2009 Day8

This morning we bathed group 5. In years the girls age between 13 and 35 but intellectually they’re probably all pretty similar in age. 23 out of the 24 girls are lovely, they just want to hug you and play games. Catea can a bit scary but I’m sure she’s nice deep down! Apparently if you get on the wrong side of her she will call you every name under the sun (no one knows where she learned all the bad words!) and she’s pretty strong too…  We made her bath super quick just in case!

In one way bathing this group was much easier as most of the girls could get in and out of the baths themselves. Many of them were well able to wash themselves as well so we just had to wash their hair. It was a bit strange washing some of the older ones though. And there was only one bathroom for 24 girls which slowed down the whole process. AND the water kept running out! So it was a tough morning. I was wrecked by the end of it.

Natalia & Julie

Next we took group 3 out for some walks. They’re adorable. I spent most of the time with Pasa. She’s seven and has a range of different disorders. When we got there she was whimpering constantly and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her. I brought her around the building for a walk and gave her loads of attention but that didn’t seem to help too much. As a last resort I brought her out on to the trampoline and she absolutely loved it. It was so nice to see a smile on her face.

After lunch we met with group 7 – now there’s a tough group! It was really hard to interact with these girls because of their level of intellectual disability. They didn’t want to play any games, they didn’t want their hair or nails done, they didn’t even notice us blowing bubbles for them… one of them seemed to like throwing things so we threw teddies at each other for a while(very lightly!). It’s really frustrating not being able to interact with them. One of the girls conditions meant that she kept trying to eat everything she could find – including twigs, leaves, nail varnish and bits of mud. I was relieved when our time with them was up but I want to try again another day. It would be great to even figure out what one of them likes to do.

Next we met with group 11 and it was a lot easier to play with these girls. Olga is really funny. She likes wearing socks on her hands so she asked me if she could have a pair of mine. Unfortunately the only socks I hadn’t worn yet were tiger print fluffy ones or small little runner socks! It was kind of embarrassing bringing out the tiger print ones as an audience had gathered. She seemed thrilled with them though.

Felicia & Lizzy

Felicia is also in group 11. I think I mentioned her in the blog from day 3 – she’s amazing. She goes to classes all day but there is one thing that she’s a bit lazy with and that’s walking. She spends most of her time in her wheelchair but she is actually learning how to walk and she’s doing so well with it. Her English is fantastic and she’s great craic too. We just slag each other to bits. 🙂 After much persuasion/slagging, she let me have a go in her wheelchair while she pushed me around. She was well able for it! We gave her so much encouragement that she stuck with it for about 20 minutes pushing a few of the girls around. She was knackered by the end. It’s really good practise for her though and we’re going to try to get her to do it every day.

At the end of the day I treated myself to a full body massage from one of the physiotherapists. It was amazing! An hour long massage here costs 300 lei, which is around €20. I’m so relaxed now. 🙂 Apparently there’s a beautician coming tomorrow so we’re all signing up for the facials! Who knew that we’d be getting this treatment in Moldova! I promise we deserve them though – we’re working really hard! Night night.

2009 Day7

Sunday was our day off. We had a blast! Evidence below.

All the volunteers having a well earned beverage!

Me, Jessica, Liz & Mary

Julie, Lizzy & Niamh

2009 Day6

Our strength was put to the test again this morning when we bathed group 3. We were much better at it this time. It’s a good thing too coz the nannies were hovering over us watching our every move. They seemed a bit annoyed when we showed up as they had all the girls laid out on their bean bags outside enjoying the sun. Eventually we got everyone back into their chairs and inside. They all loved the water – including one girl who apparently goes into convulsions when you touch her head. She was great for us though.

Me, Masa & Viorica (I think!)

When we had all of our girls washed another girl came in and asked if we’d wash her too. I can’t remember her name but she is about 20 and didn’t have any physical disabilities that we could see. She was extremely shy and gentle and barely said two words the whole time. You could tell she was so grateful though and she gave us a really big smile. One of the nicer nannies told us that this girl never smiles so it was really nice to be able to cheer her up. When we were dressing her we saw the awful bra that she had.It was in bits. I asked her if she wanted mine and her eyes just lit up. She came over to thank me loads of times during the day. She’s a real sweetheart.

