Where do I start – it’s been quite a week here in Belarus (our home away from home).
Let’s start with some of the places and names that will appear in the Blog: –
- Dom Zara – the house in Minsk where the charity is based.
- Dobra Tut – the Belarusian-based charity that we know as Burren Chernobyl Project at home.
- Chervin – an Orphanage for children and young adults, close to the city of Minsk.
- Yazovki – an Adult Asylum based close to Minsk.
- Kyl – an Adult Asylum based in a remote location (that’s no accident) in the Brest Region.
- Gorodishche – an Orphanage for children and young adults, based close to the city of Baranovichi in the Brest Region.
We had a relatively straightforward trip from Shannon to Minsk (I’m already accepting that sitting on a bus for 6 or 7 hours = straightforward). But apart from the time taken to cross the border, the rest was . . . straightforward! OK, maybe there were a few things of note.
- When we got to the bus station in Vilnius there were no signs for our bus (either on the wall or on the digital display). Am I worried . . . no, hand signals were used to communicate with one of the local station guards – lane 21 (as expected) was where we were to go.
- At the border crossing into Belarus, the driver and his assistant (I guess they have 2 drivers in case the trip takes more hours than anticipated – or am I naïve in thinking that matters) were busy replacing one of the drive belts in the engine. Both of them were carrying out something akin to open heart surgery on the fly. Apart from a few crunching sounds every time the bus started, all was well, and we arrived safe and well in Dom Zara (our home in Minsk for the week).
Under Liam’s guidance, we looked at his Funding Request List. He is never short of people, groups, orphanages, and asylums, looking for funding for all sorts of things. From a simple “box of sports balls” to the complex “building of special units”. We quickly get to see, first-hand, that Brother Liam and Dobra Tut are in very high demand and have connections throughout the city and country. Ably supported by Tamara and Yura, there are droplets of their care and attention everywhere we visit (and beyond we’re sure).
At first, we look at the list and highlight projects that seem to be what we set about to do when we decided to do #importanterstuff. But as the week moved on, and we go to visit and meet many people that were on the project list, our view on the first set of projects that we would like to support changed. In reality, the person best placed to decide where #importanterstuff money was to be spent was the person who was closest to all of this – Brother Liam. We were looking to make a difference across the Orphanages and Asylums, maybe a little to a lot might be the best strategy.
Allow me to get some of the “new kids in town” stuff out of the way first. We got to use the busses a few times in Minsk, easy enough once Brother Liam had given us a quick rundown. “Take the 3 or the 60, not the 61 – that will bring you in the wrong direction. Buy your ticket on boarding and ensure it’s stamped in case you are inspected. The bus stop nearest Dom Zara will take you to Momo where you can get the Red Line Metro into the city.” And we’re off. We managed the bus without any difficulty, even deciding to take the #3 all the way to the city centre – a trip of about 30 minutes that cost the equivalent of €0.25 each (are you reading this Bus Eireann?).
It’s hard to pick a moment that would be “top of the list” for the week we’ve just had, but let me introduce you to Svieta, Andre, Daniel and Sasha (and yes, three of these four were already high on Liam’s priority list, the fourth was a “spur of the moment, magic moment”).
We visited a daycare centre in Minsk that is now run by the state (it started its life in Dom Zara). It’s akin to a creche, but not necessarily for young children. Young people with special needs come to the centre where they are engaged in supervised activities in a very safe and clean environment (including a garden and play area). Enter Svieta. We were brought through the facility by one of the staff and we came to the arts and crafts room. Svieta was supervising the making of costume jewellery and other items (soft toys, etc.). Although supervising was her role, Svieta was also a service user and had her own challenges (there was talk of a stroke or something else that had left her with some cognitive issues). Joanne picked up some bracelets, all beautifully handmade by Svieta and her team, it looked like she might want to buy one or two (Svieta proudly shows them, hoping for a sale). With 11 bracelets viewed Joanne asks – “how much for all of them?”. Svieta is fumbling with a calculator, she was not expecting to hear “all of them”.
I’m not sure that she did the calculations right – she was starting to become quite emotional – but a figure of BYN 105 (less than €40) was presented on the calculator. I handed over a crisp 100 and a 5 note – and then the tears began to flow from both sides of the table. Liam was telling us that it was likely that Svieta had never seen a BYN 100 note let alone hold it and, more importantly, now owned it! We left (after a short piano recital from one of the quieter girls in the centre) but heard that Svieta’s tears were with her six hours later – tears of joy (and a little shocked at our simple random act of kindness!).
