I
am joyful to announce that within days we will move 12 physically and
mentally disabled young women out of an institution and into a home of
their own -- a home where they will live independently for the first
time! These girls have made a remarkable journey, and against all odds:
I will never forget the day I first visited the 
Vesnova children’s mental asylum. It
was a prison-like building at the end of a long road. A grim faced
guard unlocked a metal gate on the grounds pointed me to the dilapidated
building.
Behind locked doors
As
I entered the building, my nostrils were filled with an overpowering
smell of human waste, and it was a struggle to continue forward. Behind
the locked doors of the units, I found children bound in straight
jackets, and others tied to radiators. Many clearly suffered from
malnutrition, and had mouths full of rotten teeth. Children lying in
their own urine and feces, with flies dancing over their lips, moaned
softly as I pulled back their ragged bedclothes. Many were covered in
scabies or had festering bedsores. The
more mobile children were kept locked in cell like rooms. I remember
what we came to call the “mattress room” -- 10 empty eyed children
rocking and humming and picking at each other’s skin. Most of the
children had shaved heads and I could not tell the boys from the girls. Leaving
the asylum, I saw the cemetery and row after row of small graves marked
by numbers. I realized that for many of the children who came down the
long road to Vesnova, a coffin and an unmarked grave would by their
only way out. Later I learned that survivors would, at the age of 18,
be transferred to an adult asylum -- a mixture of a prison and an “old
folks home” where they would live out the rest of their days isolated
from society. Sadly, this is the fate for many mentally and physically
disabled people around the world. And this was going to be the fate of
the young women you see pictured here.
Alternatives to institutions
As
our supporter, you know of our long term effort to improve the living
and standard of care at Vesnova, a place that has been transformed since
that first visit almost a decade ago. But we also knew no matter how
well kept and bright, institutions are not a place for children. We had
to find alternatives.
This
is why in 2008 we opened an independent living apartment terrace for 10
physically and intellectually disabled young men from Vesnova -- the
first of its kind in Belarus. Soon, after completing it, we knew we
would have to do something for the older girls. But finding the funding
was a challenge. None
of the young women pictured here are older than 20. But you can see
that life has not been kind to them. As we watched them grow from girls
to teens, we saw them became the unpaid labor of the institution. They
were the workers in the fields, the caretakers of the livestock, the
scrubbers and the cleaners. They were often caring “mothers” to the
younger children, instinctively giving their love and attention.
Tragically, they were also the sexual objects of some unscrupulous
adults. Each
of the girls pictured here is so much more than a sad story . . . they
are true survivors. When we were able to move our young men into their
own home in 2008, they started to dream that their time would come to
have a home just like the boys. Over
the past 3 years, the girls came to visit the boys in their new home
every free moment they had. The girls envied the boys the privacy of
having their own bedroom, personal things, being able to cook. They had a
yearning for the personal space to do all the ordinary things one does
in a home of their own.
An unexpected donation
It
broke my heart to see the girls wistfully visit the boys knowing that
this little piece of Heaven was just a tantalizing momentary thing. Just
when we thought we would have to say 'no' to the girls’ constant
begging for a home like the boys...an “angel” came to their rescue! A '”friend of a friend” came to see our work at Vesnova. On hearing the story
of the girls and their dream to have their own home, they gave us the
funding to make that dream come true. I hope to be able to tell you the
name of this kind donor soon. What
is most important for now, is that within days I will cut the ribbon
and the girls will move in. I can't wait to see the excitement on their
faces as they settle into having their own bedrooms, a kitchen and communal lounge where they can sit and talk, paint, play games, have fun, sing songs and dream dreams of their new life...now, with everything to live for . . . at last! Adi