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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ТРАВЕНЬ 2014 WWW.UNWLA.ORG 31 Natalia Yarosh with nine of her children on Palm Sunday, April 13, 2014. are deeply loved here and will never be defense- less again. What challenges did you have to overcome in the beginning? It was very painful to watch how the chil- dren at first could not stop eating. They simply did not believe that they would have more food the next day and the day after that... Some of them would hide pieces of bread under their pil- lows, just in case they would not get any later. At first many of them did not play with their toys as my oldest boys did when they were little. Instead of playing, they would attempt to twist the dolls’ heads off or tear off the wheels of their toy cars. Some tried to protect their “territory” somehow, fighting with others for their place under the sun, so to speak, and for their new parents’ attention. It pains me to recall this, but they would not even cry! When they were frightened or sick, they would hide from us and bite their lips, but there were no tears in their eyes. A whole year passed before 5-year old Zorianka first burst into tears. I actually rejoiced at this sign of yet another fear leaving her. Another challenge was the serious health issues of our children. Early on Olenka had to have an urgent operation on her eyes, Zorianka suffered from a serious heart condition, and Mar- ichka officially received a disability status. Some of these challenges persist to this day. Could you please share some of your suc- cesses in these past eight years? It is hard to name them all! I think achievements are best seen by those observing from a distance. We are often told by people that our children today are not in any way different from those who were born and grew up in a fami- ly. We are happy when people compliment us on their politeness and good behavior. From the start we strove to notice and nurture the likes and talents of each of our chil- dren. Some of them like to draw. Svitlanka is a very good singer—almost right away we took her to the Center for Children and Youth where she has been taking vocal lessons for six years now. Our older Ivan attends a music school and plays the clarinet, our younger one is taking sculpting lessons, and Zoriana attends a dance studio. We try to emphasize the study of foreign languages, as each person in this modern world should know at least one foreign language. Our children have acquired all the skills needed in day-to-day life. The older ones help the youngsters, clean up after them, and help us around the house.
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