Visit to Belarus, September 22nd to October 2nd 2002 (continued)

Liena and her mum

The next home we visited was a family who are not currently being sponsored, and this was the first case where I have actually wanted to send a child to Zhuravichi. The house was in the middle of nowhere, about 40 minutes drive from Rogachev. The family had not been warned that we were coming and the mother was out somewhere in Rogachev. As we walked into the house we saw that the man who lives there – not the father, but someone who receives an allowance for looking after the child – was sweeping dirt from the centre of the house. Everything was black, floors, walls and sofas, and there were flies everywhere despite the weather being very cold. Marina, who is 12 years old, sat in a window, covered in flies and in the filthiest dress imaginable. I wanted to take some pictures of her, so at first we were polite to the man and said that there might be a British family who would like to sponsor Marina, so could we take her picture (right).
Marina has a learning disability, but probably this is not very severe. Her behaviour though was very odd and distressing. She would alternate between looking deeply sad, laughing and smirking and lifting her dress to show us that she had nothing on underneath. We told the man that we did not think any child should be being brought up like this and that we would be contacting social services. We left feeling very shocked and determined that we would try to get Marina taken away as soon as possible from such a neglectful, and possibly abusive family.

The next family (right) was the extreme opposite and the devotion shown by Dima’s mother was very moving. He is 10 or 12 years old, blind and very seriously mentally disabled. He basically does not respond to anything, yet his mother keeps him clean and cared for and loved. There is an older sister who has had one holiday abroad a few years ago, but it would be nice if we could take her again. Life must be very hard for her and her mother. They live in a village and have very few opportunities to go out or do anything other than look after Dima.

Sasha (below) is a very quiet boy with Downs Syndrome. He has an older brother for whom it would also be great to provide a holiday if we could.

Sasha attends the integrated kindergarten, as does Dima (right), also a Downs child, who is much more excitable and difficult to handle. He was carefully tearing up newspapers when we arrived at his home. His mum saves magazines as a treat for him, as tearing these up is an even more exciting activity for Dima. There are two older sisters, one of whom is now away from home at music college. The father was killed in a random knife attack a few years ago. The fifteen year old girl could maybe have a holiday here next year.

Another family with two teenage girls (below) lived in a very tiny flat with the girls sleeping in a virtual cupboard space off the living room. Their father is also dead and the mum is finding it difficult to cope. The oldest girl has a false hand, but she is a good artist and presented Chris and me with pictures.

Liena, who Mags and I met two years ago, is now fifteen. She has mild cerebral palsy and severe learning difficulties. Her mother seems very depressed, and her husband died soon after our last visit. She has a wheelchair for Liena and she takes her into the garden with this. She says she needs a pushchair so she could take Liena to the park opposite. We could not quite understand why she couldn’t take her in the wheelchair and felt that perhaps part of the problem was that she did not like to be seen out with Liena. When we asked if Lien a liked musical toys we were told she had never had one which seemed amazing and very sad, so we will make sure that some appropriate toys are sent for her from the next batch we send to Rogachev Association.

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