Street orphan rescued by orphanage

Posted: May 2, 2007   By: Staci Dennis

Video: Orphan Rescued from Streets

PETRIVTZI, Ukraine - Sleeping on hot water pipes and covering himself with tattered rags is how 9-year-old Dima spent his winter nights.

"I didn't have any place to live," he said. "I had to look for food in trash cans."

Dima's mother, an alcoholic, couldn't provide the basic necessities for her son, so he fled to an abandoned house where he lived in the basement and looked for help from other runaways.

To fight off the cold and hunger pangs, Dima resorted to sniffing glue. He would beg for money and instead of buying food, used it to purchase the inexpensive adhesive.

"I couldn't live without it," Dima said about the glue. "I was addicted to it."

Nikolay, a local orphanage director who has been working hand-in-hand with Operation Blessing for two years, found Dima and took him in. However, after three days, Dima ran away.

Nikolay searched for Dima and brought him back to the orphanage, only to see him run away for a second time.

"It was difficult for him to get used to his new life," Nikolay said.

On the streets again, Dima's health began to fail and he developed a severe hernia that needed surgery. When the doctors and nurses insisted he tell them the name of a caregiver, Dima could only think of Nikolay.

That was two and a half years ago and today, Dima now lives at the orphanage with 35 other children.

"He takes good care of us." Dima said about Nikolay. "He makes sure we have what we need."