Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. adopts two orphanages in Ukraine (02/18/01)

Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. adopts two orphanages in Ukraine

Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund to implement programs

by Joseph Sywenkyj and Olena Welhasch

SHORT HILLS, N.J. - The quaint rural setting of a former Polish landowner's mansion in Ivano-Frankivsk oblast is home to 127 orphans between the ages of 4 and 16. Classified as Group 4 invalids, the inhabitants of the Zaluchia Budynok-Internat (orphanage) suffer from the most severe mental and physical disabilities in Ukraine.

These children are plagued by myriad of problems: from Cerebral Palsy to Down Syndrome and other forms of mental illness. Many of the residents suffer from multiple birth defects that have been linked to radiation exposure or other environmental toxins. Due to the economic crisis in Ukraine, as well as the societal stigma assigned to disabled people, insult is added to injury by the deplorable conditions in which they live.

Thanks to the generosity of several benefactors in the Ukrainian American community, the Zaluchia Internat and another center in Znamianka, where children have been living in similar conditions, will soon receive the essential aid they have been desperately seeking. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. has adopted the two orphanages and has presented the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund with a generous grant of $40,000 to be the facilitator of the adopted orphanage project.

At the presentation of the grant, Archbishop Antony stated, "We are more than thrilled that God has given us the opportunity to contribute to the support of those orphans who suffer under such incredible conditions. The consequences of the Chornobyl disaster and decades of total disdain for the sanctity of human life on the part of secular officials have obviously created these conditions. We will assist the 'little ones who come unto our Lord' from our missionary fund. This particular act of Christian charity is made possible in large part by the loving care of two parishioners from our parish of St. Volodymyr in Los Angeles - two sisters, Orycia Federwicz and Natalie Dedeluk - who contributed the lion's share of this gift precisely to care for Ukrainian orphans. May God bless them and each of the lives they have touched and made better. We will pray fervently for a life of quality and nurturing for these children we now consider ours."

The two orphanages were selected to receive aid based on extensive fact-finding missions and preliminary aid shipments organized by CCRF. Following its initial inquiry, the New Jersey-based fund began to expose the living conditions at Zaluchia, and local health officials were prodded to implement basic reforms. CCRF has found that the administrations at both institutions have begun to make positive and progressive changes.

This past summer, Joseph Sywenkyj, a student at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, worked as an investigative intern with CCRF to document the aftereffects of Chornobyl through photographs at both centers.

"I traveled to the Zaluchia and Znamianka Budynok Internat, as well hospitals and homes in other cities and villages in Ukraine, in order to give a voice to the dispossessed through photographs. My hope is that the photographs will raise awareness and when people view the images they will be inspired to take action," Mr. Sywenkyj said.

The Zaluchia orphanage was first brought to the attention of CCRF when a grim article titled "Chornobylska Umeralnia" (Chornobyl death ward) was published in a Polish Catholic journal. The journalist's harrowing description urged CCRF to further investigate the situation there.

"I witnessed the reality of the article," said Mr. Sywenkyj, "Children were tied to the walls by their legs and others, half-naked in tattered clothes were lying on the urine-soaked wooden floor. Their legs and bodies were contorted in every angle but straight. In the playrooms, a few children sat on steel pots, which are used as toilets because the orphanage does not have indoor plumbing. I remember feeling that if all children are angels, then these children have had their wings clipped and were thrown into a living hell."

"At the Znamianka Budynok-Internat, they had received previous aid from CCRF and the children lived in somewhat better conditions," continued Mr. Sywenkyj "However, my experience there was also sad. On two hot August days I photographed the children. In the evening, a worker told me that that very day a child had died. A bit shocked at her casual attitude regarding the child's death, I asked her how this made her feel. She went on to say that the first few times she saw one of the children die she was very sad. She then said that after several deaths 'you get used to it' and it does not have such a negative impact on your emotions. It is simply a cycle of life. Unfortunately, the day I visited the Zaluchia Budynok-Internat a child died there as well. I photographed the burial dressing for the body of the child. Sharing in the presence of two dead children in one week, I could not help but feel like the grim reaper."

Olena Maslyukivska, CCRF in-country director, and Olena Welhasch, CCRF director of procurement, visited Zaluchia in December 2000, following the humanitarian aid that arrived on CCRF's 27th airlift.

Ms. Welhasch noted:

"The airlift provided the orphanage with multi-vitamins, cleaning supplies, quilts, diapers and children's clothing. The smell of sickness and death hung heavy in the air, and we were consoled by the thought that three tons of cleaning supplies had been donated to the orphanage on this airlift. The children were grouped together according to the level of their disability and the hospital director told us that there was no hope of recovery for any of them. It is true that many of their disabilities cannot be ameliorated and that many await the sad destiny of dying before they reach adulthood. If they survive to the age of 16, they will be moved to their next home, an adult building for invalids in Sniatyn, where conditions are even more miserable. However, respect for human dignity demands that the quality of their daily life improve."

The detailed reportage of the Polish American journalist is partially responsible for the improvements witnessed at Zaluchia since last summer, but it seems as though the new director, who has worked there since July 2000, can also be credited with bolstering the standard of care. Hryhorii Orobetz is the former director of a collective farm. Although he is not medically trained, he seems to be compassionate to the children's needs and strict in fulfilling his administrative duties. Mr. Orobets told Ms. Welhasch that in a few years, he hopes that the only aid he will have to request will be a tractor and a plow to be able to grow their own food at the orphanage. His staff of 120 workers, who are divided into four shifts, includes a nurse, a doctor, a psychiatrist and a masseuse. The children who suffer only from physical deformities are not yet offered proper physical therapy or psychological evaluations. As part of the program to be implemented under the UOC-USA grant, CCRF plans to recruit physical therapists and child psychologists to ensure that no orphans are deprived of meaningful educational or therapeutic opportunities. CCRF has also secured aid from the Ukrainian American veterans of the Galicia Division, New Jersey branch, who provided clean linens and funds for new laundry equipment.

On the day CCRF representatives last visited the orphanage, local schoolchildren from a nearby village performed a St. Nicholas holiday pageant for the orphans. The children who could walk or had wheelchairs donned their best hand-me-downs, and enjoyed the beautiful expression of community support. In flawless Ukrainian, the Zaluchia village children recited prayers to St. Nicholas to hold the children in his heart and to bless them this year. Sooner than expected, some of these prayers have been answered.

The $40,000 grant provided by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. will be used to develop appropriate educational and physical therapy programs for the disabled children and to improve nutritional and medical care. It will upgrade the physical appearance and sanitary conditions so that the orphans can be treated in a more humane environment. A portion of these funds will also be used to develop a strategic plan that can sustain these improvements beyond the early phases of emergency relief.

In 1996 the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of U.S.A. had sponsored a neonatal intensive care unit at the Chernihiv Regional Children's Hospital with a grant of $120,000 to CCRF. CCRF has now established six such model intensive care units and has achieved dramatic reductions in infant mortality in several of its partner hospitals.

Anyone interested in viewing the conditions at either orphanage should contact CCRF's national office at (973) 376-5140 for information about an exhibit of Mr. Sywenkyj's photographs at the United Nations scheduled for April. The exhibit will coincide with a U.N. conference co-sponsored by CCRF and World Information Transfer (WIT) commemorating the 15th Anniversary of the Choronobyl disaster.

For more information on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A orphanage project, please contact CCRF's national office or Deacon Ihor Mahlay, Director of the Office of Christian Missions and Charity of the UOC-U.S.A. at (440) 582-1051.

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