On the eve of Internat

After a year of (official) Beyond Borders involvement and preparation, four months of preparing for Ukraine, a month away from home and three weeks of language training, I am finally about to begin my term at Internat. I have been hoping for an opportunity like this since Iheard about the program in first year and the anticipation has only grown only stronger, especially in the least few weeks as I read about my classmate’s experiences.   Although I was the first to leave Canada, I (along with Brieanne) will be the last to begin the volunteer aspect of the placement. I have had both fun and trying times with the language training and cultural conditioning but have remained focused on the volunteer aspect of the reason I am here since this is the part I am looking forward to most.

I have been warned that Internat (orphanage) will be very difficult emotionally and am not sure what to expect. I know the women and girls are of all ages and many levels of ability but I have yet to fathom what this means to day-to-day life. (Will I be planning activities or helping with bathroom breaks?) You see, some people will be living there because they don’t have parents but most are there because it is dictated by society and/or their parents cannot or will not take care of them due to their ‘disability’. I have been told that I will wonder why some of them are there because they’ll be highly functioning while I am sure others will have difficulty with activities of daily living.

When it comes to previous experience, I have worked with people from NACL (Norfolk Association for Community Living), and many children of various ages, abilities and home lives. However, I am being careful not to relate that too much to this placement since, through the words of encouragement and preparation I have received, I expect this placement to be like something I have not yet encountered or even imagined. (Although if it doesn’t ‘blow my mind’ like people have been telling me it will, I will not be disappointed because I know that would be better for the women/children living there.)

I’m wondering how bad ‘bad’ is. I have been told that Internat is very hard and that it’s the ‘best of the worst’ orphanages (institutions) in the area but what does that mean? How similar are Ukranian standards to Waterloo standards? How similar are a University of Waterloo professor’s standards to ma-and-pop, nonprofit, let-make-ends-meet standards like the organizations I’ve been exposed to in Norfolk County? Do my advisors think it will be especially difficult for me because they assume I’ve been sheltered in the typical middle-class Canadian home? Or is my exposure even more minimal that I believe, my tolerance lower, and my heart about to explode?

. . . I’ll let you know.