Friday, February 11, 2005 (Final Journal Entry 7)

Dear Friends,

In embarking on this trip abroad, one of the questions I have had to answer, both for myself and for others has been:  Why Russia?  Wise and thoughtful people have pointed out that the situation for children in the US is as dire and unfair as in any other country. 

American children in foster care, children in group homes, children living with abusive or neglectful parents, children exposed to drugs, violence and crime:  what does American wealth, stability and freedom mean to these children?  We have a long way to go before we make good on the promises of a civil society for our own children.

I know this from my two decades of work in community health and social services.  But I also know that we have a robust voluntary sector.  Only by starting to look at the countries of the former Soviet Union, did I begin to appreciate what we have in America.

We have:

Before I went to Kazakhstan in 2003 I had never thought about what was happening in the former Soviet countries.  I was only dimly aware of the work of George Soros in promoting the development of a civil society in these countries.

I came to Russia wanting to see at first hand what a sophisticated culture that had been in the deep freeze for 80 years might look like as it thawed out.  This country accounts for 2 times the land mass of the United States, and only two decades ago was a world power on a par with America and Europe.  I knew that western business culture had swept through Russia like a fire, but I wondered what else of value Russia might be able to borrow from the west.

Russia is not a poor country.  It is not a third world country. Someone here told me that the government is running a $120 billion surplus.  But 40% of the people live below the official poverty line.   The death rate in the Russian population is twice the birth rate.  The United Nations has called Russian children an endangered species.  Thus Russia’s 500,000 orphans should be seen as a human treasure. The wealth of this country has yet to be tapped on behalf of these children.

I have seen signs that it can be.  Here are three hopeful and exciting themes that have emerged during my trip:

Foreign Adoption of Russian Children:  Russians and foreigners alike debate whether international adoption of Russian children is a good thing, given the shrinking of Russia’s future generations of productive adults.  It’s an appropriate debate, ultimately forcing Russians to look at their own value system. 

More powerful still is the international community of families, overwhelmingly American, who feel connected to Mother Russia through the gift of a child.  Many US families have come home with one or even two children but have felt the need to continue sending support to the children left behind. 

Thus, the best adoption agencies have become conduits for on-going sponsorship relationships.  The best orphanages, providing the best outcomes for all the kids in their care, are those which embraced international adoption and welcomed the resulting financial sponsors and volunteers.  The Baby House that I visited in Murom is such an example.  The Baby Home in Lobnya is on its way to a similar status.

Perhaps most importantly, foreign adoption seems to have provided one of the earliest windows into Russia’s orphan crisis.  The creation of Russian based non-profit agencies has been spurred by the example of American charities and churches, some of whom were here originally only because adoption gave them a focus and a purpose.

Religious Faith in Russia:  Starting in the 80’s with glastnost, Russians have been re-exposed to a wide array of faiths.  State-controlled Russian Orthodoxy is no longer the only choice. Though anti-semitism and racism are markedly present in this society, tolerance of religious diversity seems well-established at least within the Christian tradition. 

In my talks with Andrew and Georgia Williams, they expressed pride in the ecumenical energy that had helped form and sustain their agency, the Russian Orphan Opportunity Fund.  Andrew said to me, “ROOF really is a living example of people of many Christian persuasions coming together to do God’s work.” Georgia said, “We built this agency on a combination of business planning, discernment, and prayer.”

Out in the villages beyond Vladimir, itself a provincial city, Baptist congregations and other evangelical churches are growing. The Children’s Home in Murom rebuilt the crumbling roof and walls of its dormitory last summer with the all-volunteer labor of the local Calvary Baptist church.  In Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russian Orthodox priests have joined forces with Catholic, Anglican, and Protestant clergy to form non-profit agencies and funds. 

I believe in Russia we can see the energy of the faithful making a tangible difference in the fabric of this society.  The cumulative effect of evangelical missions, Russian orthodox spirituality and ecumenical partnerships is visible here.   I have found this to be very moving and powerful.

Construction Zone:  Programs serving Russian orphans can consider themselves really mature if they have a 6- or 8-year history.  Initiatives that started only 4 or 5 years ago are just now hitting their stride.  It has been exciting to me to realize that so much of what is good that is happening in this country is the result of recent efforts.  Within the past decade, many people simply decided to try to change what they were told was unchangeable.

One of my most interesting meetings during this trip was with a young man who oversees the US funded program Aid to Russian Orphans.  Among the insights he shared was the lack of a Russian child development model.  Child Psychologists have focused on diagnosis, not development. 

Now in its seventh year, Aid to Russian Orphans comprises a massive effort to understand the root causes and effective remedies for the growing number of orphans in Russia.   Last fall, ARO joined forces with Kidsave to mount an All-Russia conference to engage officials at the regional level in developing family-based systems of care for orphans.

I met with the Moscow director of Kidsave.  Kidsave is an international agency, working in 5 countries to improve child welfare.  In Russia, their thoughtful interventions seek to change local and national attitudes towards orphans, through social marketing, mentoring programs, and training. 

The ARO/Kidsave All-Russia conference this past October (October 26-27, 2004) achieved a remarkable result. Of 89 Russian oblasts (states), 60 sent representatives to the conference.  Most oblasts sent two or more representatives.  Key government officials such as the head of the federal Ministry of Education, a member of the federal Duma, and the vice-Governor of Smolensk oblast were speakers at the conference. They shared ideas and experience, and discussed the need to create family-like care and permanency for Russia’s orphans

Most significantly, after the conference, 25 of the represented states asked Kidsave to provide them with training and consultation.  They want help in developing mentoring and foster care models in their regions. Like the staff of Miramed bringing two Moscow bureaucracies together, or ROOF demonstrating that unteachable kids can earn their diplomas, Kidsave is stimulating systemic change.

Russians at the local and regional level are responding to both US government and American charitable efforts with their own forms of creativity and cultural biases.  Two aspects of Russian culture in particular are being harnessed:  the Russian respect for hierarchical authority and the love of specialization in education and training.

These cultural themes result in an identifiable target audience for many reforms.  Influence the orphanage psychologist, or the regional Minister for Education, and change will ripple out from that point.  But by the same token, individual creativity and initiative require special support.  Champions for change sometime have to tread a long road before reaching and influencing key authorities and specialists.

Conclusion:  There is a piece of scripture that made me shake with fear eight months ago. As a Sunday morning lector, I was assigned this reading one Sunday in June.  Spring was coming to an end and my thoughts were turning towards vacation. But I was also thinking about my desire to come to Russia and my interest in being part of helping another country care for its precious teenagers.  So many factors were at work in me: my grief over the tragedy of my daughter’s death, my love and admiration for my son who was triumphing over great adversity, and the transfiguring power of having a new child join our family through my sister’s adoption of a daughter from Kazakhstan.  

In my time here in Russia, I’ve come to understand how many people have heard the call of this lesson, whether this piece of scripture is known to them or not.  Margaret Mead, I believe, is credited with the powerful wisdom of having said:  “Never doubt that a small group of determined people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever did.”   Isaiah 6:8 puts it in more dramatic terms and makes it really personal.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

With thanks to all the people who helped “send me” and with admiration to all those who say every day “Here I am.”

Rebecca Ruggles 

See Rebecca's PDF Journal Archives for more Stories and Pictures: Entry1, Entry2, Entry3, Entry4, Entry5, Entry6