Greenfield resident Barbara Hughes’ family hosted 10-year-old Ukrainian orphan twins last summer and over the holidays through a program that matches orphans with temporary foster homes abroad. The family developed a bond with the kids and is hoping to get them out of war-torn Ukraine and back to Indiana.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — Barbara Hughes and her family last saw the twin Ukrainian 10-year-old orphans in January, before the children flew back to their country.
It was the second time the Hugheses had to say goodbye to the brother and sister, a feeling she said wasn’t getting any easier. She found hope by telling herself they’d all see each other again this summer, but fears lingered that something could interfere.
“You’re always so afraid when they go back that you won’t see them again,” she said of the young Ukrainians, who stayed with her and her family in Greenfield over Christmas and last summer. “Even with nothing else going on, that something will happen, you just don’t know. It’s just so uncertain.”
The kids could run into problems with their travel visas, Hughes offered as an example. COVID-19 could surge again, she continued, preventing travel.
But instead what’s threatening their reunion, and the twins’ safety, is Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. It’s left the Hughes family, which developed a strong bond with the children, desperately trying to find a way to get them out of the war-torn country.
Answering a call
Hughes learned of the host-family opportunity from a friend who leads a Bible study she attends whose family had also hosted a Ukrainian orphan.
Orphanages involved in the various hosting programs rely on families across the world because the facilities, which are just as much boarding schools as they are orphanages, close down during summer and Christmas breaks. Some children have relatives or other places they can stay for those stretches, while others hope for families to temporarily take them in.
It was about a year ago that Hughes’ friend encouraged those in the Bible study to pray for all the children who didn’t yet have host families for the upcoming summer.
Hughes did more than pray, and considered participating as she perused information online.
“And I saw this picture of a little boy and a little girl,” she said of the twins, whose names she did not want to disclose.
She was instantly drawn to them. Her husband, Lee, however, was initially hesitant toward the idea of hosting.
But she kept finding herself coming back to that picture, feeling like God was drawing her to those kids on the other side of the planet. There were other aspects about them that reinforced that notion, she continued, like how they share a birthday with her mother. Hughes added that twins run in both her and her husband’s families, and yet they never had any out of the six children they have.
“And here are these twins,” she said of the kids smiling in the photo. “So it’s just this amazing kind of goosebump-giving thing.”
She urged her husband to pray on the matter as she continued to feel like it was something God was guiding them toward.
“It really was just this calling that we really felt like this is what we’re supposed to do,” she said.
With their motives now aligned, the couple made arrangements for participating in the host program, which eventually included undergoing training and background checks as well as a home visit from the overseeing organization.
Eastern Europe to Eastern Hancock
The twins first arrived in Indiana last summer, a season that quickly filled with activities. They learned how to ride bikes, camped, went swimming and played soccer. They visited venues like state parks, Kentucky Kingdom and the Indiana State Fair. They celebrated their 10th birthdays with a party at Riley Park with all of the friends they’d made. They also participated in Park Chapel Christian Church’s Serve Day by weeding and planting flowers on Eastern Hancock’s campus.
The brother and sister quickly bonded with the six Hughes siblings they shared a home with, who include Emma, 18; Lucas, 15; Nicholas, 13; Anna, 10; Kiera, 9; and Sofia, 6.
Kiera developed strong ties with the girl, Hughes said, while Sofia became fast friends with the boy via their mutual love of Lego bricks and superheroes.
“He just took over as this big brother and protector of his new little host sister, and it was just amazing to see them with that bond so fast,” Hughes said.
Friendships got off to a good start despite the twins knowing little English, Hughes said, adding that they’re fluent in Ukrainian and Russian.
“We don’t realize how much of our communication is gestures, and facial expressions and body language,” she said. “It was amazing how quickly we just kind of came up with our own language.”
Google Translate quickly became an effective tool as well.
“It was kind of amazing, especially my kids, how much Ukrainian they picked up, and how much English our host twins picked up,” she said.
The Hugheses, who home-school, had the twins doing phonics programs and learning letters, something the girl wasn’t keen on at first.
“She was like, ‘If you make me learn English I will run away and die,’” Hughes recalled with a laugh. “It was hilarious; her dramatic response to learning English was so adorable.”
But soon the girl developed such a command of the new language that she was translating communications between the family and her brother.
It sparked praise from Hughes, something that seemed difficult for the girl to accept.
“I don’t know what their life was like before they went into the orphanage,” Hughes said. “I don’t know how much they were loved, I don’t know how much they were cared for. Maybe one day I’ll know, and maybe I’ll never know, and that’s OK, but she struggles to know how precious she is because she’s never had anyone pouring into her and telling her how loved she is and how great she is.”
Of all the activities that filled their time during their stay, one of their favorites was spending time at their host family’s home.
“They loved having that feeling and consistency of going home,” Hughes said.
Home was where the boy could head into the kitchen whenever he was hungry, often filling his pockets with small oranges he’d snack on throughout the day. Home was where the girl enjoyed braiding others’ hair and helping Hughes cook.
Hughes said she was hesitant at first to let a girl so young peel potatoes, but soon learned she didn’t need to be.
“She could peel potatoes better than me,” Hughes said of her young helper.
Hughes maintains that what the twins have brought to her and her family’s lives far outweighs anything they’ve done as a host family.
“They are the blessing,” she said. “Having them in our lives and being able to experience all the things with them — there are no words for it.”
She knows people sometimes criticize helping foreign children when there are so many in the U.S. who need it too.
“You’re always going to have that, but I would really like people to see them and understand it does not matter where you are from,” Hughes said. “Everyone needs the love of a family. Everyone needs to know that they have someone in their corner cheering for them and encouraging them.”
‘Moment to moment’
The twins left at the end of last summer and returned at Christmastime before heading back to Ukraine once again in mid-January.
As the war continues there, Hughes keeps in touch with them regularly by messaging with their 14-year-old brother. He couldn’t accompany his younger siblings on their visits to Greenfield due to his age requiring in-person finger-printing for a travel visa, something he couldn’t get done because of COVID-19 keeping the U.S. embassy in Ukraine closed.
It’s difficult to tell how they’re doing amid the Russian invasion, Hughes said.
“They’re so resilient,” she said. “I think that they are fine. I keep asking if they’re safe, I keep asking if they’re fed, I keep asking if they’re warm, and they keep telling me yes, and I just keep telling them that we’re praying for them.”
She continues to try to find a way to get them out of Ukraine and to a safer place.
“It’s just moment to moment,” she said. “They’re definitely not safe, and we definitely need to get them out.”
With summer approaching, her desire to see the twins soon remains strong.
“We just have to pray and hope, and pray and hope that we can keep that promise to them that we can see them again, and give them hugs again so they can know we love them, and we want to be with them, and we want them here safe and sound,” she said.
