Ukraine is a country with a long history of wars and occupation.  Within my grandparent’s lifetime, Stalin nearly wiped the country out by starvation and the Communist regime instilled fear and suspicion into the Ukraine's once-vibrant culture.  On top of that, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster still hangs over them like a shroud, haunting their every living moment.  Having been fascinated with post-Soviet Europe since my freshman year in high school, I jumped on an opportunity to see it for myself in the year 2000.  Three of my dental school classmates and I joined with our leaders from Washington State to give dental care to the under-served children in Ukrainian orphanages.  As students, we naively entered the country and experienced a huge culture shock, government red-tape, and an older generation suspicious of what we smiling Americans were up to.

The leaders of our group were a lovely couple from Washington state, Richard and Vicki Nelson.  The wife is a hygienist and the husband a dentist. He had sold his practice in order to move to Ukraine where they now work full time treating children who lack basic dental care.  I have been privileged enough to go on three trips with the Nelsons since 2000.  I say privileged because I have been able to witness first-hand the reality of unshakable poverty and neglect in children.  One cannot be a part of it and return unchanged.  If I had a magic wand I would have every American teenager see the same thing that I have seen in the overcrowded Ukrainian orphanages where 100 kids share three working toilets and their teachers beg us for soap instead of school supplies.  It would probably curb that adolescent life-or-death crisis over the latest iPod or Wii each Christmas.  It has certainly humbled me into knowing the difference between a desire and a need.

Seeing this need and with this Calling, the Nelsons chose not to retire and collect sea shells on the beach (not that there’s anything wrong with sea shells), but instead chose to maximize the value of their retirement by beginning a new adventure.  Following their hearts - which yearned to help the children - they are not squandering their lives in American ease which they have rightly earned after a lifetime of hard work, but instead are spending their time making a difference by treating the sick, clothing the poor, teaching the ignorant, and hugging a ton of unloved kids.  They are donating their golden years to serving children that have no one else to love them.

Richard and Vicki are my heroes, though they would not accept this title if I were to give it to them.  So to them, I want to dedicate the following series of articles that will appear for the next several weeks describing my excitement, my amazement, my happiness, my grief, my frustrations, my fear and my joy through the stories I have collected from my time in Ukraine.  I hope you will follow along in the journey with me and come to see how the power of a smile can change lives.

Tags: Ukraine