After months of fruitless searching I finally found a Russian orphanage last March to go to!! It took such a long time to find the right orphanage for numerous reasons: I'm American and they're hesitant to have interaction with us, they couldn't understand my e-mail due to language barriers, they were in rural areas that I was a little too frightened to go to, and some simply didn't have good enough contact information to reach them.
Finally though, I found my orphanage by a referral. I e-mailed the director and within two hours I had a response! It is the most amazing story... An American lady, Mary Dudley, was so moved by the absolutely horrendous conditions for disabled Russian orphans that she ended up funding an orphanage for disabled children in Moscow. Instead of being kept in cages and starved like in numerous other orphanages, these children have music classes, therapists, enough food, and well-paid caring workers.
This project has developed over the years and expanded. Once orphans reach age 18 they are forced by the government to leave the orphanages. Since they are disabled they have to go to adult institutions where they're kept for the rest of their lives. Keep in mind that some of these orphans are not severely disabled. In Stalin's attempt for the perfect society, people with Down Syndrome, or any disfigurement like cleft lips or club feet, were not allowed in public. This has somewhat carried on to today. Government workers visit parents' homes once they find out they have an imperfect child and coerce the parents into believing they are incapable of caring for it. They then take the children to the orphanages where they are given little chance of surviving. I have been told we would not want even animals to live the way they have to. Mary (and the foundation she started, Diema's Dream) began a Family Services Center to support and help families with disabled chilren. They are also in the process of building a village where the orphans can go after they turn 18 and live with host families and lead a happy productive life.
I am leaving for the orphanage Monday morning (June 4th) to help with this great cause! I will keep my blog updated as best as I can with pictures and more information. If you're interested, the Diema's Dream website is http://www.diemasdream.com