Belarus: March 2008 Archives

My friend Kathy Ryan, who works with Chernobyl Children's Project International (CCPI) just returned home from a quick trip to Belarus. In the past, Kathy has visited the Vesnova Children's Mental Asylum (orphanage), where care is provided for children who have been abandoned or diagnosed with mental conditions.

During this particular trip, Kathy had a chance to visit the Soltanovka adult mental asylum, a facility similar to Vesnova that provides care for adults. When children at Vesnova reach the age of 18 (if they survive to that age), they are automatically taken in to the Soltanovka facility.

Kathy has started a series of blog posts on the CCPI-US website describing her experiences on this trip. If her first post is any indication of what will follow, you will definitely want to bookmark the site or subscribe to the blog so you can keep up with Kathy’s upcoming articles.

Be forewarned - if you are looking for an uplifting story, you will probably be disappointed. Kathy has painted a stark picture of the dilapidated conditions at the Soltanovka facility. The staff is overwhelmed, so while the patients are clothed, washed, and fed, there no treatment plans, therapists, or activities for them. The residents typically spend their days in bed, wandering the halls, rocking back and forth in place and watching a blurry television.

Soltanovka may sound like an appalling place, but I’m sure the workers do the best they can. It’s not much, but at least the residents get regular meals and a roof over their heads. Regarding the situation at Soltanovka, Kathy remarks, "... it is the place where mentally disabled people go to die."

The worst part of this is that Kathy's story is not new. It is nothing more than the tragic continuation of what is now a 22 year saga of how the Chernobyl nuclear disaster has affected the lives of so many people in southern Belarus.

I can’t imagine seeing a situation first-hand, such as that which Kathy describes.  It has to be difficult to hide your true feelings from the residents, and must be beyond depressing.

In today’s economic climate, financial limitations can be extremely hard on charities like CCPI. I am sure after visiting Soltanovka, Kathy and CCPI will do everything they can to help, somehow fitting this need in with their many other projects. CCPI already plans to help at Soltanovka with some sanitary and cosmetic repairs - hopefully they can find the resources to provide some additonal aid.

What Kathy describes in her report is certainly not a happy story, but one that should definitely get more attention than it currently receives. Perhaps in the near future, with the help of CCPI and other charitable organizations, this story can be transformed into nothing more than the sad prelude to a happier ending.  At least I would like to think so.