The Homeless Exercise their Civic Right to Vote
During the 2004 Parliamentary hearings on the homeless situation in Ukraine, shocking information was revealed: close to 20 thousand men and over 3 thousand women engage in vagrancy or panhandling, 6% of which suffer from infectious diseases (AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis, etc.), nearly 4% use drugs, and 6% are chronic alcoholics. These are only official statistics. However, experts are more downcast in their estimations. For example, the head of the Luhansk Regional Militia, at a round-table discussion, put the number of homeless at around 15 thousand persons. Furthermore, an overwhelming majority of homeless people are still of a working and reproductive age. According to survey results, most often, those left on the streets, ended up there (customarily from being swindled) after willingly selling their flat with the idea of buying a new one or to obtain start-up capital for starting a business and were left without money. Not having the means for a basic living existence, these people were coevally rendered without social guarantees, health care, and the right to receive any kind of help from social and municipal departments.
The Luhansk based “Kaskad” (waterfall) military-patriotic association, in cooperation with the Luhansk city Department of Social Security, took on the task of resolving the homeless problem in the city. The issue of homelessness is a personal family affair for Oleksandr Hizay, leader of Kaskad, for his daughter and wife look after the impoverished as if they were one of their own. Kaskad representatives along with district specialists on social security demonstrated how they proved help to the homeless to local government officials during visitations throughout the region and rendered legal and medical consultations to the shelterless. In turn, they received vouchers for free access to state owned bathhouses, given appointments for tuberculosis and STD treatment as well as instructions on how to re-new their passports and received job announcements from local unemployment centers.
Running parallel, Kaskad organized and held a pan-Ukrainian seminar, round-tables, and public hearings regarding homeless issues. Fifty government representatives took part in these activities while CSO representatives that deal with the shelterless, shared their work experience in this field. Following these activities, Kaskad prepared and drafted a publicly supported analytical-informational report that was submitted to government officials on the problems of the homeless. A periodic local radio broadcast show aired and titled “The Way Home”. Officials and CSO representatives from other cities went on air to speak about people who willingly ended up on the streets and offered advice on how to avoid a similar situation from happening to others. The program became a useful tool in preventing homeless situations from surfacing.
An indisputable success by the determined Kaskad members was that they were able to change the feelings of indifference held by the local community and government and encourage them to take action in reducing homelessness. The Luhansk city council initiated a social aid program financed solely from the 2005 city budget for the homeless designed to grant renewed passports to those who lost their housing, which in turn, allowed them to exercise their civil rights. The secretary of the city executive committee personally delivered recommendations to relevant municipal departments on solving homeless problems. Soon, the local department of medical care started to receive bums as full-fledged citizens. In one incident, the city paid for an operation costing 900 UAH. Most importantly, the homeless themselves started to believe in that they could indeed change their lives: the number of homeless referrals to local social workers and medical centers increased. On a political note, the most rewarding Kaskad project activity was the call to vote during the 2004 Presidential elections. The shelterless felt like true citizens of their country, after all, their choice influenced their country’s future.
Strengthening Civil Society in Ukraine while Laughing or
Humor as a New Advocacy Tool
When traditional methods of advocacy prove to be ineffective, smart and inventive advocacy activists turn to innovative means in communicating their concerns. This is how Tetyana Kyrylova, project manager of “Our Right”, which is an advocacy campaign for consumers of communal services in the Luhansk Region, and being implemented by the non-profit civil society organization “Local Government Development Support Association”, with financial support from UCAN, shared her secret of recently achieving a brilliant victory over official neglect of residential problems.
Residents at a Luhansk high-rise, whose building sustained heavy plumbing damage, which was subsequently ignored for five months by communal housing service workers, achieved success with only one letter. And what a letter it was! 
The mayor of Luhansk, the head of the district administration, and the head of the state communal enterprise all were sent an invitation to celebrate the five-month anniversary of cold water leakage into the building’s basement.
The celebration will convene on the night of January 13 – 14, 2005.
"The celebratory event’s programming includes:
- cold water immersion via the Porfiry Ivanov [1] dousing method
- diving in the basement of building ¹ 14.
- friendly (freestyle) swimming race between employees of the housing management building ¹3(from the first building entrance to the fourth).
- traditional (Ukrainian) games: “Find a 1.5 meter pipe with a diameter of 50 centimeters,” “Come back after tomorrow,” “…So are you,” Shut off water supply for four buildings and nothing will happen to you”.
- launching of paper ships made from complaints from building ¹14 residents downstream to the “Velyka Verhunka [2] river from the point of leakage in the basement
- Diploma of Honor presentation to the head of the housing management building ¹3, V.V. Tolstiy, for his display of steadfastness and courage in improving the residential and communal life of the area in his charge."
