Meet Bogdon,

He is a 15 year old orphan from Ukraine. Bogdon came to America for winter hosting summer of 2012. His first family was not a match for him so he was moved to Ginger Guglielmo’s house for the final week of hosting.  Ginger is the director of Children’s Cultural Connection Host Program and the Founder of Guglielmo’s Hope. Here is her story about the one special week she shared with Bogdon.

“I know when Bogdon first got here he kept telling me my 3 year old was hard for him. She was just in love with him and kept saying his name over and over and he didn't know what to do...lol. I told him to just do what I do with Slavic, the 6 year old we hosted who was more like 3. I told him to just say "yes Giuliana". He laughed and all was good from then on. He would say "yes Giuliana" and look at her while she rattled on then look at me and laugh with comfort knowing he was making her happy. The first night he was here Giuliana brought him a Russian bible and he was shocked when he saw it. He took her over to the couch and sat and read it to all the kids. First priceless moment.

I took him to meet another friend and told him he was welcome to stay with them if my kids were bothering him and he told me "no no, Giuliana good, Gregor good" :). I wasn't sure if he felt bad leaving or he just really liked us. I told him that family invited him to stay with them at Christmas and he seemed happy about that also.

He was a wonderful friend to my 7 y/o son Gregorio. They would spend hours on the trampoline together as Bogdon was trying to teach him how to do flips. Grego taught him how to play all the video games. He bonded with both my kids and my son keeps begging me to adopt him.

I love how Bogdon wants to be well dressed and how school is so important to him. He has a lot of ambition and he is proud of the fact that he is good at school and sports. He is a very good role model. He is at the top of his class and even Ilona, my facilitator in Ukraine, confirmed that.

He is rough around the edges when it came to little manners, like eating a piece of chicken by stabbing the whole thing with a fork and bending over his plate to chomp on it instead of using a knife to cut it up ....and going out to dinner with his shirt open...lol....then sit and look at his iphone all the time.  We knew these were thing we needed to teach him gently, but it was so hard for us with such a short time to find a way to do it without embarrassing him. He wants nothing more than to help and be good. He needs guidance for  those basic things we teach our kids that are not taught in an orphanage. We were very understanding of that.

I was trying very hard to get him to just be a kid. You can see the little kid come out once in a while but not enough...like he loves to ride a bike fast then skid out....lol. He does go hard core when it comes to thrill seeking. He also will never dive into the pool the same way twice. He has to sit and think for a second on how he will dive or jump in different or better than the time before.

He is very much a sharp dresser and wants to look and smell good. He even asked me for an iron so he could iron his shirts. :) I did it for him.  I have a 22 y/o so it was just like having another teen son here. Loved it and didn't realize how much I miss it!

He is a bit material and told me he likes "things" :). Of course he does...lol. What 15 year old boy doesn't. He asked if at Christmas families gave presents. I said yes and he asked if he could for sure come for Christmas...lol. This may seem shallow but it so wasn't. It was very innocent and you have to remember, this boy has never had "things". I could see he wanted the experience Christmas with a family very bad and this was his way of saying it. I asked him if he got presents for Christmas and he said yes, something small from his brother.

Taking him shopping was priceless. He was very aware of "big money" and never asked for expensive things and he would put together outfits with ease. He was so proud of how he looked and was so thankful. He thanked me over and over again for everything. Just a humble child. He asked to be taken everywhere with me so he could just see America and "help me".

The before departure night I took them to the hotel and they had their own room. I went to their room at 10pm and asked him to come to the bank with me because it was late and I didn't want to go to the ATM by myself in San Francisco. Vova jumped up and said "me me me". Just like a little kid. It was precious. I said "of course you too". You could just feel from them that being asked to be a help and my "security" was an honor to them both. Again, a priceless moment that is hard to describe. Had to be there and know these great boys.

Bogdon did bond with me fast and told me about his past. I asked him if he wanted to be adopted and he said he was confused by it and that he would have to consult with his brother. I asked if his brother would fight it if he wanted to be adopted and he said "no, never" as he made a dirty look on his face and shook his head and waved his arms NO. He told me a lot about his childhood and about how his mother passed away :( He then went to talk about his dad and how he abandoned him and this is when he turned is head to stop his tears and take a breath. Ugh. I wanted to cry. He is a very brave child with a lot of pain. :(.

