Spread Sunshine Updates by Danielle Kuznetsov
In honor of this month’s newsletter’s theme, The Promise of Spring, I want to introduce you to Olesya Desnyanskaya. Since 2013, Olesya has worked as the director of the Otkazniki programs focused on prevention of social orphanhood. I wish you could meet her in person and hear her story. It is one of a PROMISE and a fantastic kickstart to all the good beginnings that the spring offers. Getting to know the people inside the organizations AWO supports is a privilege for me and one of the perks of my job! I have an inside view of their work and who they are as a person, and it makes our AWO contribution so much more meaningful. Olesya was born and raised in Moscow, Russia. Her mother comes from a big loving family. Her father was orphaned at age one when his parents were killed by the invasion in WWII. He lived in 14 different orphanages in Ukraine, but by a miracle, grew up a psychologically whole person. He graduated from Mechmath of Moscow State University, became a teacher, got married at 35, and came into the fold of his new wife’s family. “We have always been my dad’s life,” she says affectionately. Olesya graduated from MGU and began working in the airline safety industry and although the job was a good one, she felt no connection to the work she was doing. In 2010, she began volunteering for Otkazniki and immediately knew this was the job of her life. The connection with her father having been an orphan himself left her with a desire to make a difference in the lives of other children with no families. She is convinced that everything about who she was exactly matches the work she is called to do, and the work she is called to do is what saved her life.
10 March 2020
“In the late fall of 2015, sores came out on my hands that would not heal. The dermatologist prescribed cream saying it was something connected with my immune system. Then, as the sores healed, I began having a temperature and bleeding of my gums, my throat hurt and my glands swelled. I continued seeing various doctors and was told I was having an immune system issue. I knew something was wrong and through my own research I eliminated AIDS right away as my symptoms did not match but realized I had Leukemia. I called a friend to take me for a blood test. The blood results showed off -he-chart blood counts. Calling an ambulance was my only way out. The ambulance brought me directly to the hospital thanks to the on-call doctor who agreed with my hunch. I would have lost a lot of time otherwise. This is one of the reasons I am still here, I believe. That and staring my fear right in the face and moving ahead quickly with the medical community.”
