans from Terminal 4 to 3!  Tetiana, another of the chaperone's was exhausted and terrified as it was her first time outside Ukraine.  She looks less than thrilled!

We had a minor issue on our flight to Dallas.  Due to headwinds, the plane was going to have to make a fuel stop in Nashville, but we ended up only being about 20 minutes late, arriving around 11:30pm.  I got the girls to pose for one last photo with the host families.

They'll be here for a month and then I will take them back to New York where they will meet up with everyone else and fly home to Ukraine.