According to Tetyana Kyrylova, workers from the housing management came the very next day to fix the basement plumbing problem.
For more detailed information, please contact Tetyana Yuriyivna Kyrylova, project manager of the “Our Right” advocacy campaign for consumers of communal services implemented by the Luhansk based CSO “Local Government Development Support Association”.
Contact Info: (0642) 34-60-61, aprms@leasat.net http://aprms.iatp.org.ua/.
[1] Porfiry Ivanov (1898 – 1983) was a Russian mystic whose beliefs have attainted a cultural status. He was a self-proclaimed doctor although he had no formal certification. Ivanov promoted “Detka”, a health system that included dousing.
[2] A river located in the Luhansk Region
Innovative Theater Program Teaches Tolerance to Teachers and Children
According to an Amnesty International public opinion poll, the rights of school children in the town of Makijivka located in the Donetsk region are systematically violated by teachers: 36% of the students questioned said teachers constantly comment on their private lives and openly announce confidential medical information while classes are in session; 75% reported that teachers discriminate against students of poor financial standing; 80% stated that teachers verbally belittle and disrespect students in school; and 56% said teachers physically humiliate them. Teachers’ comments regarding the survey results did not vary: “Yes, this happens, not in my classroom but in my colleagues.”
Luckily for the town of Makijivka, there is an organization which defends the rights of the new generation. The non-government organization, “M.ART.IN-club’s” mission is to improve the situation for youth through the humanities at social institutions. With funding from the Ukraine Citizen Action Network, the Club teaches youth how to fight for their rights through a unique psychological interactive theater forum “Oppressed Theater” model designed by the Brazilian director, Augusto Boalia.Real life situations are dramatized in the theater whereby the “actors” become the spectators, which gives the victim the chance to act out the role of the aggressor, and the aggressor to play the role of the victim. Ways for resolving conflicts are improvised right on stage. Each “actor” can propose his/her variation of conflict resolution immediately upon entering the role of victim/aggressor. Most important is to not leave anyone feeling indifferent. The Oppressed Theater method was used in Brazil to alleviate social tensions of rural people, in Makijivka, Victoria Fedotova, a trained psychologist, used it for the first time to fight against the violation of students’ rights.
The project produced 159 participants who learned the theater forum method giving 16 performances to young orphans, other schools, and government institutions.In total, 555 spectators watched the performances and had the opportunity to discuss and find alternative ways of resolving the presented problems on stage. A public awareness campaign involving teachers, artists, and community activists was conducted on eliminating abuse in schools – the campaign reached 500,000 radio listeners with 48 on-air shows on 3 FM stations. Of those polled afterwards, 90% attested to the successful impact of the radio shows, subject matter, and acknowledged the originality of the topics discussed. A final training seminar was given to 50 teachers, parents, and education officials.
The Amnesty International questionnaire results were sent to five government officials, who said they now look at the issue of defending school children’s rights differently, and the city council of Makijivka asked “M.ART.IN” to continue its work with teachers. Officials from the Department of Family and Youth, Youth Affairs Service, and school and orphan administrators all took an interest in the non-profit.
An important project result was that teachers began to understand the impact of their behavior on students. After the project’s conclusion, 90% admitted that violence is a part of the school system and 26% said the atmosphere in classrooms depends mostly on teachers. More importantly is the change in children’s attitudes: 90% of Oppressed Theater participants changed their view on self-respect and acknowledged the need to help others defend their rights.
Disabled People Fight for Their Rights
According to European statistics, 8 to 12% of a society’s population is disabled. In Ukraine, this translates into 3.5 million disabled. The physically challenged have limited rights and access to an active vacation as tourists. The entire tourist industry is geared toward servicing only the needs of non-handicapped people. Not one tourist agency in the Western regions of Ukraine offers services designed for the handicapped. As a rule, hotels and or tourist centers are not designed to accommodate this category of tourists, they do not know how to do so, nor do the have trained personnel to work with disabled visitors.
This makes it impossible for a significant portion of the population to enjoy, an active vacation in the mountains, a forest preserve, or national parks, and for that matter, any other vacation spot. Even new tourist complexes or those being restored do not consider the needs of the disabled.
The situation is compounded by the absence of any government-sponsored program in securing equal access for the disabled at vacation destinations.
“Green Cross,” a Lviv-based CSO took the helm and decided to address the problem of equal access for the disabled and to initiate systematic changes, which would bring Ukrainian laws on the physically challenged in line with European standards. Approximately 20 wheel chaired, 40 deaf, and 30 blind people, together with 100 tourist agencies and hotels, 30 CSOs, 30 local and regional government representatives were involved in a Ukraine Citizen Action Network funded project to “securing the right to an active vacation for the disabled of Ukraine.”
