Yulia!! Or Yulchick* or poopsika. Her real name is Yuliana but these are all names of endearment.

Age: 17- Yulia is the youngest member of our team

From: Yulia will tell you she is from India, but she was born in Russia spent some years there, then spent some years in Ukraine where her family is actually from and now her family is living in India as missionaries.

Yulia is one of those people that just seems to be talented at many things. She enjoys playing the guitar and singing. She also just finished knitting a matching set of mittens, a scarf, and a hat. She loves to go out with her friends and loves to laugh.

As you may have guessed, Yulia was the one that came a week late. We are so glad that she did come, she is full of joy and laughter. Her family remains in India at this moment except for her younger brother who is finishing school here in Ukraine. Her parents are running an orphanage in Goa.

Yulia loves her family very much and is crushed she will not be able to spend Christmas or her birthday with them. She loves India and cannot wait to go back. She hopes to return there to help run the orphanage after DTS. In the mean time, she will be coming with me and the rest of the gang to Ethiopia where she will celebrate her birthday along with Christmas. Only good times are to be had in Ethiopia!

* A cultural note about nicknames. People like to add ‘chick/a’ or ‘ka’ to the end of your name to show love and friendship. It sorta translates to ‘dear.’ So Yulia becomes Yulchick, Dima becomes Dimka, Lena becomes Lenachicka, and Megan becomes Megchick. Doesn’t matter if you’re boy or girl. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. Just throw a ‘chick’ on the end of someone’s name and you got a friend!