After all the bathing we took groups 10, 11 and 12 out for walks. I got away scot free though coz the girls didn’t want me to walk them at all. They just wanted their hair done. 🙂 I was delighted! So my fellow volunteers sweated it out pushing wheelchairs in the sun for an hour and a half while I got to sit in the shade and do hair. It was great! I did feel a bit guilty though. :p

Then it was lunchtime and I met Irena. She gets top marks again today. She ate all her lunch in record time.

Lizzy, Mary and Birthday cake

After our own lunch we put on a birthday party for one of the groups. As there are so many girls here, they can’t have individual birthday parties for everyone. So each group has a joint birthday party once a year. I’m telling you we have our priorities all wrong at home. Money, clothes, booze, cars, houses… These girls were ecstatic to get three biscuits and a glass of fanta. Then when the birthday cake came out… I don’t have any words to describe what it was like. And my photos are rubbish. You won’t get a sense of it at all from them. It was unbelievable seeing how overjoyed they were.

At dinner Irena knocked me back to reality. Unfortunately she picked the worst possible time to sneeze and a mouth full of dinner went all over met – including right into my eye. I’m still a bit grossed out by it!

After dinner I played outside with a few of the girls. One of my favourites is Ana. She’s 50 and has downs syndrome. She has been here since she was 10 but I’m not sure what the rest of her story is. One thing’s for sure though, she is one of the most loving girls here. She literally hugged me for about 20 minutes. She’s amazing.

Dorina

I also hung out with Dorina for a good while. Dorina is hilarious! She uses one foot to push herself around the place in her wheelchair and she can make it up and down the hills no problem. She’s also in love with Paddy (another volunteer) and is heartbroken that he has a girlfriend at home. She was crying uncontrollably the other day over it. She seemed much better today though. Especially after she made me promise to buy her a new photo album so that she can keep her pictures safe – including a couple of pictures of Paddy!

Tomorrow is our day off so I will probably skip blogging about it. We’re going to a local market and out for dinner. We’ll probably sneak in a few drinks as well. I honestly can’t wait! Oh hang on, didn’t I say something about priorities? Haha. Night night.

2009 Day5

Today I feel like I’m finally getting into the rhythm of things. This morning we went around to a few different groups and joined in with their activities. We visited the sports, sewing and art classes. Forget disabilities – some of these girls have amazing Abilities. Lizzie (another volunteer) and I bought some amazing embroideries from the sewing class. We’re picking them up tomorrow. We each paid 75 lei which is less than a fiver. The teacher in the class was really anxious for us to know that the money will be spent on sweets and new materials for the girls. She’s a lovely woman and an amazing teacher. When the interpreter passed this on to her, she was so embarrassed and didn’t want to take the compliment. She’s a real lady.

Sewing Class

After our classes we had a team meeting where Mercy (volunteer manager) asked how we were settling in. Everyone is having a great time!

Before lunch we met group 4B and brought them out for walks. All of these girls are confined to wheelchairs and they can’t even push themselves around. It’s really sad seeing them all lined up in a row with nothing to do but sit there. Some of them have a hard time communicating but they love moving around and seeing new faces. What they respond really well to is actually touch. It’s amazing. When you’re standing in front of them chatting away you get absolutely no reaction. Not even eye movement. But as soon as you start stroking their hair or holding their hand they immediately light up. It’s wonderful to be able to bring some joy into their lives – even if it’s only for 15 minutes.

The disco

After three laps around the complex I was knackered so I sat down in the shade with one of the girls. We were sitting down about 30 seconds and a queue formed for the French plaits. And the girls didn’t just want one plait – they all wanted 2! So I was nearly late for lunch by them time I was finished.

Irena was great today and she gobbled up all of her food. The nurse even trusted me to give her her medicine this time too. So I must be getting better at it!

Our own lunch today was chicken and chips. 🙂 Yum yum.

