There is nothing more tempting or seductive than the prospect of finding true love. Perhaps the only thing better could be true love with a catwalk model. For thousands of men who are homeless, abandoned, rejected or simply fed up with feminism in Western Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia, all roads seem to “lead east” in their search for the love of their life. The business of marriage agencies in Ukraine is booming. It was born shortly after the fall of the wall, but received its greatest infusion of life about 7 years ago with the rise in popularity of the Internet.
Ukraine is second only to Russia in the number of women using the Internet highway to find love and romance and, perhaps, a better life. But how many of these women are real? How many want love, marriage and a little one in a baby stroller? Surprisingly, after speaking to a cross-section of men recently arrived in Kyiv from Western Europe, the US, and Canada on marriage tours, there aren’t as many as you’d think who are interested in getting married. These men, who had been corresponding with the woman of ‘their dreams’ for many months, were dismayed to discover that, once in the Ukraine, a different story was about to derail their fairytale search for a Slavic princess. There were three complaints this reporter heard from all but two of the men. Number one:
I. The girl said she thought better of it and didn’t want to get married so soon.
2. The girl said that she had no plans to leave Ukraine.
3. The girl ‘showed up’ only interested in going out and having a good time.
“It was a little weird for me,” says Curtis, a computer programmer from San Jose, California. Curtis had been corresponding with a girl named Svetlana in Kyiv for about 6 months before deciding to take the plunge. “Everything seems fine on the surface, but when I want to talk about details, plans for the future, she backs off. I mean I’m only here for 7 days, I don’t have much time to put things together, it was really a bit frustrating. “, He says. Curtis also says that the passion and heartfelt feelings that were in the emails and letters before he arrived were not present in the face-to-face contact. “There was something peculiar about our first and second meetings. I didn’t get the impression that I was talking to the same girl I had been writing to for half a year. She said she didn’t want to get married so soon and was nervous about moving.” to the United States,” Curtis said. Those two points are the rigorous ones. Yes, marriage is a big step, and one should be a little nervous about broaching the subject, but shouldn’t that be a consideration before a person hires the services of a marriage agency, not after the guy he’s been to? writing ‘sweet nothings’? ‘to show up at Boryspil airport?
The first two points were presented to American businessman and long-time resident of Kyiv, Mr. Brett Ousley, himself president of kyiv Connections. “I’m single and have used agencies in the past, and some of the issues mentioned are what led me to open my own agency,” he says. Brett says that many of the plethora of agencies in the Ukraine are in the business of collecting and selling as many names and addresses as they can. This ‘kill the goose that lays the golden eggs’ mentality in the marriage agency business is bad for legitimate operations that are genuinely trying to match the right people for a strong relationship. “I remember this once, years ago, I was on a date with a girl from an agency in town,” says Ousley, “and after picking her up we started walking to this cafe to get to know each other better.” As we walk, she nonchalantly blurts out that she can’t be out late because her husband will be home in a bit.” Needless to say, Ousley politely walked away. He was amazing, he said, “I hope this doesn’t stop us from going out.” tonight. I said, ‘what’s the point, see you later,” says the disgruntled bride slayer.
Ousley says this experience was so impactful that it helped form the cornerstone of his operation. Through the selection of applicants, suspicions of him were well founded. What some people don’t think of as this is a win-win situation for the ladies,” says Ousley. “It costs them nothing. The risk belongs to the man. She waits for the agency to call, or collects the letters, gifts and dates, all for free, while the man uses his only vacation a year, buys a ticket, stays in kyiv and puts his heart on the line, that’s why it’s that we make sure our girls are up to par,” says Ousley. Ousley says that he periodically reviews a girl’s status, and some are rejected or removed from his list if they are found to be only in the game for a long time and its not serious.Another agency that specializes in custom matchmaking is Kharkiv Mordinson Agency.Mordinson is a premium agency that specializes in some of the “hottest women in the Kharkiv region, and they take the trouble to list their stories of success on the website, with real photos of the couples it has produced. “All our girls are interested in getting married and we take the trouble to individually tailor a program for the man who is visiting, so that if “We don’t have these awkward ‘meat market’ social gatherings that some of the larger agencies do,” says rep darya mordinson, “she says of classic marriage agency meetings where ten men will find themselves in front of a room full of up to sixty girls. “The meetings we offer are all singles and only with girls or women who are definitely interested in the man, so the disappointment is that they have dealt with the name and address mass marketers. You can notice those sites immediately when you load their page in your browser You see about ten to fifteen photos per page, nearly identical text in the bio, usually just credit card payment information, and no person’s name at the top you can talk to if you have a problem. an agency, a sign that one is more credible than others would be the list of a phone number and the name of a manager.This tells you that there is someone responsible and, if possible, before sending money or writing romantic thoughts, spend the dollar per minute for the long distance call from abroad and the contact base with the manager.From your conversation, you will be able to know if it is an operation of “take the money and run” or if it will work with you to try to find the match of a lifetime. Address sellers are the weak link in the marriage agency chain.
Marriage agencies attract negative publicity and are still considered somewhat exploitative, but it’s worth remembering that they exist everywhere. However, financial differences between Western husbands and Slavic brides have left the practice open to attack. In the late 1990s, a feminist legislator in Washington state proposed a law that would require background checks for men who apply to a marriage agency abroad. Supposedly responding to cases in which women from Eastern Europe and Asia were bought as mail-order brides and abandoned or abused in the United States, the legislation was scrapped, largely due to a lack of concrete cases of abuse. In fact, many agencies go out of their way to list ‘happily ever after’ success stories on their sites and avoid getting involved with any Western clients deemed ‘undesirable’.
In general, prospective bride hunters should be careful when choosing an agency and ask those tricky, hard questions before hopping on a plane or shelling out big bucks for that ‘special girl.’ There are plenty of genuine ladies out there looking to get involved for the long haul, but there are also plenty of girls more excited by the prospect of having ‘no strings attached’ fun with a comparatively well off foreign man. Happy hunting!
