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Russian Adoptee Tells His Story

Posted June 20, 2010 by Shannon Suda

Categories: Success Stories, International Adoption

Koyla was adopted from Russia at age nine.  He is now sixteen and has written about his thoughts, feels and experiences for you.

As a child I always pondered many questions about America. I never dreamed that I would actually come to America with an American family who cared enough to come and adopt me. The best part was to see America for the first time. 

The first time I saw America, I was on an airplane when I was 9 years old.  This was my first airplane ride, and I was so surprised to see the ground from up above. The streets were clean and the houses were so big compared to the little houses in Russia. We finally touched down and I was so excited to see America up close.  My parents introduced me to the rest of my family. I remember seeing the family and I was surprised how big the family was. It was a family of six, but now I made it a family of seven. The whole family started to talk but I did not know any English at all. I knew a few English words that my parents taught me while we were making the journey home from Russia, but I had no idea what these new family members were saying.

The next day we drove home to my home. It was a big, white farmhouse in the country. I had never seen anything like it before. As we pulled into the long, gravel driveway, a big, black dog started to bark wildly and chase our car up to the garage. I was too scared to get out of the car. One of my parents held the dog and the other one got me in the house. It only took me a couple days to get to know my dog, Buddy. We eventually became good friends.

Once inside, my new brother Austin took me to our bedroom. I would be sharing this bedroom with one person.  In Russia, I had to share a bedroom with twenty other boys. Austin and I became good friends right away. My mom says that when Austin and I would play, I would speak Russian and Austin would speak English and it was like we could understand each other!  

 In Russia, I had a very good friend named Nadia.  We were in the same orphanage until we were seven years old. When we were seven, Nadia got adopted by a family in Bloomington so I had not seen her for over two years. Several days after I arrived, I was able to see Nadia and we were both very happy to see each other.  We now go to high school together.  This is not very common for adopted kids to see each other after they have been adopted.

A few days after I arrived, I started school.  I still did not speak any English but the teachers taught me words and my vocabulary grew. I was fully speaking English by Christmas and I soon forgot my Russian language.

I think adoption is important because it gives kids a future and a family who loves them.  When a child is in an orphanage, they don't really have a person who loves them. There are a lot of kids who need a family and the opportunity to become all that God has created them to be. 

As I think back, the last six years have been overwhelming. I moved from one country to another. I learned a new language. I became part of a family. I moved from an orphanage to a house. I'm working toward my future as a home builder.  This has been a very exciting time and my life has been changed forever. Even though I really want to visit Russia again one day, I would never give up the family I have here.