We visit Andre in his remote and simple house (the houses that I’ve spoken of previously in diaries on http://www.rineanna.com). The weeds in the garden, taller than the door, were the first thing to greet us. Liam tells me that we are in a town/townland called Hooters (that’s the easiest pronunciation for us Irish). There is much discussion as to whether I could admit that on my first week in Belarus, I went to Hooters! Yes, I did but it was not quite what comes to your minds right now 😊
Andre is 37 and lives with his brother, also his carer, Dima. Following a road accident (was it a motorbike or car – no one wants to ask for clarification), Andre has been paralysed from the chest down for the past 19 years. His mother was his first carer, but she passed away some years ago. There is talk of another brother living in the house, but we’re not 100% sure. Andre spends most of his time in his bed in a room that he shares with Dima, it seems to serve as a bedroom and living room in what is a very small house. He uses his wheelchair (although how he gets from bed to there and back is a mystery to me) and Dobra Tut has built a veranda onto the house so that he can sit outside and smoke in the wintertime (one of life’s pleasures that he can still enjoy). A photo on the wall shows a handsome young man in a wheelchair with his mother beside him, he’s aged since then, but you can still see life in his eyes. His arms flay in an uncontrollable motion as he speaks, a friend has called just before us, so we wait in line to have a chat.
The conditions in the house are poor, three men (if there really is a third) living in a remote rural house with no inside toilet and basic services – I guess you’re getting the picture now. Andre has just one request – the cover on his waterproof mattress is worn and he would like to get it fixed. No, he doesn’t want a new mattress or even a full cover, just the top part will be enough (there’s no way that he will see money wasted on such luxury). They also agree that some new wallpaper would brighten (and clean) up the room, it will need to be waterproof too – enough said!
The local shop beeps to announce that they have arrived, it’s so remote in Hooters that the shop is a van that arrives a couple of times a week to sell basic supplies at a price that’s a little more expensive than going into town (but where you don’t have that option . . . ).
Seeing Andre in this setting is upsetting. He has such challenges and Dima, his carer, also has health issues. He’s “outside the system” so doesn’t get the kind of care that we’ve seen elsewhere. The place (and the boys) needs more care and attention, something that Liam has taken away as another item for the Project List.
On a trip to Momo later in the week, Joanne and I pick out some wallpaper for Andre, more functional than beautiful. Exactly what’s needed (for now). We will return to Andre later on our journey.
We meet Valentina, Liam explains that she works for an agency that would be like Clare Care in our world. I see her as a social worker, she has hundreds of “clients” that she looks after as they move from institutional care (or from homelessness) to state-supported care (although the level of state care really amounts to finding them a place to stay – the rest is over to Valentina and Dobra Tut).
Liam plans for us to meet four of Valentina’s clients, it’s a bit like a magical mystery tour as we await who will be presented to us (I fear that it will be a somewhat staged visit, by Valentina, to people that are doing well – but this does not turn out to be the case).
Our first port of call is to a state-run Hostel (although that’s not a word that they use here). Daniel has just arrived in Minsk (yesterday) and has spent his first night in a three-bed room, nothing else just three beds! He is expecting a roommate soon, just one of the beds is covered with a single blanket, and the others expose ugly mattresses – this is basic living at its best/worst. Daniel’s mother passed away recently, and he is now homeless (there is a lot of talk of unpaid bills and legal complications with his home). He has started with a company that has provided the hostel for him and his monthly allowance will now move from BYN 100 to BYN 200 (he’ll be rolling in the money when his new allowance of €70/month arrives!). He is such an innocent-looking kid – younger than our boys – and now living a life that seems so sad. His ask for support is simple (are you seeing a trend here), he needs a fridge to keep his food fresh, and a kettle to make tea. That’s it, nothing else (and even that is more than he was going to ask for). We wish him well and promise to provide his essentials (I slip him a note – two weeks allowance will see him fed well for the coming weeks).
There were others that we met after Daniel that had similar requests for basic living items, I’m happy to say that our trip to Momo saw orders placed for many these essentials.
