Potemkin Buildings

Yesterday our Baltimore-Odessa Partnership mission visited Yelena, a 16-year old girl in Odessa. 

Yelena lives with a cousin, Rosa, their aunt, Svetlana, and with Svetlana’s mother and baby son.

They live together in two rooms of a communal apartment, along with five other families. It’s a beautiful building on a main road in Odessa, over a hundred years old. And like so much of Odessa, it’s a Potemkin façade. It looks beautiful and striking on the outside … but on the inside it’s crumbling. The fixtures and steps are falling apart. It probably was a beautiful building before the Revolution. 

But not anymore.

The apartment is on the top floor and it smells awful and needs repairs. Everything’s falling apart. The family can't pay for gas heating, so they use an electric heater to warm up in winter. 

Or they just bundle up with more layers.

Yelena never met her father; her mother left for Kiev to look for a job, and no one has seen her since. 

Rosa is 18. Her mother died and her father is in hospital for long-term psychiatric care. 

Svetlana is 36 but she looks tired, and a lot older. She married for the second time in 2012 and in the summer that same year gave birth to her only son, Igor. A few months later her husband was diagnosed with cancer and died. 

Inna, the girls’ grandmother, is retired. She had a stroke and she's not mobile anymore. She mostly sits on the couch or in bed and cries.

Svetlana is tough. She’s trying to study at University (Law and Finance) with a correspondence course. It’ll take her six years to get her degree but she's sticking with it.  She works several hours a day cleaning offices. She's also a certified bartender and waitress.

The total family income is a little over $450, with Inna’s pension and a small government allowance for baby care and what money Svetlana can bring in.

It’s not enough to feed and clothe a family, especially one with medical bills and little resources.

Yelena starts crying when she talks about Hesed and the help she gets from the Jewish community. Then Inna starts crying too. “Hesed has saved our lives,” she says. “The government won't help people in need. But the Jewish community helps us.” Svetlana is crying now, too, and points to the fridge, which came from Hesed, and says, “I told someone at work about Hesed and they didn’t believe me. They thought I was making it up. How could it be that they just help you, like that? Who could these people be?”

Yelena tries to cheer everyone up, saying that everything is fine, we have a fridge, we have somewhere to live, and we’re not hungry anymore. Meanwhile, Igor is scooting around the dirty apartment, happily playing with us and gripping our hands. He’s got a terrific smile. Yelena is taking care of him today; she’s very responsible.

There are 400 children-at-risk and their families being helped on a daily basis by JDC through Hesed Odessa. Svetlana and her family receive a food card with a monthly allowance for use in the supermarket, vitamin supplements, school supplies and warm clothing for the winter, and diapers, stroller and clothes for Igor.

And they also have Ira, a Hesed case worker, who checks in on them on a regular basis, and helps Svetlana come to activities for youth in the community at minimal or no-cost. She helps them negotiate the city bureaucracy. And most importantly, she shows them that they’re not alone.

As we leave, Svetlana says, “When I become a lawyer I’ll give back as a volunteer. I’ll give free legal advice in Hesed for the clients, for those that need it. Spasiba Bolshoya – thank you so much.”

JDC Strategic Partnerships Mission to Kazakhstan and Turkey

The JDC Strategic Partnerships Mission. Somewhere near Almaty, Kazakhastan

Meeting with the Consul-General of Israel in Istanbul

Most public buildings, schools, etc. in Istanbul, need to have hard-hats under seats in case of earthquakes

Istanbul in the morning, looking over the Bosphorus

Aya Sofia

The Basilica Cisterns, underneath Istanbul

The wonderful Day Center at Hesed Almaty

Food packages for elderly clients in Hesed Almaty

Amazing and dedicated volunteers at Hesed Almaty, helping to put food packages together for those in need

An international photo exhibit and competition by young members of Hesed Almaty - the photos were beautiful, and the message of cooperation and recording shared heritage was inspiring

Photo from the competition

Almaty in the morning. Not warm.

Guny village, about an hour from Almaty

Traditional Kazakh cooking class.

Yurt village

Food preparation (there's a hole underneath the pot where you add blocks of wood and build a fire)

Not the-vegetarian-option

Lunch in Guny

Dancing class in Hesed Almaty

Arts and crafts in Hesed Almaty

Singing group in Hesed Almaty

Downtown Astana

A warm and lovely welcome in Hesed Astana

Yelena, Director of Hesed Astana

The Pyramid of Peace in Astana

The Pyramid of Peace in Astana

Astana Opera House

Bayterek is the most famous landmark in Astana. The legend behind this tower as a symbol is that it represents a poplar tree, where the magic bird Samruk laid its egg.

The view from the top of Baytarek

Khan Shatyr, a giant shopping mall complex, shaped like a nomad tent, another building designed by Norman Foster. Underneath the tent, an area larger than 10 football stadiums, is an urban-scale internal park, shopping and entertainment venue with squares and cobbled streets, a boating river, shopping centre, minigolf and indoor beach resort.

