Russia Blog Diary, Entry Three

Scott Collins is blogging about his experiences in Russia as part of the 2008 ‘Shoes for Orphan Souls’ mission trip. This is Scott’s first trip to Russia with Buckner since 1999. He is vice president of External Affairs.

ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA – Would you know a miracle if you saw one?

We usually measure miracles against the ones we find in the New Testament. You know, things like walking on water, turning water into wine, healing lepers.

I saw a miracle Sunday and I knew it right away. But first, a little background.

It was getting dark on a cold November evening in St. Petersburg nine years ago on my last trip here. The group distributing shoes to the orphans headed back to the hotel for the night and three of us along with Natasha Votyakova, the new director of Buckner Russia, took a side trip.

Crammed into a small car with camera bags on our laps, we drove through street after street until finally arriving at an imposing brown gate that swung open for us.

We made our way through the snow to the office of the director of the hospital for children that would forever become known in Buckner lore as “Hospital #15.”

The director greeted us warming, but cautiously. Dr. Anatoly. That’s all we knew. And while he was cautious, he was also passionate about his work and the work of the hospital.

Hospital #15 is the first stop for hundreds of orphan children in St. Petersburg. This is the place where street children are brought and where babies abandoned at birth are left. This is literally the front door to the orphanage system of St. Petersburg.

After a cordial conversation with Dr. Anatoly, he gave us a tour. Never had I been in a place so depressing. Even with all of my senses working overtime, I couldn’t begin to describe the facility. Our cameras did the best they could, but without the benefit of sound and smell, cameras are limited tools.

The three of us with Natasha were the first from Buckner to visit the hospital. I remember feeling hopeless about the place, even though Dr. Anatoly and the staff we saw that night exuded care and compassion.

A couple of years later Steve George, a freelance videographer who was with me that first night, returned to the hospital for an entire week. He spent the week documenting the hospital and the incredible needs. The result was a documentary we have used widely called “A Place of Hope.”

I returned to Hospital #15 yesterday after nine years of Buckner involvement there. So incredible is the progress that it is actually no longer called Hospital #15. The officials have changed the name to the Children’s Rehabilitation Center.

It now has a large Buckner staff working there providing counseling and psychological assessment, educational training through a Montessori school program, increased medical attention, regular visits by our follow-up team, and a daily rotation of the Buckner “Grandmother Program” that provides women who come to the center everyday to hold the babies and offer human touch.

That dark, musty building where light fixtures hung from the ceiling by their own electrical cords is now festooned with wall paintings of cartoon characters. Bright fluorescent lights light every room and the educational classroom is filled with colorful toys and games.

And yes, Dr. Anatoly is there, too. He greeted me again, this time with a wide smile and a bear hug. The transformation of the hospital has also transformed him.

To be sure, he still has his constant struggles. Success breeds expectations. And like before, there are still not enough resources.

But what I saw Sunday is a miracle. Hospital #15 – the Children’s Rehabilitation Center – is a living testimony to what God can accomplish through Buckner and faithful donors who see potential.

When I got on the bus to leave Sunday evening it felt good to go, knowing I was leaving a place of hope.