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A new life for the forgotten children

Eleven-year-old Jasmina was born into a cruel world. A world behind bars in a mental institution, a place out of a nightmare. The horrible stench and the dark rooms, with only metal beds for furnishing would make most people cringe and run for the exit. Unfortunately, for Jasmina it is not a nightmare, it is the only home she has ever known.

Born to a mother who was, and still remains, a patient at the Stimlje Mental Institution in Prishtina, Jasmina was forced to grow up among seriously ill and disturbed adults. Twenty other children also live at the institution. Some of these children are also mentally disabled or were born with serious birth defects. Others share Jasmina's fate and simply live at the institution because one of their parents is a patient there.

Until very recently, the future for these children looked grim. There was no other place for them to go. Many people consider it shameful to have a child with disabilities. This social stigma has led parents to place their disabled children in Stimje and forget about them. Some of these children have tried to track down their parents through international organisations; more often than not, there has been no answer back, only silence. The terrible truth is that these children are social outcasts.

Situation set to improve

Things are, however, set to improve. The children are moving to houses that will be filled with the love, warmth and care they so desperately need. UNICEF and the organisation Doctors of the World are setting up new homes for the children. Ten of them, who either have minor disabilities or, like Jasmina, none at all, will live together in Prishtina. The other children, who are seriously disabled and need more support, will move to a well-equipped house nearer to the institution.

Trained staff, who are happy to give the children a feeling of family and belonging, will work around the clock in the two new children's homes. This will be the first chance they will get to not be seen as outcasts and to become part of a community that will hopefully welcome them and make them feel like any other child.

It is high time this happened, according to UNICEF's Child Protection Officer Isabella Castrogiovanni. "Although children like Jasmina were born without disabilities, being locked up in a place like Stimlje has serious implications. Some children have become withdrawn, others mimic the behaviour of the seriously disturbed adult patients. This is why they need to be moved out of the institution as soon as possible," says Isabella Castrogiovanni.

A new house, a new home

Once Jasmina and her housemates have moved into the new house, there will be lots of little everyday things to learn, like looking after themselves, taking a shower in the morning, brushing their teeth and tying their own shoe laces; things they never had a chance to learn at Stimlje. In the beginning, the children will attend catch-up classes at the house. The aim is for some of them to eventually attend the village school and make friends with the local youngsters. Then they should learn how to play and have fun. At Stimlje, the children spend most of their day in front of the television, or simply hiding in a corner. "We hope to build up their basic trust in other people and in themselves by easing them into regular life, " says Isabella Castrogiovanni.

Learning about life outside the institution also means understanding how they were treated when they were locked up. It is to be expected that they will be angry when they realize the scope of their own loss, that other children have never been abandoned or forced to live behind bars with disturbed adults. The staff at the new homes will be trained to help them through those difficult moments.

It has yet to be seen how well these youngsters will adjust to all these changes. UNICEF is helping them take their first difficult steps into a world that is less cruel. Jasmine and the others will probably never forget Stimje, but now at least it is becoming part of their past and they will be given a chance to be the most they can be.