The children’s home at Kalinovka in rural Zaporozhye Oblast can scarcely be called a “home,” and the children, 160 in number, ages 4-40, are by no means typical “children.” For this facility in rural Ukraine is the end of the road, both literally and figuratively, for some of the oblast’s most severely impaired children--kids with neurological, cognitive, and other crippling disabilities. Alyosha, for example, age five, lacks hands and feet. Among some twenty-eight other “crawlers,” Alyosha stands out for his intelligence and energy. But he is only one of many at Kalinovka needing care and affection. Between thirty and thirty-five children are confined 24/7 to beds in a ward that has until recently been off-limits to visitors. Permanently institutionalized, 80% of the children here seldom see moms, dads, or relatives. For the 100 or so children who can walk, there is little in the way of planned activities or learning. None of these children, so we were told, is“educable.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Clothing is often shabby and dirty. A number of the girls have Down Syndrome; many boys here appear to have some degree of cerebral palsy or similar neurological impairment; others lack arms or legs; some appear autistic. In 2005 a child, Nadyusha, with a congenital brain hernia was sent to Kalinovka, probably to die; still untreated, she has managed to stay alive. There is no doctor in daily residence; a physician comes once a week. The bedfast children seldom, if ever, go outdoors. As a result of limited care and nutrition, the mortality rate at Kalinovka is said to be eight to ten annually.

The Kalinovka facility is located far off the beaten track in rural southeastern Ukraine. It is 52 km. as the crow flies east from Melitopol and 45 km. south of the county (raion) seat of Chernigov. To travel by car from Zaporozhye, the oblast (provincial) capital requires some two-and-one-half hours. The last 10 km. to Kalinovka, after turning west off of P48 from Tokmak, follow a single-lane, gloriously potholed road. Just before reaching Kalinovka, perhaps without even noticing it, a visitor passes the cemetery where some 400 disabled children lie buried in shallow trench graves.

The fertile steppe east of the Molochnaia River was once dotted with neat Mennonite villages and farms. Given land by the Russian government, German-Mennonite colonists settled here in the early 1800s. Kalinovka, itself, began as an agricultural estate named Steinbach, founded in 1813-14. Over nearly four generations, the Schmidt family made Steinbach into one of the most renowned farms in the region, encompassing some 20,000 acres of wheat and pasture land. Tsar Alexander I visited here in 1825, interested especially in its model tree-planting program. In time Steinbach also became known for its high-quality school, library, and its splendid buildings. In the decade before and after 1900, the Steinbachers sponsored retreats for teachers and ministers participating in Bible seminars. After the 1917 revolution, the family was forced to leave, and by 1923 disabled children were already occupying the main buildings.

The old Mennonite Steinbach is now a small “campus” of about thirty acres. Most of the original buildings remain, grouped into three compounds surrounded by large yards, orchard, gardens, and sheds for farm equipment. The first set of buildings (the former Jacob Dick-Marie Schmidt residence and barns) now house the girls’ living areas, summer barracks, offices, and the wards for children lying in beds. 350 meters to the south, some eighty boys and young men occupy the second group of dwellings and barns where the Peter Schmidt family once lived. The Nikolai Schmidt house in the third compound on the east became a broom-making workshop. After the Bolshevik revolution, the original tile roofs and ornamental features were torn off, and the once magnificent buildings fell into disrepair. 1996-97 photos show broken windows and crumbling facades. Since 1999, however, there has been an effort to repair and repaint. Lately the girls’ residence has been refitted with new windows and repaired. Only recently have visitors been allowed into some of the buildings, so a full picture of the interiors, along with assessment of sanitation, heating, and electrical systems, is not yet possible. The wells at Kalinovka, we were told, do not provide useable drinking water; water is trucked in from outside.

500 hectares (1236 acres) of the original estate still belong to the internat, planted mostly to sunflowers and wheat. According to a published newspaper report, the farm income in 2003 totaled UAH 100,000 (about $20,000); the farm was reported to produce its own milk, butter, oil, meat, vegetables, and bread. At that time there were 90 head of cattle, 165 hogs, plus chickens and geese. Some of the older, less disabled, male patients are kept on at Kalinovka to work in the gardens or on the farm; this so-called “youth unit” may also be hired out to local farmers. Claims that the food produced on the farm meets the children’s needs are belied by their meager diet, reported to be mainly soup, bread, and squash, but no fruit. Hunger has been noted among some children. Sources from 2005 reported, as well, that income from the farm did not reach the children but was being skimmed off for the former director and her family. Staff at Kalinovka, including farm workers, currently totals around 126, making the internat and farm the principal employer in the area. Indeed, it is probable that the internat functions as much or more to prop up the local economy as to benefit the children.