After lunch we went for more activities. At 4pm we met with group 13 who were at the disco. The loud music attracted a load more girls though! There were about 40 of them and you’d want to hear the excitement! I was knackered by the end of it. All the girls were bouncing around in the blistering heat and they were all vying for our attention.

One girl kept shouting “Rosanna Rosanna” at me and tried to lead me down to the volunteer quarters. I thought she was looking for a girl called Rosanna but apparently she was in the volunteer group last week. I tried to explain to the girl that she was gone home but she kept looking at me like I was a lunatic and pulling her hair. A few hours later I found out that “rosanna” is actually Romania for “bobbin” as in “hair bobbin”. No wonder she thought I was a lunatic. I was telling her that hair bobbin is gone home to Ireland… Anyway I’ll be keeping a few extra hair bobbins in my pocket for when I see her tomorrow.

At 4.45pm we met with group 17. These girls were a lot more subdued. I literally spent the whole 45 minutes painting nails. Michelle (my wonderful flat mate!) had given me green and yellow nail varnishes to take over. Michelle, I don’t know what you were thinking buying them but the girls absolutely loved them so I’m glad that you did! Four girls wanted yellow. Three wanted green. And the rest wanted green on one hand and yellow on the other. A few wanted their toes painted too. They were hilarious.

Then it was time for washing the girls’ hands before dinner. We had group 12 for this today. All the girls were lovely.

That’s it for tonight. Night night.

2009 Day4

Today was a tiring day! We started at 9am and we spent the morning bathing all the girls in group 2. There are 9 girls in this group and they suffer with a range of different disorders.  All of the girls are confined to wheelchairs but one girl, Alexandrina is learning how to walk – she’s 6 years old. Bathing the girls is hard work. The process involves lifting them from their chairs on to a table, getting them ready for the bath, lifting them into the bath, washing them and their hair, lifting them on to the table, drying them, dressing them and lifting them back into their chairs. My back is killing me but I feel grateful to be able to feel it at all. My favorite part was drying their hair and giving them a nice hair style. They love French plaits and all of the clips and shiny bobbins that I brought. A few girls in other groups were queuing up outside the room so that I could do their hair next. Only problem now is that I can’t go anywhere without doing a few plaits on the way!

After bathing the girls we brought them all for walks around the complex. At this stage the sun was splitting the stones so it was hard work pushing wheelchairs around the place. Not complaining yet though! We had a coffee break at around 12 (I think) and then went to feed the girls at 1.30pm. I was feeding Irina again. This time she wasn’t too happy to eat her food. I think the bath completely wore her out. She was so tired that she couldn’t keep her head up straight. Any time I managed to hold her head up and actually get some food in, she’d just drop her head again and the food would dribble out. Disaster. One of the nannies helped me eventually and we got about half her dinner into her. Then it was time for our own lunch.

After lunch we went for activities with the girls. I had no idea what this meant until we actually got there. This time we were with group 5. There are 19 girls in this group, all with very different disabilities. They are all able to move around on their feet though. We weren’t really sure what to do when we met the girls. They were sitting on the grass and it soon transpired that the idea was to entertain them – kinda hard when you don’t speak the language. Thankfully our interpreter had come equipped with bubbles, nail varnish and a few jigsaws. I grabbed a jigsaw of Cinderella but not one of the girls had any interest. Bar one who tried to eat a piece. So I put the game away. A few minutes later, one of the girls picked up the jigsaw and wanted me to do it with her. A few more minutes later she had absolutely no interest and started pointing to her nails. I think she just grabbed the jigsaw because she thought that I liked doing them but all she really wanted was for me to paint her nails. I was happy to oblige.

We then went and played with group 9 for a while. There are 20 girls in this group and they’re all able to walk around as well. This group was particularly hard. Some of them wanted to hug and kiss you. Others didn’t want you to talk to anyone but them. In the end we just threw a ball for about half an hour. They loved this, especially when we threw the ball up really high in the air.

