An Orphan No More

Here is another Kidsave success story that appeared on KXAN last night. To watch all 3 videos please click here:

http://www.kxan.com/global/story.asp?s=8467842


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AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- All over Central Texas this month, high school seniors claimed their diplomas in moving graduation ceremonies.

Yet for one Austin family, graduation marked a milestone in a story that might never have happened.

The following is a transcript by KXAN Austin News' Jim Swift, who brings us an update on a tale that began with one of his stories some eight summers ago.

On this day, eight years ago, Janie McMahan and her husband, Jim Duncan, had no clue their lives were about to change drastically.

"It definitely wasn't in my plan that I had for myself, anyway," McMahan says.

"Jamie saw the story that morning," Duncan says. "She was watching the news, and she came down kind of teary eyed to tell me about it, and I told her to find out more. And so she called, and she ended up meeting Yarik that day."

When 11-year-old Yaroslav first reached Austin, he was bright-eyed and cheerful," Swift says in his story, which aired Aug. 17, 2000.

The story McMahan saw that morning was Swift's report about Yaroslav, a young Russian orphan and one of several visiting the United States in hopes of being adopted by an American family.

The children had been in Austin six weeks, and all but one had found a new home, all but Yaroslav, or as his friends called him, Yarik.

"Do you want to stay in America?" Swift asks.

The translator relays a question, and Yarik answers in Russian.

"They're not going to leave me here in America anyway," the translator says.

"I think we didn't spend even 24 hours with him, I don't think, you know, the time he was here," McMahan says.

"And yet you knew you wanted to do this?" Swift says.

"It's a gut feeling; I don't know how to describe it," McMahan says. "I mean, I was so taken with the story and, you know, it was just, I knew I had to do something."

"We didn't really even have to discuss it that much," Duncan says. "And maybe in hindsight, that's not the smartest way to make decisions, but it's worked out really well for all of us. There's been some really tough times, as well, but in general, it's just been a great experience."

Young Yaroslav counts in English in the 2000 segment: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11."

Yaroslav had a new life with a new family and a new school.

"The teacher assigned some kids to me," says Yaroslav. "And so they were kind of teaching me English, too. I kind of start picking it up."

Three years later, Yarik got a little brother when his parents adopted another young Russian, Ilya.

"They've left everything they've ever known, customs, everything, friends, caretakers, to come to this country," Duncan says. "It's the largest act of faith I've ever seen."

Announcer says: "Yaroslav L. Duncan."

Next stop for Yaroslav L. Duncan: Austin Community College, where he will study, among other things, Russian, a language he has all but forgotten.

Yaraslov came to America with the Kidsave International organization.

Later this month, Kidsave will bring another group of orphans to Austin, this time from Colombia.

Learn more from the Kidsave Web site at http://www.kidsave.org/.
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Lydia here: One thing I would like to clarify from this story is that the kids are in the US only for a 5-6 week period and after that they will all have to go back to Colombia while the adoption is in progress. I know...it is sad! To have them here and just let them go back... but hopefully we can get them all back soon, but this time with their forever family!