Few people realize the scope of the problem of abandoned children in Ukraine, some of them as young as a few days old. No matter what the cause - and it is often the HIV-positive status of the mother - these are children who need help, and they need more than the overworked hospital personnel are able to provide.
Let me tell you about a recent and heartwrenching experience that led me to write this article. Locations and names have been changed or deleted in an attempt to avoid the stigma that is so common with HIV-AIDS sufferers in Ukraine - even innocent newborns.
I was accompanied by a professional surrogate mother named Maria.
As we approached a Kyiv area children's hospital, we knew we would be seeing babies that had been abandoned by needy and desperate mothers who could not support themselves or were not responsible enough to take care of a needy newborn.
As we entered a room of the hospital, we saw five babies - in varying degrees of age and fitness - behind a glass panel in a 5 x 5 meter room. Similar to what you would see in a delivery ward of a hospital.
However, these were not newborn bassinets; some of the babies were in wooden railed cribs big enough for a one year old toddler. Names and birthdates were posted at the end of each baby's bed, along with their doctor-prescribed formula. A one month old boy had a tag merely saying "no name" to identify him. For purposes of convenience, I chose to call this one Nathan; he had just celebrated his first month of life. We were there to temporarily help care for and console Nathan - as well as Kostya, Mykola, Serhiy and Dmytro.
When we entered the hospital, we were given white capes that, although much too large and ill-fitting, I later found very useful as one of the babies threw up part of what it had been fed. The cape, it turned out, was essential since cloths for mopping up such messes were non-existent in the little room where the discarded babies were "stored."
As we entered the room with our white, starched uniforms, two of five babies slept while the others cried at various decibels. Maria reached for the loudest first to change his diaper. I took from the crib the next wailing child and soon the room was filled with clucks and sounds adults make to soothe tearful babies who cannot adequately express their needs in words.
First things first; Maria changed all five diapers. While doing disposable diaper duty, she told me what she knew the short histories of our little charges. The one I held the longest was five month old Kostya, who had a bruise that was healing on the back of his head. I thought it was a cradle cap or a purple birthmark, but it may have been the reddish salve that nurses traditionally apply to bruises.
Apparently, Kostya had been taken from his mother's custody because she was unable to properly care for him. Kostya had sleepy, blue eyes and offered up an occasional, yet nonetheless rewarding, smile.
I mostly alternated between holding Nathan and Kostya throughout our visit. At times Maria balanced two babies, one in each arm.
Little Mykola, the only brown eyed baby of the five, walked back and forth in his crib for exercise. He smiled mischievously, at getting some adult attention, and walked backwards in his 1 meter long crib -equipped with neither sheets nor blankets. The room temperature was so high that even his clothes seemed superfluous. We had the window opened to let fresh spring air in, probably against hospital regulations, but how long could we last holding little bodies without some fresh air?
Serhiy is a beautiful little boy with big blue eyes and dark lashes who came to the hospital looking well-fed. Apparently his mother was living on the street and could not take care of him; someone else must have been feeding him. Maria commented that Serhiy had noticeably lost weight, since the hospital feeding times are farther apart and fewer than he was used to. Serhiy also lacked exercise because allowing him outside his crib required constant supervision. Endless paperwork keeps Serhiy in a holding pattern at the hospital until he is either put in an orphanage or adopted.
The most fragile baby in the room was Dmytro, one of Maria's favorites. He was actually five months old, but only as big as one month old "No Name Nathan." What struck me about Dmytro's complexion was that it was ghostly gray and his forehead had two old man's wrinkles when he would peer at you with his transparent, almost skeleton-like eyes.
Actually, Dmytro's plaintive eyes pierced my heart because I felt this baby might not last to his first birthday. Dmytro is an HIV-postive baby and whatever formula he is getting in his bottle is not being held down; he burped everything up on a regular basis.
What all five of these babies need is a cleaner environment, more frequent diaper changes, food at more regular intervals and - most of all - they need attention -- willing and loving arms to hold them.
However, I hasten to make it clear that this is in no way critical of the hospital staff. They work hard and long hours and do all they can to help these children; it is simply that they are overwhelmed by more patients than they could ever adequately care for.
There is a third problem that needs solving. Many of these babies in the hospital have a "no name" mother who has AIDS. However, the child, with the proper medication, could perhaps after a year possibly test HIV negative. In Ukrainian hospitals when a child is admitted, so too the mother! Therefore, the work Maria and her crew do is typically done by the mother. However, the babies we held did not have involved mothers. The reason the staff is so small is that the hospital system is based on the assumption that parents are responsible for all normal parental care -- feeding, holding, pacifying, playing, etc. When the parents are not available, these duties fall to the very limited staff - faced with problems far beyond their capacity to cope.
Of the five babies discussed above, all five are very much in need of improved care and treatment. All five are possible HIV victims, although only one has been confirmed as HIV positive.
Regardless if the final diagnosis in each case is HIV-positive, all are in need of care, medication and attention.
There are many hundreds of children, just like the ones referenced in this article, in hospitals all over Ukraine.
If you are able and willing to help in this effort to improve the lives of abandoned and possibly HIV positive children in Ukraine, please place a call to Viktor Grachov at 8-067-748-2011. Viktor will help you in figuring out where and how you can be of assistance.
As for me, when I return to my teaching position in Kyiv later this summer, I will be accompanying Maria and others to hospitals just like the one described above. I hope I may be able to meet some of you there.
Kristina Gray is a faculty member of Wisconsin International University of Ukraine and a volunteer children's aid worker.
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