Kalinovka was long “closed” and off limits to visitors. Until the volunteers of the Schastlivyi Rebyonok (Happy Child) charity began to visit in early 2007, it was nearly impossible to know what was going on there. Stories from persons in the surrounding villages, familiar with the internat, nonetheless painted a bleak picture—of malnourished, poorly clothed children; of gifts brought for the children disappearing, of inspectors receiving bribes to overlook glaring problems. Recent visits by Happy Child volunteers confirm these stories: staff are too few; one aide, for example, must feed thirteen or more patients, some of whom cannot easily swallow or digest normal food. As a result, the most severely disabled can die of malnutrition. Only quick intervention by Albert Pavlov of Happy Child saved five-year-old Andryusha recently from death.

Many bedfast children are incontinent; there has been a perennial dearth of disposable diapers. This despite “full” state funding for the children! Bedsores are a problem. All heads, including the girls’, are cut close to prevent lice. Even so, children with skin infections appear on photographs. Until January 2008 there was apparently no physical therapy or massage, essential care for children with cerebral palsy. Many of these children carry the classification of “Idiot” or “Imbecile,” so there is no effort to teach them. Worst of all, they receive too little love and attention. The best that can be said is that Kalinovka has been a warehouse for the disabled. Male children who survive to age eighteen, if not kept on to work on the farm, may sent to a similar internat for disabled adults at Orlov (Ohrloff).

Institutionalizing disabled and abandoned children became social policy already under the Bolsheviks, who believed that state-run internats would offer better care than families and that giving up the children to the state would free mothers to work. As a result, putting disabled children away in internats became the norm; separate social support services for families did not take root. We must bear in mind, too, that the desperate famines of 1921-22 and 1932-33 made staggering numbers of children homeless. State-run “homes” served as a necessary depository for these “orphans.” When Ukraine declared independence in 1991, the deeply rooted, “detdom” system of the Soviet era, in which neglect seemed almost a policy, remained intact. Kalinovka is by no means the only such facility in the oblast. But isolated as it is in the rural steppe and closed to public scrutiny, it became one of the worst.

After Ukrainian independence, the country’s economy collapsed and the government was hard pressed to provide the entitlements for children and “orphans” that had been written into the new Constitution (1996) and laws. In particular, the “Ministry of Health Statutes and Directives Relating to Children’s Homes (Decree of 5.18.1998)” guarantee institutionalized children “full medical examinations in the fall and spring,” “rehabilitation of children with physical and mental impairments,” “ hearing aids, glasses, medicine, and specialized medical care,” “ daily consultation with a pediatrician or other specialist as needed.” The Ukraine Constitution gives all children the right to education, to health care, and to a decent standard of living. Plainly, the children at Kalinovka have been partially or fully deprived of these and other basic human rights. The responsibility for these failures must ultimately land on the doorstep of the oblast Labor and Social Protection Agency and the former director of Kalinovka.

Last year, under pressure, the decades-long director at Kalinovka retired. The new director now welcomes help from the outside—a huge change! Even the Social Protection Agency now seems more responsive. In 2007, volunteers from the Zaporozhye charity Schastlivyi Rebyonok (Happy Child) visited the internat five times, bringing diapers, toys, and equipment. Already in 2008, volunteers have made the trip three times. Reports of their visits, with photos, are published in both Russian and English on the website www.deti.zp.ua. Happy Child’s financial statements are also posted monthly on the web site.

The Happy Child team, under Albert Pavlov’s leadership, has moved swiftly to address the most pressing issues at Kalinovka. Here is a partial list of accomplishments to date:

- Made seven or eight visits to Kalinovka bringing equipment, diapers, toys, and goodwill;

- Observed, documented, and reported findings on the HC website; alerted press and TV, raising public awareness of woeful conditions at Kalinovka;

- Engaged a physical therapist to provide massage;

- Visited the oblast director of Labor and Social Protection to lobby for more aid;

- Built a good working relationship with the Kalinovka director and reached agreement to tackle problems together;

- Gave hands-on attention to children through various activities; got to know many children and older patients personally;

- Built a small donor network of dedicated Ukrainian sponsors and volunteers;

- Hired two kindergarten teachers to work with bedfast and non-walking children;

- Is negotiating for a doctor to visit three times per week instead of once a week.