Home visit in Moscow (JFS)

Home visit to Yulia

Yulia lives with her mother, Svetlana. Her parents divorced many years ago and her father has a second family.

Yulia has Downs Syndrome ... but Svetlana refuses to acknowledge the diagnosis because she’s afraid of the consequences. Instead, JFS and Svetlana refer to Yulia’s condition as "an undiagnosed genetic developmental disability." Due to Svetlana’s fear of stigmatizing her daughter, Svetlana hasn’t applied for government assistance and Yulia isn’t classified as an invalid. Svetlana is a cancer survivor, received disability during treatment and recovery.

Svetlana and Yulia live in a 3-room apartment. Yulia’s adult brother, his wife, and their baby, also live in the apartment.

Svetlana is an English teacher at Moscow School 57 and receives a monthly income of approx $800. Yulia’s father occasionally contributes to the family. Because Yulia doesn’t have an official diagnosis, she doesn’t receive disability payments from the state.

Jewish Family Service assistance:

Yulia attends a local school for children with special needs – the Kovcheg school. The JDC-JAFI Integration Program provides services at this school for Jewish children who can’t keep up in regular schools. It's a great cooperation. The Integration Program provides Jewish curriculum, including Hebrew, Jewish cultural and historical classes, and after-school activities. JFS, through the Children’s Home Care Program, which is outside of the Integration Program, provides a classroom aide for Yulia (a requirement of the school). As a result of this help, Yulia has made significant progress. She's moved into the core curriculum at her school and is able to meet its requirements. Through these supportive programs, Yulia developed an interest in photography and is better able to interact with other students and teachers.

 

Yulia has been a participant in the Integration program since its beginning (2007). Along with her mother, Yulia participates in the Integration Program Summer Camp every year.

Last year, JDC’s Children’s SOS program paid $1400 to repair a special computer that Yulia uses.

She receives: tutor, Jewish content, food assistance, SOS assistance.

We take off our shoes. It’s a nice warm apartment.

 

They have a cat and a (big) dog called Kara. It’s a good neighborhood. If Svetlana would accept and acknowledge Yulia’s situation, they'd receive several hundred extra dollars a month as a disability payment … so why not? (That’s the question you have in your head as you walk in).

When the JDC local staff start to explain, they frame it in terms that in the West we’d understand: we try to explain the importance of the disability payment, but Svetlana keeps finding excuses not to send Yulia for diagnosis. She's scared. She doesn’t have time.

The program aims to give conditions for SN kids to grow. So this is a 16 year old girl and how could she be helped if she gets the diagnosis? A diagnosis of disability is a life sentence – you won’t get to university, you won’t succeed in life.

 

German is the older brother. He got married this year and they have a baby boy.

Svetlana shows us the school journal, it’s Yulia’s progress report from her teachers. Svetlana’s very proud of Yulia’s high scores. She got a “satisfactory” in geometry, and “good” in math. It’s quite impressive. She's really succeeding. She got 5/5 in algebra.

5/5 in English

5/5 in literature

At the beginning she would sit alone with her tutor and not communicate. But she wanted to prove she could succeed.

She has vision problems, they diagnosed some muscle weakness in her eyes last month. There's a problem with how her brain interprets the signals from the eyes. The magnifying glass helps her focus on what she's reading.

(Yulia is very shy – she won’t come sit with us, we go to her room after a while to say hello and I give her a Snow White book in Russian as a gift).
Two years ago we started medical treatment and tests. She was writing only in block letters, not fluent. We didn’t even know if she was left-handed or right-handed. She used both hands incorrectly.

Right now she just finished her first ever essay, a short piece about Gogol’s work.

Svetlana is an English teacher (she has a lovely almost-British accent).

Yulia was in an integrated kindergarten at age 4, but then her condition deteriorated, there were no integrated schools for SN kids. SN schools wouldn’t have helped her, and regular schools would have been worse. We sent her to an inclusive primary school, German was a student there. They have 1 SN kid for every 9 regular kids. He’s now 28. This was the Kovcheg school (it’s now an integrated school).

 

In 2004 I had cancer surgery, I couldn’t make do on my own. Her father is a specialist, actually on SN, but we got divorced that same year. It was a tough year. We didn’t even have a school for her that year, we were looking for something.

[their cat is playing with Yulia; they have a lot of books in the apartment, 3 bedrooms, it’s clean but a little messy and disorganized, dark]

I was working in a private school as a teacher, we lost a year, but I sent her to a regular school with private tutors. I wanted her to get stimuli in school environment.

Now … oy, such difficulties I have (smiling) … I have to learn algebra to keep up with her! I forgot everything!

