They say even the longest journeys begin with a single step. But when Debbie Deegan arranged a modest coffee morning fundraiser in her Clontarf home over a decade ago, she could not have foreseen the life-changing impact her actions would have on orphaned children living thousands of miles away on the other side of Europe.
The fundraising idea had been hatched after Debbie adopted Zina, an orphaned girl who had stayed with her family on a holiday. Zina settled really well in Ireland but often spoke of the friends she had left behind in the orphanage and how much she missed them, so Debbie decided to visit them there in a State-run orphanage.
Back then, the Hortolova Orphanage in Bryansk was a bleak place; located miles from the nearest town and set in a dense forest, the conditions were horrendous. The children, aged from seven to 17, were suffering from ill-health, as well as from a chronic lack of love.
One 12-year-old girl held Debbie’s hand all day. When it was time for Debbie to leave she gave the girl a kiss. For the young girl, it was the first kiss she had ever had. Debbie promised that if all she could do was return to give her a kiss, she would be back.
After that she promised to make a difference. The initial coffee morning with school-gate mums and dads established the To Russia With Love charity, so named because they had nothing to give but love. The event led to an appearance on the Late Late Show which gave rise to significant donations from the Irish public.
The funds raised paid for a massive overhaul of the orphanage and Debbie knew she was in it for the long haul. “Too many people go in with a good heart, give the kids a few teddy bears and don't look back. I think if you do that, it’s irresponsible; you have to keep at it and keep at it to make changes. I decided I wasn’t there for a quick fix, to paint Minnie Mouse on the walls and leave. I wanted systematic changes brought in.”
Only one year on from the original coffee morning in Debbie’s home, the orphanage had been transformed. There was an impressive new block incorporating kitchens, a laundry, dining-room and storage, and imported teams of Irish volunteer care workers who concentrated on the children’s well-being.
There are some 700,000 orphans in 2,500 orphanages in Russia and, after her initial success, Debbie decided to take on even more ambitious projects.
Realising the need not just to improve the lives of children in institutional care, but to prepare them for life beyond the orphanages, Debbie set about establishing enrichment programmes. These address areas such as emotional well-being and reintegration as well as life skills and extra assistance for those who are academically gifted. For example, To Russia with Love’s ‘Final Steps’ programme supports teenagers who leave the orphanages move into third level education. Just four per cent of children leaving State care go on to further study. But ‘Final Steps’ has a 100 per cent success rate, with many participants studying professions such as business, medicine and law.
With children in Russian orphanages often separated from siblings, To Russia With Love spent three years tracking down the brothers and sisters of every child in Hortolova. Now, each weekend, the orphanage bus brings children to visit their brothers and sisters in other orphanages, often hundreds of kilometres away.
The work of To Russia With Love has encouraged a variety of leading public figures to lend their support, with author Marian Keyes joining as patron. To Russia With Love relies heavily on the kindness of the Irish people who have volunteered their time, energy and money since 1998 to maintain its programmes.
Today the work of the charity has extended from Hortolova to the 11 orphanages in the Bryansk region and further across the Russian Federation in many more orphanages. To Russia With Love still receives requests for help from orphanages across the Russian Federation that have heard about their programmes; how many it can work with is always dependent on funding received.
Debbie’s drive to bring love and decent conditions to abandoned children has brought her back and forth to Russia over 130 times. Through her unstinting efforts and success in bringing hope and help to thousands of abandoned children, Debbie has earned the respect and trust of the Russian authorities, who even conferred honorary citizenship of the Bryansk Region upon her, the only westerner to date to achieve this honour. With Hortolova now a flagship centre of excellence, To Russia With Love aims to work with the authorities to transform care for young people in orphanages throughout Russia.
Debbie, meanwhile, is always first to pay testament to those who have made To Russia With Love a success, including her husband Mick, her family, her friends, her dedicated team of staff and volunteers and the Russian authorities and people who have been wonderfully supportive over the years and without the support of these people no change would be possible.
(September 2009)