Returning to Russia: Sasha’s homeland trip

October 24, 2008

Dear Mercy and Stephanie,

This letter is long overdue, but no less heartfelt. I cannot thank MAPS enough (particularly Mercy and MAPS’ staff in Russia) for all of your help in making our recent trip to Russia not only possible, but exactly what we had hoped it would be for Sasha and our family.

Russia Trip As you know, we adopted Alexander (Sasha) from Yekaterinburg in August 1999 when he was 11 months old. With your assistance and encouragement, we were able to take Sasha back to Russia to see his country in July/August of this year.

It was a wonderful trip. We visited Yekaterinburg and Moscow, and took a side trip to Shuya to visit a friend. Everyone at the baby house in Yekaterinburg was so kind – the director, doctors and other staff members made Sasha feel very welcome and were excited to see how he had grown up. We talked with the director and visited the room where he lived and played when he was a baby. We bought some outdoor toys and a playhouse for the children and returned a second day to bring them. Sasha was able to present the toys to the director/children and play outside with the children. The baby house gave us the address of the hospital where Sasha was born, and we went there and spent some time outside and taking pictures.

Back to Russis As always, the MAPS staff was terrific. Anna was a wonderful guide, driver and translator, as well as an enjoyable and kind person. We ate lunch with Igor and offered to visit the Ministry, but he said it was not a good time because of the shifts in adoption responsibility that were going on. So we will have to do that on our next visit.

Sasha back to Russia Sasha has made it clear in many ways that it meant a lot to him to visit Russia and particularly to see where he had lived as a baby and to meet some of the people who were at the baby house when he was. He wants to go back, and I hope we can make that happen when he is older. He has always been curious about his country of birth and his life before adoption, and I believe this trip gave him at least a few of those answers.

I have enclosed several pictures of our trip. Please know that all of us – Sasha, Ray, Raymond (Sasha’s brother) and I – appreciate all you did to reassure us, help us plan, and connect us with the people who made everything go smoothly.

Best to all of you,

Jessie

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