By Cindy J. Roth
Echoing from the upstairs of the Elm Street home in Lynbrook is the sound of boys rough-housing. There are three distinct voices, but only two speaking in English. The third voice is a muffled one, mostly communicating with grunts or a version of English resembling that of a 2-year-old.
Two of the boys come racing down the stairs and nearly fall as they make the sharp right turn from the dinning room into the kitchen. One of the children, Vina's son Ethan, 6, opens up the refrigerator to get a drink and the second child stops dead in his tracks in front of Vina. The little boy, Misha, 8, is donning a magnificent Cheshire cat smile.
Misha walks over to the sliding glass window off the side of the kitchen and starts to pull on the door, which he always seems to have difficulty with. Toni goes over to help Misha as Vina inquires where he is going.
"I go bike," said Misha in his broken English threaded with a Russian accent. This is his favorite thing to do. Since the first night he arrived at the Nicolich's home July 16, Misha spends most of his time riding a bicycle around the neighborhood.
Misha is one of about a dozen children who were brought to the United States from Russia through Kidsave International's Summer Miracles program. Kidsave International is a non-profit organization whose mission is to end the harmful institutionalization of the world's abandoned children by reducing the number of children living in orphanages and increasing the number of children growing up in permanent, loving families. The agency's Summer Miracles program is dedicated to providing orphanage children with the opportunity to experience life in a family, build awareness of the plight of orphanage children and perhaps find a family sponsor.
The Nicolich's decided to host Misha for the summer after one of Vina's friends hosted three children last summer and adopted one. The six-week long Summer Miracles program has not only provided Misha the opportunity to experience family life, Vina said her family has been changed forever as well.
"We did this to help find a family for him but fell in love with him," said Vina. "[The program] has made me aware that there are a lot of wonderful children out there that need a family."
The Nicolich's were hosting Misha for the summer with the intention of adopting him, but Vina said unfortunately Misha requires a little more attention than she and her husband, who both work full-time, can afford to provide. Now Vina says she is on a mission to find Misha the perfect family.
"I want Misha to have the best," she said. "I don't want to adopt him and not give him everything he needs."
Of the children who come to the United States that are available for adoption, 95 percent or more are adopted, according to Bob Hay, local coordinator for Kidsave International.
"A child's life expectancy increases by 30 years once they step off the plane at LaGuardia Airport," said Hay. Of the girls that grow up in Russian orphanages, almost all become prostitutes, according to Hay, while 50 percent of the boys become homeless, 10 percent commit suicide and a third become alcoholics.
The Nicolich's are hopeful Misha will not become one of these devastating statistics, and know as soon as any American family embraces Misha, they too will fall in love.
"He's so amazing how he bloomed into this fun loving, amazing boy," said Vina. "He wormed his way right into our hearts."
For more information about adopting a child through Kidsave International visit their Web site at www.kidsave.org.