By then it was almost time for dinner. So we went to meet group 16 to help wash their hands before their meal. Sounds like a simple enough task right? Wrong! Have you ever hear 19 girls screaming with excitement in a tiny bathroom? My ears are still throbbing! They were great fun though and the task was complete in about 20 minutes. They loved us so much that they made us promise to come back after dinner.

Then it was time to feed the girls again so I went to meet Irina for our usual date. This time Irina was wide awake and munched up all of her food. I was so relieved.

We couldn’t find group 16 when we went back. Eventually they showed up and started running wild! One girl, I think her name is Nicoleta, ran in the opposite direction to everyone else. I think she was trying to tell me that she was running away. She’s around 7 or 8 and she has downs syndrome. She has a crazy imagination and full on personality that’s for sure! I followed her to make sure she was ok. She managed to chew on a few twigs during our walk but she went ballistic every time I tried to take them out of her mouth.

When we turned the corner of the last building we met a crazy site. One of the older girls, Maria, had climbed up the apple tree and was shaking the tree violently. She had gathered an audience of about 30 girls during her antics. Next of all, what seemed like hundreds of apples started falling from the tree and the girls all erupted into laughter. I’ve never heard anything like it. So much joy in one space. They were just so excited with the apples. It was lovely. Some of the girls were trying to hoard as many apples as they could. They were scooping them up in their skirts, t-shirts, wheelchairs – all the while eating two at a time! But they weren’t greedy. Every girl made sure that everyone else got an apple too. When all the apples were consumed we brought a very happy bunch of girls back to their rooms.

And that brings the day to a close. I’m fit for nothing but my leaba. Apologies if this is full of grammar and spelling mistakes – I’m too tired to re-read it! Night night.

2009 Day3

Today was a great day. This morning Dr. Rita took us around the orphanage and we met all of the children. It was wonderful to see them all so happy and so busy. Before Suzie started her work here, all of the girls were left in their rooms all day. There just weren’t enough nannies to look after all of the children. They couldn’t do anything bar feed them and occasionally change them. The girls weren’t even allowed to have hair. When Suzie got here, she didn’t realize that it was an all-girls orphanage because most of the girls actually looked like boys.

Today there is a part time hair dresser who gives all the girls whatever hair style they like. Each group of around 10 girls has two nannies. With a better split like this the nannies now have time to feed, clothe, wash and change the girls who can’t do it for themselves. They also make time to keep their hair tidy and bring them outside for walks.

The girls are split into three blocks. Block C is for the girls who have less severe medical conditions. These girls are mobile and may or may not have an intellectual disability. They all go to school and each child has a specialized timetable for the day. Felicia is one of the busiest girls. She has physiotherapy in the morning followed by maths class, English class, sewing class, cooking class, art class… She’s a great girl. She read out part of her English book for us earlier today. She’s fantastic.

The girls in Block A have more severe medical conditions and need full time attention. The medical unit is also in Block A so the doctors can get to any of the girls quickly if they need to. Many of the girls here suffer with epilepsy and would have several seizures a day if they did not have the right medication. Rodica has one of the saddest stories. She is 13 years old and suffers from Hydrocephalus. This means that she was born with an abnormal amount of fluid in the brain. Many children at home in Ireland are born with this condition (1 in 500) but with the proper care they can be treated and go on to live perfectly normal lives. Rodica’s mother refused treatment for her on two separate occasions and now, Rodica will never be able to sit up straight because her head is too heavy. It measures 96 centimeters. Stories like this just break your heart.

It was extremely overwhelming meeting all of these girls today. The saddest part is knowing that had the correct care been taken during pregnancy and in their early developmental years, many of the girls would not be in the conditions that they are now in.

Sewing class

Block B looks after the girls who also need full time care but their medical conditions are more stable. Most of the girls here are in wheelchairs.

At lunch time we were all assigned a child to feed. Because the first part of our tour ran a bit late we missed the feeding part. So instead we brought the children out for walks and played with them for a while. I was looking after Irina, a beautiful girl with disorder of the bones and joints, disorder of the GI tract, neurological disorder and intellectual disability. I brought Irina around the building in her wheelchair which didn’t excite her too much but she seemed to enjoy when we played on the bean bags. It was difficult to get any reaction out of her and to engage with her. But she loves being tickled so we soon found some fun at that! I met her then for dinner at 6pm and made it in time to feed her then. She ate everything so the nannies were delighted with her. And I didn’t manage to get too much of it on her clothes so that was a plus as well!