- Observe and monitor: continue to bring HC volunteers to Kalinovka regularly to document conditions there. As more information becomes public, the staff at Kalinovka and the Social Protection Agency will become more accountable; more sponsors will be drawn to the project.

- Assess: carry out a comprehensive assessment of the facility by experts: neurologist, pediatrician, dentist, nutritionist, physical therapist, psychologist or social worker, building engineer or architect. These experts should be familiar with state-of-the-art medicine, therapies, facilities, and rehabilitation for children with disabilities. Their report will create a sound basis for further changes.

- Add and train staff: as funding allows, hire and train additional child-care aides and nurses.

- Provide regular physical therapy and massage: a therapist engaged by Happy Child began work at Kalinovka in January on a temporary arrangement.Train volunteers to help with massage and exercise.

- Meet children’s physical needs: provide sufficient disposable diapers, proper clothing, toys, wheelchairs or other devices. Bring bedfast children outdoors where possible.

- Offer activities and nurturing: develop a program of learning and play activities for teachers and volunteers to carry out with the children. Read to children; help them learn where possible; provide art and music input; give children attention and affection.

- Insure proper nutrition: make certain that all children are receiving nourishment appropriate to their condition.

- Assure proper burial: give all who die at Kalinovka a proper burial; landscape the cemetery and mark the graves appropriately.

- Lodging for volunteers: provide suitable lodging for volunteers.

- Medical evaluation, record keeping, and treatment: continue the process of restoring the children’s rights. This will include thorough medical and cognitive evaluations for each child, physical therapy, regular dental care, appropriate medication, and education. In addition, volunteers may help set up computerized medical and financial recordkeeping.

- State funding and the farm–internat connection: the links between state funding, allocated to each child monthly, and farm income and expenses must be made transparent. An independent audit of the internat and farm financial records is the first step. If it is determined that funds were diverted from the children to farm operations, legal advice may be sought. So long as the farm remains joined to the internat, the income of the farm should help support the children, not the other way around.

- Onsite physician, psychologist, social worker: each internat is required by law to have a chief medical officer with not less than five years pediatric experience. Happy Child will work with the Social Protection and regional health agencies to appoint a qualified medical officer. A staff psychologist and social worker are also needed. If these plans become reality, a small clinic could be formed at or near Kalinovka to provide care to the staff and inhabitants of nearby villages.

- Training opportunities for staff: personnel at Kalinovka should have an opportunity to visit state-of-the-art rehab facilities elsewhere and to participate in training seminars. Staff nurses and aides who acquire further training would qualify for salary increases.

- Education and occupational therapy: each child, disabled or not, is entitled to education and occupational therapy according to his or her abilities. Training in personal hygiene is part of such education.

- Grounds and buildings: assessment of buildings, sanitation, heating, environment, and water by outside experts would allow a suitable plan for further improvements. Water should not need to be trucked in from elsewhere.

- Lodging for parents: a program to bring parents to Kalinovka for overnight and weekend stays can begin in 2008, if suitable lodging is available. Reconnecting children with parents and relatives is a priority.

The old system of institutionalizing and abandoning children with disabilities remains deeply entrenched; it will not be easy to make lasting changes at Kalinovka. Nevertheless, it is unthinkable that the children trapped here should be left without help or hope. Success depends on several factors:

1. A larger volunteer base with more time to give: big NGOs, such as EveryChild in Kiev, can afford a paid staff. For the small, unpaid Kalinovka team, however, there is a pressing need for dedicated young Ukrainians with time to give. These might be trained in social work, nursing, pediatric medicine, social policy, non-profit management, journalism, or pedagogy.

2. A larger donor network: the small team of committed Ukrainian-born volunteers is already providing some regular monthly support. In 2007 and January 2008 the volunteers donated toys, disposable diapers, books, mechanical aids, and salary support. Needed now are:

a. Direct aid for equipment such as scales, thermometers, blood pressure devices, wheelchairs, teaching supplies and materials, furniture, and rolling beds.

b. Salary support for additional staff, funds to pay travel expenses for volunteers, support to train Kalinovka staff, and funding for better medical-dental care.

One hundred years ago, Steinbach-Kalinovka was a state-of-the-art farm, a place of beauty and order. The Mennonite owners cared deeply about the land, their workers, education, the welfare of children, and their their faith. Now, in the new Ukraine, this special place could become a state-of-the-art center for the treatment and rehabilitation of disabled children. What Happy Child can achieve for the children here will help create a climate of change throughout Zaporozhye Oblast and beyond.