Six round-tables were held where representatives from the state, third sector, and tourist industry sought to solve the problem of giving the disabled equal access to tourism services.
Green Cross then held two integrative camps for the physically challenged. Four commercials were filmed during this time on active vacationing by the disabled. Through an aggressive PR campaign, the issue gained nationwide attention after the commercials were aired in combination with the launching of a website, http://www.gsc.org.ua in four languages.
The project’s main achievements were recommendations to hotels and tourist centers on how to work with disabled tourists. A manual was printed titled, “Active vacationing and tourism for the physically challenged” promoting ways of pursuing a full-fledged vacation for different disabled groups that were distributed to tourist industry representatives.
The project culminated in an international conference with tourists, government, and business representatives participating. Amendments to existing legislation were made guaranteeing equal access for the physically challenged to tourist sites. By the end of 2005, these amendments will be reviewed by Parliament under the law pertaining to “rural and rural green tourism”. More importantly, a presidential decree on securing favorable lifestyle conditions for the physically challenged” was signed and will be effective beginning January 1, 2006.
Oleksandr Voloshynskyi, the head of “Green Cross” observes, “It took almost 50 years for Sweden to make all tourists spots handicap friendly. In Ukraine, the process of putting forth governmental systematic changes in accepting the disabled as a category of people who have full rights to a complete vacation has started in Western Ukraine and has already reached Kyiv.”
Healthy Babies Born to HIV-positive Mothers in Crimea
40 million people live and 14 000 get infected with HIV/AIDS every day. Since 1987 there have been 74 856 HIV –positive officially registered Ukrainians. In 1995 Ukraine entered the epidemics phase. According to UN estimates, about 500 000 Ukrainians live with HIV/AIDS which makes up 1% of the nation’s adult population. At present rates of infection and without further fundamental shifts of mind and policy, by 2008, 1.4 million Ukrainians will die from AIDS. The most vulnerable regions in Ukraine are Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Odesa, and Crimea Republic. 12 491 HIV-positive including 2 293 children were registered within the year 2004.
Women, more vulnerable to the epidemics due to both socio-economic and physiological factors, fear motherhood and have abortions. Very few women are aware of the antiretroviral therapy that allows HIV-infected mothers have healthy babies. The situation in Crimea Republic, one of the most vulnerable nation’s regions is the most alarming.
Crimean HIV-positive women never heard of the free antiretroviral therapy opportunities. While Health Ministry of the Crimea Republic had 142 000 UAH (27 843 USD) budget for purchase of the antiretroviral therapy products it did not allocate money for the information and awareness campaigns. The consequences were dramatic: the third of the 116 HIV-positive mothers left their babies at the hospital in Crimean capital, Simferopol in 2002. More than 50% of them knew nothing about the available antiretroviral therapy and the chance to have healthy babies.
Crimean Charitable Fund Friend’s Arms printed and distributed 5 000 copies of informational booklet on how HIV-positive mothers can have healthy babies among maternity welfare clinics, doctors in Health Protection Center,hospitals, and health care centers in Simferopol. One can also find the booklet in local stores, hair salons, and educational institutions.
Due to Friend’s Arms awareness campaign, HIV-positive women started to more actively use their chance for healthy future. A good example of the campaign’s success is the Oliynykovs HIV student family form Simferopol. Tatiana learned about her HIV-positive status when she was tested for pregnancy and decided to have an abortion. – I came across a booklet in the student library and realized that there was hope for us. I started taking antiretroviral therapy in Simferopol HIV/AIDS Center.
The woman had a healthy son 14 months ago. So far his blood tests were negative, though the final result will only be known when the baby is 18 months.
Iryna Ivancheva, Friend’s Arms’ PR manger tells - During the project implementation we addressed district militia officers who detain women sex-workers on highways for assistance in distributing HIV/AIDS booklets and informational materials among these women. As the result, all women detained addressed the Center (our organization). Our information booklets help militia officers know and tell more about HIV/AIDS prevention.
In the mean time Friend’s Arms is opening new consultation centers to work with HIV-positive pregnant women and is planning to broaden the project geography. As they say at the Center- The direction of our activity is to help HIV-positive mothers have healthy babies, yet the project’s main objective is preventive education for healthy women.
Crimean Charitable Fund Friend’s Arms awareness and information campaign gave hope to hundreds for HIV-positive women and families who want to have healthy children. Within a month the percentage of HIV-positive women who addressed the Center has increased by 10-15 %.
Journalist show an increase of interest in the topic; information about antiretroviral therapy and the opportunity to have healthy babies are now more frequent in press, TV, and radio. 48women applied for antiretroviral therapy treatment within four months; 44 of them had healthy babies. Within the past 18 month 200 out of 416 babies were born healthy.
P.S. All names are mentioned with the permission of the participants.
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