Sleeping beauty

After dinner I spent some time with some of the other kids. Masa has picked me as her favorite I think. I’m wearing her bracelet right now with the promise of giving it back tomorrow. She also picked some roses for me and sent them in while I was having tea. She’s just so lovely and always smiling. She’s 23 and suffers with a neural tube defect. She seems to be great at getting the other kids to help her with everything. I heard one of the doctors saying that she was the boss of the orphanage.

The girls are all so kind to each other and really look after one another. No doubt they kill each other as well though! It just goes to show that blood isn’t always thicker than water. These girls are family.

Night night.

2009 Day2

Today we met Susie. Suzie is CEO of OutReach Moldova and she talked us through the induction programme. The morning session was pretty tough as she showed us pictures of what the orphanage used to look like. It’s pretty harrowing stuff. There was no running water. No washing facilities. Horrifying cooking facilities complete with an open drain. Rats all over the place. No toilet facilities. They literally used a hole in the ground – and those are just the children who are mobile. The children who are confined to cots were left in their own mess all day. They had open sores which always became infected. There were loads of parasites. In the winter many would suffer from hypothermia because they had no blankets. It’s crazy to think that this was happening up until 2001 when Suzie came along and began her amazing work.

Orphanage in 2000

Today there are 351 children in the orphanage who all have a specialized rehabilitation programme. Each child receives all of the medical, nutritional, hygiene facilities that they need. I’ll post some more information on this tomorrow along with some pictures.

Tomorrow morning the doctors will bring us on a tour of the orphanage and we’ll meet all of the children. Thankfully, we were all provided with a photo book in our information pack. In the photo book is a picture of each child, their DOB, admission date into the orphanage, family status and medical condition. I was very surprised to find that only 14% of the children are actually orphaned, 67% have family and the orphanage has no record for the remaining 19%.

The other thing I was very surprised about was the variety of conditions the children are suffering with. Some girls have been diagnosed with intellectual disabilies, psychiatric disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, craniofacial defects, neurological disorders and more. There is also a variety of girls who are confined to beds, wheelchairs or are fully mobile. The reason some children suffer with so many illnesses is because they received no prenatal medical attention or attention in their developmental years. The children which come into the orphanage at an early age today have a much better chance.

Every girl here has a disorder of some kind. You’ll notice that I’ve stopped saying child because so many of the girls, or rather women, are actually over 18. In fact, 49% of the girls are adults by their years but are still children intellectually. The state wishes them to move on to other institutions when they become of age but ORM have asked if they can hold on to these girls as conditions in other facilities are not to a comparable standard.

After learning about the history of the orphanage, we talked through the child protection policy and we were trained at how to lift the children. This is particularly important for the girls who are paralysed but will be a lot more difficult when we are lifting them in and out of the bath!

I have loads more stories but they’ll have to wait until tomorrow! It’s getting late and we’ve another full schedule for tomorrow. Night night.

2009 Day1

I don’t think I have ever felt so welcome anywhere before in my life! We arrived at the orphanage a few hours ago and the children gave us the most amazing welcome. 🙂 They are all so delighted to see us and every one of them keeps giving us hugs and kisses. I want to take them all home with me.

A few of the girls relaxing in the shade

After we arrived we got settled in our rooms and went out to meet some of the children. They’re all just gorgeous and some of them have fantastic English. I spent time with as many of them as I could. Some wanted to jump on the trampoline, others wanted me to do their hair (plaits are very popular!) and others kept trying to tickle me. I didn’t like that part!

All the girls are in love with Paddy!

There are 10 volunteers in total – 9 girls and 1 guy. Paddy has his own room and the girls are split between two rooms. There are 10 beds in each but since we’re a small group we all have lots of space. The beds are pretty comfy but at this stage I think I’d sleep on broken bottles! Night night.