On Caring for Orphans....

Hi all and happy Thursday!

I need to tell you a shortened version of a long story.

I have a dear, dear friend, who I've known for 16 years, named Natalie. She and her husband joined the Peace Corps several years ago and ended up living in Armenia. I could not have found Armenia on a map before they went. But now, I can tell you that it is a teeninsey (sp?) Christian Orthodox country surrounded by four predominantly Muslim countries: Georgia, Azerbajan, Iran, and Turkey in the Middle East. You can imagine that it's had an interesting history! Anyway, Natalie worked at an orphanage for disabled people during her time there. Not long before she and her hubby were to leave Armenia, she received news that the orphans she had come to know and love would be transferred to a psychiatric institute very soon because they were no longer considered children (many of them were in their twenties). In Armenia, there is no concept of group homes or rehabilitative care. There are orphanages, and there are psychiatric institutes, and there is nothing in between. What that means is that anyone with a physical disability, mental retardation, or other "disability" that has no legal guardian is a ward of the state and lives, therefore, in the state-run psychiatric institute. This wouldn't be quite as horrendous if the institutes provided adequate care. However, while visiting them, Natalie saw rooms without windows in the middle of winter (no central heating ... no heat at all, actually). She saw overly medicated patients staring at walls, with no activities to engage them. She came away with the realization that these places where holding cells for the unrepresented and uncared for ... places with hard beds, and food, enough to keep people alive. And that's about it.

So, not able to leave the orphans she loved to such circumstances, she began to write letters, apply for grants, seek advice; she tried to find a solution, another way. After months, much struggle, and much generosity, Warm Hearth was born. She bought a home in Armenia, hired a staff, went through the process of finding an NGO (non-governmental organization) in Armenia to pair with, applied for a Non-Profit Status, and began to put beds in the bedrooms. This is Warm Hearth ... the first group home for people with disabilities in Armenia. It is a lovely, lovely story, and there is so much more I wish I could share.

But, out of respect for your time, I'm simply gonna give you the web link ... in case you want to read more: http://www.friendsofwarmhearth.org/.

Why do I write about this today? Well, Natalie and her husband live in Arizona now ... but she returns to Armenia about twice a year to work on things she simply can't work on via phone and internet. And she's there now. She'll be working on establishing Warm Hearth's very own NGO. And she'll be conducting staff trainings. Those are some of the administrative things ... the things that don't wring out her heart. But, then, she'll also be trying to figure out what do to help two of the residents of the home that seem to need specialized care ... care that is not yet available with the very few psychiatric resources that exist in the country. Both residents have been staying temporarily in psychiatric institutes, as they endangered the lives of the other residents. And Natalie and her staff will need to make some difficult decisions surrounding their care and their futures. Because they have no parents; Warm Hearth is their family.

I think about my beautiful friend and all that her hands and the hands she's reached out to have accomplished. I am in awe of the lives that have been changed. And I ask any of you who want to to send lots of prayers and love and hope her way ... their way over these next few days.