A social enterprise story for Valentine's Day

There was a candid moment in the recent Stephen Fry adventure with Bear Grylls in which he revealed his regrets of not having children.  It's a regret shared by many heterosexual men who don't have the opportunity to raise a family for one reason or another.   Some are constrained by homelessness. One of these was a friend and colleague.  .

His story begins on Valentine's Day 8 years ago with a visit to EveryChild, an international childcare charity.at their office in Kyiv within Ukraine's Ministry of Family Youth and Sport.

Ancient Greeks made a distinction between the romantic form of love Eros, and the uncondtional, Agape.In 'The Art of Loving', a book  which influenced our model of business for social purpose, Erich Fromm wrote:.

"Love of the helpless, the poor and the stranger, are the beginning of brotherly love. To love ones flesh and blood is no achievement. The animal loves its young and cares for them. Only in the love of those who do not serve a purpose, does love begin to unfold. Compassion implies the element of knowledge and identification. “

It was just after the meeting with Everychild that a place where those considered of little value, unable to feed themselves by the age of 4 are handed over to state 'care'. They are known collectively as psychoneurological internats    

As Martin Luther King Jr once said:

“Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”

In the written constitution of Ukraine, articles 26 and 52 made this a responsibility for any resident.

With his "Death Camps, for Children" series published by Ukraine's Maidan activists, he would reveal a culture of NGOs being co-opted into silence through fear. Fear of physical harm and of losing their donors.

In October 2006, with a 'Marshall Plan' for Ukraine, a strategy for childcare reform was laid in front of Ukraine's government, with this argument for impact investment:

“There is no substitute for a loving family environment for growing children. Existing state care institutions do not and cannot possibly provide this – despite occasional, lingering claims that state care is the best care for children. This attitude is a holdover from Soviet times when the state was idealized as the best possible caretaker for all, including children. Stark reality does not support that notion.

While this section has strong focus on financial aspects for reforming childcare in Ukraine, these are just financial numbers to demonstrate that this can be done for an overall, long-term cost reduction to state budget. That is to say, simply, this reform program is at the least financially feasible. The barrier between old and new is the cost of the transitional phase.

However, it is essential to not get lost in financial numbers and budgets. These are only important to show how this will work and will end up costing less money as the new program is fleshed out and the old program is closed. Most important is the welfare of each of these children. There are at this time, for example, numerous institutions across Ukraine where children die on a daily basis from little more than lack of knowledge about how to help them. The actual cost of helping them immediately is nothing more than one-day workshops for existing staff, to demonstrate basic, simple medical interventions common in the West. These institutions are generally closed to the outside world, difficult to access due to imposed secrecy, and are mostly in very rural areas where even the closest neighbors have no idea of the reality of these facilities.

The point, again, is very simple: to protect safety, health, and security of each and every child in Ukraine. There is absolutely no reason why this cannot be done. EveryChild’s research, published less than a year ago, provides an excellent starting point. Dzherelo Children’s Rehabilitation Center in Lviv has years of experience and available expertise in caring for severely disabled children. It is noteworthy that Dzherelo must rely on private funding because Ukraine’s state budget will not pay for or support a program that is in every way superior to official state care. Many of Dzherelo’s clients are able to remain with their own families, and are transported by minivan to and from Dzherelo’s modern care facilities for basic, periodic medical treatment such as physical and occupational therapy.

In terms of social enterprise, the childcare reform component can be characterized as an “enhanced: franchise model.” Existing programs already exist for creation of family-type homes – indeed, villages of family-type homes – for orphans in Europe. Very small programs for assistance to severely handicapped children already exist within Ukraine. Returning children to their families, family-type homes and modern treatment for handicapped children are the most urgent needs in Ukraine’s childcare reform efforts. Expanding on existing models – franchises – is the primary solution in this case.”

In Every Child Deserves a Loving Family I describe the impact on government policy

The proposal had argued that what was spent in Iraq in one week could fund the project and with a direct call for support to USAID and  the US Senate, in February 2008 he said:

"Thank you for your time and attention to this. I and others will look forward to hearing from you. I hope we continue to realize ever more fully that outside the box and inside the box have only a box in the way. We outside the box know quite a bit of what’s going on, many times in exquisite detail, perhaps in ways that those inside the box can’t quite as easily access if at all. We are grossly underfunded in favor of missiles, bombs, and ordnance, which is about 100% backwards. Now, with even the US Pentagon stating that they’ve learned their lesson in Iraq and realize (so says top US general in Iraq ten days or so ago) that winning hearts and minds is the best option, I and others shall continue to think positive and look for aid budgets and funding spigots to be opened much more for people and NGOs in silos, foxholes and trenches, insisting on better than ordnance, and who understand things and how to fix them. We can do that. We can even do it cost-effectively and with far better efficiency than the ordnance route. Welcome to our brave new world. Except it’s not so new: learn to love and respect each other first, especially the weakest, most defenseless, most voiceless among us, then figure out the rest. There aren’t other more important things to do first. This message has been around for at least two thousand years. How difficult is it for us to understand?"

That same month he asked "What is Social Enterprise?":

'Allowing that some people do not matter, as things are turning out, allows that other people do not matter and those cracks are widening to swallow up more and more people. Social enterprise is the first concerted effort in the Information Age to at least attempt to rectify that problem, if only because letting it get worse and worse threatens more and more of us. Growing numbers of people are coming to understand that “them” might equal “me.” Call it compassion, or call it enlightened and increasingly impassioned self-interest. Either way, we are all in this together, and we will each have to decide for ourselves what it means to ignore someone to death, or not.'

 

As with many love stories, there was a tragic ending with his death in 2011, described by a friend from Maidan who wrote:

"The author of breakthru report “Death camps for children” Terry Hallman suddenly died of grave disease on Aug 18 2011. On his death bed he was speaking only of his mission – rescuing of these unlucky kids. His dream was to get them new homes filled with care and love. His quest would be continued as he wished."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

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