It’s hard enough for a child to lose a parent under any circumstances, but when children become orphans in a war zone, their future becomes even more uncertain.
That’s why one family in Lyme is trying to help children caught in conflict in Ukraine. Dianna and Douglas Hampton-Dowson turned to social media and created a GoFundMe page to raise nearly $8,000 to host three Ukrainian orphans for three weeks.
Dima, Anya and Dasha are 14, 12 and 7 years old but they have already known profound loss in their young lives. The siblings are growing up in a government-run orphanage in Mariupol, Ukraine. It’s unclear exactly how their mother died, and no relatives have stepped forward to care for them.
“They’ve been in terrible situations,” Dianna explained. “The shelter they were staying in was actually bombed at one point, and they were in the shelter when that happened.”
With two young children of their own, Dianna and Douglas aren’t sure if they can commit to adoption just yet, but thought the Frontier Horizon travel program was one way to make a difference.
“Just to be able to take them away from that even for a short period of time was very important to us,” said Dianna.
The children arrived in time for Christmas; the Hampton-Downsons treated them to the American version of the holiday but also recreated a traditional Ukrainian Christmas celebration. They toured the submarine base in Groton, visited New York City and went horseback riding at a nearby farm.
A smartphone translation app helped the adults overcome the language barrier, but Douglas says the children didn’t need it with each other.
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“It’s irrelevant to them that they speak totally different languages,” he observed. “And that they don't really understand each other. They just talk. They have no barrier to it, they just play together. Which is really amazing.”
It’s a lesson in peace that neighbor Anna Fusscas, a Ukrainian immigrant, wishes for her home country.
“People shouldn’t suffer for what the politicians’ idea of the border of the countries [are],” she said. “And who suffers the most is the poor people, kids, orphans.”
International adoption in Ukraine can be a complicated and costly process. Families cannot pre-select or “reserve” children, meaning there would be no guarantees the Hampton-Dowsons could successfully adopt Dima, Dasha and Anya if they chose to. But they hope to host the children again this summer.
“We really can’t take huge chunks out of these big larger issues but we can take small steps,” said Dianna. “That’s what we’re doing here.”
