More ABOUT
Taylor Dakake
Passionate About Inspiring Others
My name is Taylor and I was born in Cheboksarui, Russia in October 1986. I lived there for five years with my family. I had one brother who is four years older than me and one sister who is two years younger than me. At the age of five, I lost my dad. Since that point, my biological mom, my younger sister, and I began traveling all over Russia as a homeless family, which some considered “Gypsy”. We stayed in train stations, under bridges, in haystacks, and other places I don’t care to remember. For food, I had to jump over fences into other people’s gardens and take vegetables like cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots... just to stay alive. Some days we ate nothing. During the winter, I had to beg people for a place to stay each night on behalf of my mother and sister.
I wanted a chance to go to school as I realized that a life without education would offer us nothing. At an early age, I already knew that to have no education, would offer me a life of nothing later on. Because of our constant moves and homelessness, I had no friends. So, as simple as it sounds, I also wanted to have friends.
At one point in my life, I lived with a family on the farm who decided to become my “foster family”. While not the ideal family: an alcoholic father who refused to come home and help on the farm, a mother who was constantly angry due to her husband’s absence, and an older brother who had severe mental problems and was also full of anger… this was a real family for me. They agreed to put me in school, so I realized one dream and began first grade at the age of 9. The school became my favorite place because, at home, I had to take care of the farm. In the morning, I took the cows to the city where a common caregiver watched them in the pasture, then, I fed the pigs, chickens, and other animals. Only after my chores were done, was I able to go to school. And, I knew once home in the afternoon, other farm chores would again take over such as cleaning pigsties, chicken coops, horse barns and spreading the manure onto the field and garden, cultivate the garden, cut and stack wood for the winter, plow the fields for other crops, sickle the grass to collect hay and store it for winter in the barn and finally feed all animals before dark. On a large farm, the work is never done. Only after all chores were done, was I able to complete homework with dim lights.
I lived with this family for 4 years, until the age of 12. At the end of the fourth year, I got transferred to another family and after, into a large regional hospital before settling in an orphanage.......
These are some of my memories on paper that I have published.
Thank you so much for reading my story "Wait For Me"
I hope this inspires others to share your past with me and start a healing process. We all have a story to share and I am here to listen....
Please join me
