Notes from the Field: Russia

By Virginia Dooley, Program Officer

Following the November grants cycle, Marta Cabrera and I traveled to Moscow and St. Petersburg to visit EMpower’s current grantee partners and meet with other strong organizations working with youth. Despite Russia’s economic growth in the last decade, social services remain poorly funded, and many people still lack access to adequate care and other services. In our experience, a predominant focus of the Russian NGO sector, and EMpower support in Russia, is on ensuring successful transitions for orphanage graduates.

Orphans living in state institutions are not ‘traditional’ orphans. In fact, 90% of ‘orphans’ in Russia have one or both parents living. However, as a result of alcoholism, abuse or neglect, these parents have been deemed unfit by the state. From the time children are placed in orphanages, everything is done or decided for them. They are collectively told what and when to eat, and when to sleep, and little attention is paid to their individual and psychological development. These children are well cared for in the physical sense, but their emotional health is ignored, causing deep feelings of mistrust, alienation, poor communication, and sometimes, anger and violence. Orphans and street youth face debilitating abandonment issues, a lack of practical life skills, and a host of other challenges. Studies show that over 50% have learning disabilities. Without an identity and sense of self, children never develop the level of self-reliance they need when they face life after the orphanage. Only one out of ten Russian orphans becomes a functional member of society after leaving orphanages at the age of 18 years. The others are lost to drugs, crime and suicide.

In Moscow, we met with the dedicated staff from Big Brothers, Big Sisters – Russia, an EMpower grantee partner since 2007. With our support, BBBS-R is recruiting, training, and supporting professionals to serve as mentors and role models for youth living in orphanages. EMpower’s current grant has supported 150 matches between youth and mentors in Moscow, covering the sourcing, training and supervision of these pairs in Moscow. These lasting friendships help to provide the basis for a healthy transition to adulthood. Social workers from BBBS-R shared stories of timid, introverted children who are growing into confident, focused young men and women with the support of their mentors.

Through the EMpower network, we had the opportunity to arrange a presentation of BBBS-R’s work to individuals at Citigroup and Deutsche Bank in Moscow. Several participants expressed interest in learning more about BBBS-R, becoming a mentor and attending the BBBS-R fundraiser in Moscow this month. EMpower will present the 3rd grant to BBBS-R for approval at our grants meeting in New York in January 2010.

In St. Petersburg, we met with grantee partner Doctors to Children (Vrachee Deteeyum), which works with street youth and HIV-positive individuals (Russia also has one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics in the world with a high rate of abandonment of babies born to HIV-positive mothers). EMpower approved its 3rd grant to Doctors to Children last month, which will support the continuation of the vocational counseling program to at risk youth and, for the first time, incorporate young mothers affected by HIV into the vocational program so that they can establish their independence, provide for their children, and help in lowering the child abandonment rate.   

We learned how EMpower support to DtC’s Vocational Training Program has helped young women like Olya and Dasha, twin sisters, who were abandoned by their parents at birth and placed in an orphanage. When they were three years old, they were adopted by a foster family, but as they grew up, the new parents found the situation too hard. The foster parents could not cope with "difficult" teenagers and so often punished them, using threats and force. The sisters sought refuge in the street, with their peers who understood their plight.

Seeking a better life, Olya and Dasha went to a "social hotel" (a halfway house supported in large part by DtC, with administrative support provided by the state) for teenagers who find themselves in difficult situations. Staff of the social hotel organized psychological support for the sisters, which helped boost performance in school, and supported them while trying to mend relations between them and the foster parents. But after unsuccessful attempts at reconciliation, the foster family decided to leave the girls in the social hotel. From that point, the girls began to build their lives on their own. They understood that to be independent, they would need to secure employment.

With career counseling supported by EMpower and delivered by DtC, staff of the social hotel helps strengthen the social adaptation of adolescents transitioning to adulthood and provide career guidance and vocational training. After testing and counseling, Olya and Dasha identified their career choices— teacher and florist—and with staff, created a plan for achieving their goals and becoming independent. The sisters have since passed the training program and, with the assistance of project staff, Dasha found work at a large flower shop where she creates exquisite bouquets. The employer is very happy with Dasha’s work and she has a lot of regular customers. Olya has decided to continue her education. She was recently admitted to the teacher training college and is preparing to become an elementary school teacher.

Olya: “The project is helping us to realize our strengths. I now know exactly what I want to do, what to achieve: I want to be a teacher and teach children. But I understand that I must be very well educated to do this and plan to make my best effort to achieve this goal.”

Dasha adds: “When I received my first paycheck, I realized that everything is in my hands, that we can provide for ourselves. I never thought that I might be a talented florist and now I am working in a flower-shop I really like.”