Bogdon ages out of this orphanage in spring. He say the director will let him stay until May when he graduates. He says he has hopes and dreams and wants to be an attorney but that orphans are labeled in Ukraine and they don't have the same opportunities or chance. He says he will go direct to a "vocational school" which he will learn a labor or clerk type job and work a hard labor job to support himself while he goes to school. He will not be able to go to college because it is too expensive. I told him he deserved more and that he needs to go to college. He says it costs $100 a month for school and to live and he would never be able to afford it because he had to work to live. Not sure if those numbers are correct. He even asked me if he could pick the grapes from our vineyard for work, and who we paid to do it. He is not afraid to work and just expects that he will do it without any fuss about it. 

This boy deserve an amazing family who will nurture and love him and support him in his sports and school. He will be worth every bit of it and return the love and devotion to his family.  He has never had a real family and grew up in an orphanage since he was 6. Even before that he was alone a lot. 

In just the short few days we had him, he got closer and closer to us and more comfortable ever day. He puts on a huge "tough guy" exterior but I was able to break through that. He is naturally confident but he really let his wall down here. He really liked when the kids went to bed and we got to sit on google translate and talk at night. He just NEEDED someone to talk to who would really sit and listen.

When it was time to say goodbye at the airport, this is when I really saw how much he bonded to me. When I hugged him he didn't want to let go and he showed instant concern when that made me start crying. Even though we always talked about him coming back to another family, he asked me right then and there if he could come back to us for Christmas. Ugh, so hard. He then walked through security and stared back at me with such a sad face while he waved every few seconds. He just looked so concerned which made me cry even more. He even got on his tippy toes to do a final wave to me over the security scanner. Even Vova kept looking at him and then at me like he was so surprised by how Bogdon was acting. I cried to whole day. This child really touched my heart. I still can't even look at his pictures. I feel worse than I did when my oldest son moved out. I think it is because he couldn't wait to get out...lol. I just want so much better for this young man and his future. 

He will be an amazing son, brother, student, and friend. There is so much to this child. It will just take the perfect family to let him shine. He is a golden boy and a gift from God. I feel so blessed that he was a part of our lives, even if it was just for a week. I miss him terribly.

My only regret is that my husband wasn't able to spend enough time with him to see who he really is. Between work and still grieving over the recent loss of his mother, it was hard for him to spend a lot of extra time with Bogdon . If there is anything I know about this boy, a man like my husband, who shares so many of the same qualities as Bogdon, would have completed his security about being adopted by an American family. 

Christmas will be the last chance for this child to find his forever family. I really need to find the family who will reach him like we did and be open to learning enough about him to know what he wants in life.... nurture that instead of trying to change him into what a family wants and/or expects from him. He needs a family who will guide him and help him make his own dreams come true....including having a real family and a secure place to call home. When we talked about his perfect family, he asked me to look through all of them and pick one for him. Qualities being, not greedy, kind...one like mine.  His words J.

He is naturally funny and good natured. Smiles and laughs all the time. Easy to please, humble, sweet, loving, and caring. Open to learning, fair, and focused. He is also not afraid to help with little children and softy corrects them and/or redirects bad behavior.

I do not have anything bad to say about him except that he just needs to be taught the little normal things he wasn't taught as a young child. He loves soccer, ping pong, volleyball, swimming and tumbling (he can do back and front flips with ease). He also loves sweets..too much. He would even ask me for a Sprite when he woke up in the morning.

He has two families who will host him at Christmas but I really need to find him a forever family. I will see him  next month when I visit his orphanage for our Winter Host Program. My hopes are to find families who have it in their hearts to adopt him. The perfect family will be paper ready to go back and adopt after winter hosting because he ages out soon after and a family will not have time to prepare if they are not ready by the time he comes. I want to bring family information with me to show him that I have been thinking of him and following through with my promise.

He is my bud and I am on a mission to help him have an amazing future.”

Ginger Guglielmo

408-710-8902