Chapter Eighteen

FRUA Fun: The Amur/Blagoveshchensk Thread

    After this break with BBAS, Alysha felt she had to remain silent about Amrex, its shady dealings and where the money was going regarding Amur and Tatyana Dmitriyeva. 

    Alysha began to speak out on FRUA under a topic titled “AMUR Region/Blagoveschensk” started by a G. Pierce on Dec. 11 asking for general info about the region. G. Pierce stated she had signed on with an unnamed Amrex agency and was waiting for her court date to travel.

    On Dec. 16, Alysha posted as “Anon” and the fun began to roll regarding what sort of person was running the show in Blagoveshchensk. Alysha nailed a few issues straight off:

You guys should know that as of right now, Amrex has a monopoly in Blagoveshshensk…Amrex is slow with paperwork.  We have split from Amrex [and are] going independently to this region…When we went with Amrex though we took no gifts and it was not a problem.  The facilitator is getting $6,000 a pop from each of you anyhow, so she can get her own gift.  I do…recommend taking money to spend on the orphanage.  The director is very kind and she will be happy to tell you what to get at the market for the kids

    She was merely warming up. G. Pierce followed up stating that she had never heard anything negative about Blagoveshchensk except the fact that it was cold in January.

    Alysha’s response the next day:

I remain anonymous because I myself have had to fire Amrex due to circumstances beyond my control.  We will be adopting again and do not wish Amrex to interfer this time so we try to avoid them realizing which family we are.  That’s right.  Amrex employees read this board and watch things that go on.  They can make things very pleasant or very miserable for you.  In my case, the latter. 

I can say, however, that the reason I was forced to separate from them was entirely their fault not ours.  And I can prove it.  It took me months to find out that Amrex operates entirely illegally in Russia if you don’t believe it – read the laws…Amrex is a hit or miss type thing.  You either love them because they did right by your case or you hate them because they screwed your royally…

I will be more than pleased to tell you how to get discount roundtrip tickets to Blagov and how to stay at the Churin or other hotels for a cheaper price than Amrex will book you for.  I just want you to understand that Amrex is not all peaches n’cream.

    On Dec. 19, other posters defended their adoptions in Amur with Tatyana. One man, “CP” who was A Child’s Hope International (ACHI) client, popped in stating that he had returned from Blagoveshchensk two days previously with his little girl.  

    Their 10 days had been waived, Amrex had arranged their hotels in Moscow, their flights in Russia and “a nice three-bedroom apartment in Blago” for their stay.

    CP went on that they had “carried over 90 lbs. of snowsuits, clothing, and vitamins donated by one of the FRUA chapters …also some cash” that people had sent them.  The donations were received well by the director and staff at the orphanage.  

    CP stated “we were asked to use part of the money to purchase a vacuum cleaner and electric hair clippers which were desperately needed. The caretakers and children were so thankful that they cried tears of joy. We had never before witnessed such gratitude over things we take for granted here in the States.” 

    Or what one takes “gratitude” to mean in Russia.

    Alysha pounded again on not giving “the faciliator” a gift and elaborated on CP’s post.

Things like washing machines and furniture are not that expensive in Blagov so a couple hundred dollars buys a lot.  I would not give the facilitator a gift.  That $6,000 orphanage donation your agency took wasn’t a donation at all.  It was a facilitator fee.  If that orphanage got $6,000 for every kid it wouldn’t look like it does. 

Apartments in Blagov rent out for about $30 a month.  Teachers make $42 a month.  This is a poor place.  You will have enough money on your body to pay someone’s salary for a year with your one trip.  And that would be a well off person. 

Don’t believe for a second that director saw a penny of that $6,000.  Why do you think she was so grateful for hair clippers?  $6,000 will buy a lot of hair clippers in Blagov.  I would venture to say it would pay for all the new cribs on the second floor of the orphanage.

    Later on in the thread, CP responded and clarified that he had sent a personal check to ACHI for half of the “Foreign Fee” upon the commitment of his daughter’s referral. He stated they had sent the other half right of the money right before they traveled. ACHI in turn forwarded the funds to Amrex. 

    On Feb. 6, he said: “We had no control over disbursement of any portion of the foreign fees. We were never told that any portion of the fees would be given to the orphanage.”

    During his stay in Blago, CP stated that he paid “700 rubles a day, or roughly $23 for a driver” for the nine days he was there. The apartment he mentioned staying at cost $30 a day and was paid in hard currency — American dollars. 

    A $125 fee for the “caretaker/guide/translator” was for the duration of his stay, whether the ten days were waived or not.

    However, in Moscow, he paid $300 for the “driver/translator” (whom, he did state, “went above and beyond to make us comfortable, showed us how to change money, order food, etc.” and $95 a night for the Intourist Hotel — which has since closed down. Of the $5,000 in cash that he traveled with, after the above expenses, souvenirs and food were paid for, he returned back to the USA with $1,000.

    Adopting with ACHI/Amrex appeared to have been just as costly upfront as it was with BBAS/Amrex.

    CP and Alysha would get to know one another soon enough, and find that they actually had more in common than these posts would allow for.  He backed Alysha up on two points:

Friday, December 19, 2001: Yes, Anon.  We were told not to mention the video and also given another accredited agency’s name in case the judge asked…

    And:

January 23, 2002: I see Anon’s point about the charges for transportation.  As I previously mentioned, we used the same driver everyday, an elderly gentleman.  We were led to believe he was a private taxi.  However, I feel that the vehicle was owned by the agency and the driver was on the company payroll.  If so, the driver was making $5 per hour on the side.  I could be totally wrong, but if not, I would say we were taken advantage of as adoptive parents.

    In January when Alysha began to post directly from Blagoveshchensk for her adoption trip, CP and she would have much to discuss over the orphanage donation that CP had made in person in Blago, with Tatyana’s personal help.

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