Moldova

Real lives

Day care centre gives physically disabled children and their parents new hope

© UNICEF Moldova/2001

Playing in a pool filled with balls gives disabled kids a unique massage

Every step taken and every new sound articulated by Calin (10) and Lenuta (8) are counted as victories and celebrated by the Gavrilita family, the other children and staff of the Speranta Day-Care Center (Speranta means hope). This is also true for another seven children with cerebral palsy between three and ten years of age that meet here every day to be cared for by doctors, educators and a nurse.

The Speranta Day-Care Center for physically disabled children also happens to be the Gavrilita family home in Chisinau, the Capital of the Republic of Moldova. Lucia Gavrilita was 21 years old when she had her first baby. At the time, she lived with her husband, an army officer, in a town outside of Moldova far away from friends and relatives. The little boy was only four months old when doctors gave her the terrible news that her baby, Calin, was seriously ill with no possibilities for a healthy life. "He will be a vegetable". They said. "A human being with no intelligence". One of the doctors even advised her to abandon him, to leave him in a specialized institution: "It is useless to waste your youth on him, have another healthy baby, and forget about him, he will not live long…"

© UNICEF Moldova/2001

Calin is very proud of his new status as a school pupil

Lucia was determined never to leave her child. She understood that her duties as a mother included diminishing Calin's pain. Although she was working as a primary school teacher, she took the time to learn all about her child's affliction and took interminable courses in massage-therapy, rehabilitation therapy and physiological treatment.

Her efforts to help Calin's recovery went undiminished even after she gave birth to her second child, Lenuta, a sweet and apparently healthy little girl. But within a year, the symptoms of neuro-motor paralysis were to affect her too…

Lucia was devastated, but after a few weeks of despair and sadness came to understand that her children were wholly dependent on her and her husband. Over time, she met other parents whose children had similar problems. Yet, everyone was raising disabled children on their own. Sadly, many parents left their disabled children in bed during working days because they could not afford caregivers.

Research in Moldova has found that families raising a disabled child are more likely to experience psychological, financial and medical problems. Only ten percent of families are able to provide their disabled child with a specialized kindergarten education. In fact, some 15 percent of disabled children are sent to residential institutions where they lose all family ties. Unfortunately, to this day many parents and professionals perceive this to be in the best interest of the child as the state has traditionally provided care. In a country beleaguered by an economic crisis, the majority of parents have resigned themselves to providing minimal care for their disabled children because they lack support and cannot provide them with developmental opportunities.

Presently, there are no social services or social workers for supporting disabled children and their families. Further, very few facilities exist for treating, rehabilitating and integrating children with disabilities. For every 1,000 newborns in Moldova, thirteen children are born with, or subsequently become disabled. Some are affected by neuro-motor paralysis, which does not always affect their intellectual capacities.

More children with disabilities

Unfortunately, the level of disabilities in children is on the increase. Since 1996, the rate of child disability has increased by an alarming 16 per cent. Worse, research in Moldova has shown that the mortality rate for disabled children is 10 times that of children in general. Yet, there are fortunately a few parents who have not accepted the current predicament for their disabled children, fight for changes, and at times even succeed.

Lucia told a number of them that: "Together we can do better". She proposed the creation of an association to address the needs of children with disabilities: The Association for Supporting Physically Disabled Children. Then she proposed the creation of a day-care center because she realized that as children with disabilities grow, they need communication methods, occasions for socialising, rehabilitation and educational opportunities.

Three years ago, she convinced her husband Mihai that they should turn their tiny flat into a center for physically disabled children. With support from enthusiastic specialists, they created a recovery program that includes rehabilitation therapy, massage-therapy, exercises, art classes, games, and a regimen of vitamins. The staff carried children to the swimming pool – where many of the children first learned to walk on their own because of the aquatic environment, and to the zoo, where riding ponies enabled them to gain their balance and to keep their backs straight. The results are tremendous. Some children learned to stand. Others learned to make their first steps, to count or read… None of them are using wheelchairs anymore. Calin can climb up to seven steps.

The Speranta Day-Care Center gave children and their parents new hope. Efforts from the Speranta Day-Care Center coupled with those of the parents have created small miracles. This year, Calin and two children from the Center were able to enroll in ordinary classes for the first time. He feels great among his fellow pupils. Although Calin still has trouble writing because his fingers seem to have a life of their own, he is very adept at using a personal computer at home. Calin and two other children from the center are the first participants in an experiment to integrate children with disabilities into regular schools.

© UNICEF Moldova/2001

The Gavrilita children are discouraged from using wheelchairs

Diana Jalba, for instance, came to the Speranta Day-Care Center three years ago unable to walk properly, to eat independently, and to hold a pen. This autumn she was admitted to a regular school. This coming year another three children are being prepared for regular schooling. In fact, when the disabled children came to the Center, all were helpless and unable to use their hands and legs. Now they walk, paint easily, and Lenuta even has the ability to embroider with tiny beads. Unfortunately, possibilities for expanding the programming at Speranta Day-Care Center are limited. After buying and connecting a neighbouring flat, Speranta's day programme can only accommodate eight children. An additional ten children benefit from home assistance. Until now, more then 25 children have benefited from its services. Yet the waiting list is long. For these children, the lost time and opportunities are impossible to quantify. But there is hope. Parents with disabled children from other municipalities are hoping to organize centers based on the Speranta Day-Care Center model. Enthusiasm goes a long way, but at the end of the day, financial means are important too.

For financial support, Lucia knocked on innumerable doors. Sometimes her requests were refused politely and other times brutally: "We are a poor country, we do not have money even for healthy children…" some told her. A few were opened. There have been people who have understood her pain and appreciate her efforts. UNICEF-Moldova is among them. At the moment, the Support Association for Physically Disabled Children has approximately 150 members. Its projects are supported by several international non-governmental organizations: the Italian-financed Amici dei Bambini, and the British-based Aid to Russia and its Republics by Christians (ARRC). Most of the programs support training, educational programs, and information-dissemination for parent caregivers while providing social support for disabled children. "UNICEF supports alternative services for children in order to avoid institutionalization so as to keep them in the family. Usually we work on big projects with the goal of affecting the largest number of children" says Larisa Lazarescu – Spetetchi, the UNICEF Education Program Coordinator in Moldova.

"As for Lucia Gavrilita's project, we made an exception. Her project was exceptionally well thought-out, motivated and proposed new ways of solving a widespread problem. We realized that as an alternative to institutionalization, it might serve as a good example for many parents with disabled children, as well as for local authorities and communities. In the end, we were proven right. For example, after visiting the Speranta Day-Care Center, the mayor of the City of Cahul was so impressed that he spearheaded a similar project in his town, but on a larger scale".

At the moment, UNICEF is supporting the creation of several community-based centers for disabled children in cooperation with local authorities in a number of counties. These are the first pilot projects that represent a new way of thinking in social service provision for disabled children in Moldova. It will help create a healthy society and supportive family environments in Moldova; as Calin and his family have found out.