Our visits with Valentina were not all filled with hope and simple requests! We go to visit Sasha; he’s been living in this type of arrangement/accommodation for over a year. Liam had met him at that time, he was a young man with a job, full of potential. Getting into Sasha’s apartment was the first challenge. There was clearly an issue with the sewers in the apartment block, had Sasha’s apartment not been on the ground floor we would have abandoned the visit! He has a job, but he doesn’t have consistent hours (nothing now we understand). He has not paid his bills and so his electricity has been turned off (thankfully he still has running – cold – water). The apartment is a mess, almost as bad as Sasha himself. He looks like he hasn’t washed in weeks, greasy and pale, this is not the young man that Liam remembers meeting a year ago. He had been given presses some time ago and volunteered to put them up himself. These were lying against the cooker that looked like it had never been cleaned – almost as greasy and messy as Sasha. Liam and Valentina have some stern words with Sasha, he must try harder if he is to get on. One of the challenges with unpaid bills is the penalties that ensue. These often make paying the bills impossible as the 100’s become 1,000’s.
It’s clear that Dobra Tut will help him out, but he needs to start helping himself more. Although not a pretty site, I’m glad that we got to experience the reality of it all – getting a place to live is only the tip of the iceberg.
And then I think, what will life be like for Daniel a year from now? Will he have thrived (like Christina and Vlad, two others that we met on our visit with Valentina) or will he be another Sasha? Here’s hoping for a great life for Daniel (and Sasha).
We had promised some people at home that we would spend time (and funds) in the Adult Asylums. This is where the beautiful and playful young people from Cherven and Gorodishche will end up (in many cases). Volunteer efforts in the past have mostly focused on young people, that’s understandable. But what about when these young people are old people, what does their existence become?
We visit Yazovki Adult Asylum with Liam, home to more than 300 adults with intellectual and physical disabilities. We also discover that this is a sanitorium with isolation facilities for adults with TB and Typhoid. The Director, who’s keen to meet us and see how much money we have, bears a striking resemblance to Mikhail Gorbachev.
The initial impression is fantastic. There are lush grounds with a pond, a small pet farm (birds), an outdoor theatre, independent living houses, and gardens full of crops. In a quiet corner, there is an Orthodox Church that we are allowed to visit (once Joanne has put on the mandatory head covering – a blue lace scarf).
We meet in the office of the Director; he offers tea and coffee but his reason for meeting is clear. He has a need to build a Salt Room Sauna (salt room therapy, also known as halotherapy comes with a lot of benefits including relaxation, improvement of skin conditions, and alternative treatment for lung problems such as asthma or bronchitis) on the site, something that will benefit many of the residents. The cost of doing such a project is high, but we (through Liam) make a commitment to help with this.
As we leave, we visit their new shop. We buy bread (made onsite) and ice cream (from a freezer that clearly wasn’t working). We offer BYN 50 and don’t want any change. That’s not going to happen, we are given a woven basket and some vegetables for our “generous” donation.
We visit Kyl (pronounced “cool”) on our way to Gorodishche – can you feel the excitement? We had met the Director a few days earlier when he visited Dom Zara, but he was keen to show us his Adult Asylum (maybe he has a project!).
Kyl is an asylum on a different scale, there are more than 500 residents here. Add that to the hundreds of staff and you’re looking at a town the size of Tulla at home in Clare. Like Yazovki, the initial impressions are positive. There are gardens, shaded areas for people to sit out, and lots of workshops for people to . . . work in. Joanne has been here before and has bad memories of the place, but her initial impression is – “improved”. The food hall, feeding 500 residents – 3 times every day, is new, bright, and very clean. We pass by the kitchen where we see dinner preparation in progress – a mountain of meatballs.
The mandatory visit to the Director’s Office follows, of course, there are projects. Some of the workshops are not yet kitted out, maybe we could help with this? We’re getting used to nodding in agreement at such meetings, knowing that Liam will know what the right thing to do is. We head out of Kyl, knowing that what we have seen is the best that it has to offer (but there is clearly another side to it).
And on to Gorodishche, we are greeted at the gate by Iryna and Paulina. We get a minute with the Director before she heads off on holiday (nobody is sure how long she will be gone). Dinner is served by the Assistant Director – we must be famished having travelled all the way from Minsk. Food consumed (Joanne now being the one and only!) and we head to Group 4 and . . . our girl Tanya.
Poem/Reflection by Joanne
Joanne is sharing poems/reflections as we journey through our weeks and months, moments where she is taken by a person, a situation, a feeling. Here’s the first – Living Hell
A Random Selection Of Week 1 Photos
Importanter Stuff 
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