I had the most wonderful surprise today, and I’m still smiling!
From 2003-2008 we belonged to an organization called Children of Chernobyl. It was an organization that sponsored children from Belarus, who were directly up-wind of the Chernobyl explosion and who lived with low-level radiation every day because of it. Doctors had discovered that if kids could get out of the country even once for about three months or more when they were children, they had a greatly reduced chance of getting cancer later in life. At any rate a chapter had started here in our town and in 2003 we joined. In 2004 our boy came over to stay the summer, 9 years old. He stayed from the beginning of July to mid-September. He was right invetween our two boys’ age so he fit in just great. We ended up having him come 3 summers, over 5 years, but then the program was disbanded. We have been in touch minimally over social media, but today out of the blue, he phoned! I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to hear his voice...it was like getting in touch with one of your kids that you haven’t seen or talked to for 10 years.
We did try to call him a couple times after the last time we saw him but it was very difficult, as no one in his immediate family spoke English, and he wasn’t that great at it either, although we did see great improvement over the years we hosted him. So as time went on it just became too difficult to try to call. And like I said, I saw him on Instagram and FB, but very minimally. Enough to know he had finished University at any rate.
I guess he had been talking to his mum and she told him he should call, bless her. At any rate, it was like getting the best surprise ever to realize it was him calling.
His English was actually not bad, we were able to have a conversation, at any rate. It was just so wonderful.
I’ll be smiling for a long time over that!!
. I better do what they want 