They asked us to leave the school but the program found us! Since kindergarten we’ve been using CCD experts, they knew we didn’t have a recognized disability because there's no formal diagnosis. We want the diagnosis but the certification will prevent Yulia from ever becoming ‘normal’ in society, going to university etc. CCD said she probably has light Downs Syndrome. We didn’t know about her birth-trauma. They didn’t tell me at the hospital when she was born about the birth trauma – they wanted me to leave her there, they gave me anesthetic that kept me asleep for five days.

 

CCD made the referral, first we went to the summer camp, five years ago, integrative, in Zvinigorod. It was amazing. Svetlana and Yulia went, with the tutor, a week long camp with special groups, madrichim, some kids with parents and some without.

 

We have lots of contact with the program. She's at School #57, lots of Jewish kids. It’s the second best school in Moscow for math. Traditionally it was 90% Jewish.

Yulia doesn’t know her parents are divorced. They won’t tell her, it would be too difficult. He comes to visit every Sunday, she adores him and he adores her. We haven’t lost contact.

The tutors come from Hesed and JDC; social worker comes from JDC.

Yulia is in her room, she tells us about Roger Rabbit, shows us her artwork (it’s very good).
Svetlana says we owe everything to this program. It’s opened up a world of possibilities.

Home visit to JFS/ Children's Initiative Family

Family members:

Son: Bogdan (2001) aged 11

Daughter: Ruslana (2008) aged 4

Mother: Marina, aged 34

Grandmother: Yevdokiya

Family situation: Marina is a single mother raising two children: 11-year old Bogdan and 4-year old Ruslana. Bogdan has poor health and suffers from very serious chronic diseases, including asthenoneurotic syndrome and epilepsy. Despite his health problems, the boy loves football and is a very enthusiastic soccer player. Having to look after a sick son and little younger daughter, Marina had to stay home unemployed. For all this time the family survived from the grandmother’s modest pension. Only recently Marina found a job and started to receive minimal but at least regular income.

Living situation: the family shares an old private house with remote relatives, with whom the relationship is very tense, and there is almost no communication. The accommodation is very poor, lacking basic conveniences.

Family monthly income: the family survives on the $112 salary of the mother and the $114 grandmother’s pension.

Help received from JDC:

• Monthly assistance from the Food Card program
• Winter relief (bed linen set and blanket)
• Baby carriage
• Clothing and school supplies for Bogdan
• Medicines as needed

Inna is the case worker. They live deep in the south on the right bank. Inna has 100 cases, different frequencies of visits. With this family she meets once a month and speaks once a week on the phone. The family is “needy” but not the worst case.

The main challenge of the case worker is money, especially when the family needs funds for medical care or treatment and we don’t have enough to spare. The connection with the family started because Yevdokiya is a Hesed client, the case worker told the family when Bogdan was born about options through JFS, and also told JFS.

Inna has been working for 9 years with Hesed; her family became JFS clients, and she then became a volunteer, helping other families in the “Home Management Support” program. Then she was invited to become a professional in JFS because they love working with her and she loves the job. When she was in Hesed she did the social work course (distance learning in Dnepropetrovsk) from Solomon University in Kiev.

Marina took part in the JCC program “Mothers for a Better Future” in the computer class and home economics/basic work entry skills class. She got moral support, learned how to write a resume, be interviewed. Now she works in a convenience store. It gave her a lot of confidence.

The entire area is dirty, abandoned, neglected. We got lost because Inna normally gets public transport here and there aren’t good maps here, there are unrecognized/unofficial roads, etc. There's a residential quarter (neighborhood) in Zaporozhe that isn’t officially recognized … because it was officially torn down in the 50s!

Bogdan still has problems. Sweet kid, friendly. Inna is vital, says Marina. She helps. When I don’t know what to do she's there. I can call her. When Ruslana was in hospital, Inna helped, mediated, helped bring medicines that they didn’t have in the hospital. Inna has organized volunteers to stay with the children because Marina sometimes works a night shift or a 24-hour shift. She's built a good relationship with her boss, so if one of the kids is sick they are flexible. She works hard. The pay is low but the conditions are good.

Yevdokiya is sick.

They live far away from the JCC. The kids can't go to the summer camp because of their health problems. They come to JCC activities and programs, though this is difficult. Need to pay for transportation. There’s no bus from here – you pay for the private mashrutkas, cost twice as much, about $1.50 per person.

Bogdan is in fifth grade, loves soccer, especially France. Has a wide smile. Sometimes goes to JCC, last time I was there there was a show and a trip and we saw art.

Everything smells terrible in the house. Marina doesn’t have front teeth. Bogdan helps me go shopping, he carries the bags. He’s a good boy, he’s strong. "I don’t think there are other Jews in the neighborhood. There are some who are anti-Semitic and can say something about us getting help, I don’t care. But my mother doesn’t like that."

It takes Marina two mashrutkas to get to work, 3 UAH each trip, total of 12UAH.

JFS will bring a repair program to the house before summer 2013. The priority is to install a shower (they wash themselves in a sink/bowl). They have an outhouse, shared with the upstairs neighbors.