Jeff Hajny

    This week's Seward Rotary Club Meeting featured a presentation from Sue Kohlwey.
     During her presentation, Kohlwey talked about a mission trip she and her husband, daughter and father made along with the Orphan Grain Train to visit orphanages in the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
     The cost of adopting a child in one of these countries on an international level is nearly $30,000.
     "We figured that instead of adopting kids from that area, we could find sponsors who could donate first aid, hygenic needs and medicine to these children," Kohlwey said.
     During their visit to the Baltic region, the main place the Kohlwey family stayed was in St. Petersburg, Russia.
     Kohlwey said she remembered very bright nights in St. Petersburg.
     "St. Petersburg is about the same latitude as Anchorage, Alaska, so it is light at nighttime," she said. "The people in the city were celebrating what they called White Nights.
     "It was weird to wake up at 6:30 in the morning to see the people drinking and smoking. The reason they do this is because they have to enjoy the summers as much as they can because the winters are so brutal."
     Kohlwey and her family spent the majority of their days travelling to orphanages and spending time with the members.
     She talked about the differences between orphanages in the U.S. and in the Baltic States.
     Kohlwey said that in these countries, nearly 90 percent of the children in orphanages have parents who are still alive. The parents give them away because they are not ready to care for the children or the children have some form of mental or physical disability for which the parents are not prepared.
     Once the children reach the age of 18, they are sent to special institutions where they are left to die if they are not capable of attending school.
     "I thought to myself, 'I can't imagine what it would be like when one of these children have a nightmare and they have no parents to come in and make them feel better,'" Kohlwey said.
     While the Kohlwey family was visiting the kids, they brought clothing, toys and other gifts for the children.
     "When we brought the gifts, it was just like Christmas they were so excited," Kohlwey said.
     Despite the poor conditions, Kohlwey said the directors truly love the kids. The directors mothered the children about as well as they could.
     Her mission was sponsored by Orphan Grain Train out of Norfolk.
     Orphan Grain Train boxes up old clothes and supplies and sends them to struggling parts of other countries. Along with international work, they send supplies to places throughout the United States. They are currently working on a Hurricane Katrina Relief project.
     The grain train is sponsoring 45 orphanages in the area Kohlwey and her family visited.
     "Orphan Grain Train is not just international, they donate for blizzards, rainstorms or agricultural problems," Kohlwey said.
     Kohlwey will never forget the experience.
     "You don't go on a mission to say 'I want to have my life changed,'" Kohlwey said. "You go because the Lord calls you to do so and without knowing it, your life will be changed in the process."