Article from Jurnalul National from May 29, 2006

Authors: Adriana Oprea Popescu and Ionela Gavriliu
1st Installment

AN ATROPHIED ADOLESCENT

In Cotesti, the children who have serious disabilities are kept night and day in an isolation unit in cribs with bars. They are 14, 16 and even 20 years of age, but physically they look like pre-school children. Others who are a bit more mobile, sleep two per bed but the beds are too small. We saw this on Tuesday, May 23, 2006, at the center for recuperation and rehabilitation for children with severe handicaps in the town of Cotesti, Brancea county. We had announced our visit about 20 hours before it was to take place, but the personnel of the institution were prepared to meet us in an appropriately. All 27 children with mild or medium retardation were in the courtyard of the institution crowded together on the swings whimpering. Some of them were rocking back and forth, the land of Communist orphanages. Dressed identically and impeccably clean with uniforms conformed of a green tee shirt with a white stripe on the arm and a pair of camouflage Bermuda shorts. We were then invited into the office of the director of the orphanage Mihai Zisu where we were introduced one by one to these "model patients". The children were sitting on their chairs and were not surprised at the presence of strangers. Afterward, being extremely sociable, they waited to be interviewed. And while their stories were flowing, between friendly gestures and giggling, the voice of a female supervisor was heard outside, singing to the children, "What a wonderful world it is in Which you Find Only Children". She was the only one who knew the verse.

PRESS-BOOK

Mariana was the first one invited to meet the press. She is 24 years old and the whole time of her institutionalization she has been a fan of variety TV show Andreea Marin. She is preparing to go on Andreea Marin's show Surpriza Surpriza on Saturday. "Do you have a pretty dress that you can wear?" "They will give me one from storage," she assures us while looking at the floor. "They will also give me new shoes." She has on eye makeup and she has two necklaces as well as a silver cross around her neck. Mariana has well manicured nails and she wants to have children. She's the only one at the orphanage that you can tell is a girl. All the other girls have their hair cut very short. "It's more hygienic that way. We have a clipper and an employee cuts their hair," Zisu explained to us.

The second one to meet us was Ramona (22 years old). She is the "assistant" director of the orphanage. She follows the director everywhere. She follows him like a shadow and doesn't take a nap until after 4:00PM, that is, at the end of the workday. Ramona has a family -- "my gypsies" is what she cries out whenever she sees a wagon full of Roma go by on the street. Several times a day she asks the director to call her parents. She tells them to come for her and take her home, however, she speak is actually only speaking with an employee of the orphanage. The girls have never seen a sanitary napkin in their lives; they use cotton batting. Those with severe disabilities use disposable diapers. The changing of these things falls to the employees.

Marian is 20 years old and was brought here in 2001 by his family. He is insulin dependent and has behavior problems. He is more timid than the girls and tells us that he never went to school and that at home he was forced to work in the forest or in the vineyard. His dream is to leave this place and be employed.

Nita is one of four autistic children in the orphanage. He came here five years ago from and institution in Siret. He has been institutionalized since age 7 when his parents abandoned him in the orphanage in Focsani. The family had triplets, although Nita was the firstborn, the second was born healthy and the third, Nita's sister who is also at Cotesti was also diagnosed with autism. The girl whom we met in one of the dormitory rooms, is not able to speak except one syllable--ma. She repeats this interminably when someone approaches her to comfort her; nor can her brother speak. But he can work. His palms are calloused and full of scratches and dirt is under his fingernails. The director told us that he likes to work. "He likes to be outside and works hard at his jobs." As a reward, Nita is taken for a walk, sometimes in a car or wagon, on the streets of the village. He is not able to say what pleases him. "He doesn't interact," Mihai Zisu tells us. He is an autistic child. He would not have been condemned to this situation if he would live in another country. In many cases autistic children can be helped through special therapy which consists of 40 hours a week of intensive treatment, during which time the child is dealt with by four psycho-therapists. At Cotesti, however, the psychologist has only a cooperative agreement with the institution and comes only one time per week. However, Nita does his therapy "with the garbage can". The director yells, "Nita, take the garbage can outside!" He explains to us that, "Nita likes this; if he doesn't want to he won't do it."

In this center for children with severe handicaps, there are actually 46 patients. There are 38 employees who care for them. Forty percent of these employees live in the village of Cotesti, while the rest come in from Focsani which is about 10 miles away. Among the total number of employees, there are two teachers, nine practical nurses (LPN's), two care givers, and seven nurses. Their boss is the wife of the director. At night, the 46 children are cared for by one nurse, one LPN and a night watchman.

Twenty two of the patients are over 18. Forty of them have been abandoned by their families; not one of them goes to school. The director told us, "Their medical condition does not permit them to go to school because they have IQ's of below 20." For their entire lives, these "chronically ill" (that's what the director calls them) they will need to live on state support. The director, Mihai Zisu, maintains that, "Everyday they receive milk, meat and eggs." On the day of our visit the children had cornmeal mush with cheese and sour cream for lunch. Ten of them were eating sunflower seeds.

When they exit the dining hall, some of them have handfuls of bread. They go to the dormitory and they rebel when the caregivers want to take the bread from them. "We're bulimic," they explained to us. After they eat if they are thirsty, the patients can get water from the sink next to the dormitory room. They turn on the water, put their mouth under the stream from the faucet and lap with their tongue. These are routine gestures. One of the children, a little girl we found out later, cannot let go of a piece of rusty wire that she has with her in the bed. "This is her fixation. If I take the wire she throws a fit." The employees haven't managed to change the wire except with a piece a little smaller. The little girl climbs up on the bunk bed and sleeps with the wire on her pillow like a child next to his toy.

In a few of the nearby beds, there are two children sleeping per bed. They are crowded together because the mattresses are 70" x 31". Not one of the children has any personal possessions; there are no nightstands and no pictures pasted on the walls. The wardrobes are filled with the same clothes in different sizes. The only toys we ever saw in the orphanage were: a ball in the courtyard and a little stuffed bear setting on a bed, but no one played with them. In the recreation hall, the only accessories were a television, several wing chairs and a locked cabinet. All of the rooms have wood stoves for heat.

In the summer, the children are taken to a camp in Tulici which belongs to the CPS Vrancea. They have not seen the Black Sea except on television or in soap operas or in video clips from MTV which show the palm trees in Mamaia. "Because of the problems that they have, the sea shore is not recommended for them," the director told us.

SERIOUS CASES

Children with a severe handicap are kept in a neighboring building. There are 19 there now, but the director of 'migration' explained to us that, "Their number varies depending on their condition. If they are calm, we move them to the other building. If they throw a fit, we bring them here." All 19 of these children in incontinent, this is obvious. In the first room there are 7 beds. They stay two to a bed, one with his feet at the other's head. The room was probably used as a kitchen in the past, the floors and the walls have tile. The bed at the end of the room is made from a slab of wood that has a mattress put on it. One of the "occupants" Vasilica, is 18 years old. This is what we are told, we cannot even approximate the biological age of the children. All of them have diapers (clean). When we get close to one of the girl's beds she takes our hand, puts it on her forehead, moving it in a petting motion. In the room across the hall, there are 5 beds. In one of them, a child is sitting obsessed with the smell of newspapers. "He recognizes the day's newspaper by the smell of the ink," the director tells us.