Chapter 1. Introduction

How can the government prepare orphans for independent life and help them after leaving orphanages?

Table of contents

Chapter 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………..2

Chapter 2. Literature Review.. 7

Chapter 3. Description of Results. 12

Chapter 4. Analysis. 20

Chapter 5. Conclusion. 24

Bibliography. 25

Appendix……………………………………………………………………………………..26

Chapter 1. Introduction

A youth house in Akdgarskiy district of North-Kazakhstan’s oblast. Twelve teenagers are brought up here after their leaving orphanages. All of them have diseases, which give them the right to receive welfare, but one of twelve does not get it. The reason is so simple: no one has paid attention to the fact that the young man, whom the government gives opportunity to receive help in form of money, does not get this help. According to the law this very organization where teenagers are staying after leaving the orphanage, their trustee, should have cared and taken measures to ensure the money, which is owed to the young man, was paid. (Kornilova, 2010) But what is happening in reality is very different from what is said in law.

This case is not the only one in Kazakhstan. A lot of articles can be found in local newspapers which tell real life stories about unfair treatment of orphans in orphanages. Unfortunately the problematic situations do not disappear when teenagers leave orphanages. Many more problems start right here: it seems like there is nobody to inform them about their rights, nobody to help them to make sure these rights are not only to be written on paper in law, but also to be fulfilled in reality.

There are a lot of questions in young people’s minds when they finish school: where to study, what to start from, which profession to choose, just how to live after school, where everything seemed so easy and familiar. The questions in the minds of orphans are much more serious and painful as there are no parents who can encourage, tell stories of their youth and own experience, while the questions are so big: where to start, what to start from, where to work or maybe study first, how to make a right decision, who will help in case of failure. But this dilemma is not so old. People in the USSR did not know this problem until the twentieth century.

The first orphanage in the USSR was founded in 1918. This period was full of strikes, revolutions and wars. Lots of people were murdered during this unstable time. The terrible consequences were hundreds and even thousands of children without parents. That is when the government started to organize special places, houses for those children – orphanages (Azimova, 2009). Orphans’ difficulties and problems after leaving orphanages appeared as the first group of 18 year old youngsters left the walls of those orphanages, established by the government. Though so many years have passed since then, orphans continue to experience a very tough time after leaving orphanages to this day.

Orphans definitely need help from the government at such a difficult stage in their lives. They need people who can give them valuable advice, show them where to start and what to start from and answer all the questions they have but have no one to ask, they need someone who will help them to start life right and only then let them go out alone and independent out into the world. This need is a problem in Kazakhstan and it must be solved. The youth is the future of Kazakhstan and future we get tomorrow depends on today’s nurture.

If the problem remains without attention, the country runs the risk of a future filled with criminals, drug users, homeless and unemployed people. Those will be the consequences of the problem of teenagers who have not managed to find themselves in this life, who were not taught how to live independently, how to face challenges after they have left orphanages. Finding solutions to this problem will provide a stable life in the big unknown world not only for orphans, but also will give the country a strong foundation for successful future development, as this future is in the hands of young people, who are confident about their present and future.

My own experience is another proof, confirming that orphans need help when starting life outside orphanages. In 2005 my Father died, a bit later in 2007 my Mother died, I was 15 years old at that time. After living with my parents all the time and having no need to decide anything, to care about anything, to prepare for future life myself, suddenly I was left alone, having to live on my own and make decisions, care about a lot of things, think about future. But my luck was to have two elder married sisters, who did not leave me with my troubles and problems, but also were wise enough not to do everything for me. They let me think, make decisions myself, but always encouraged me and gave me advice if I needed it (of course I needed it a lot). My own example made me think about orphans, facing lots of difficulties after leaving orphanages, where everything was done for them: food is cooked, money for the food and other needs are given by the government, they are made to go to school, their time is planned by someone else, they do not decide what their plans for a day are, they are practically given no choice. Year after year of life like this and then one day all responsibilities just fall on their fragile shoulders. Young people from orphanages at age 18 are not ready for this. It is a shock for them.

Orphans’ lack of preparation for independent life influences their future family life too. The research of psychologists Inna Khamitova and Victor Brutman has shown that babies abandoned by mothers who have grown up in orphanage goes from generation to generation (Azimova, 2009). “Young girls, who were brought up in orphanages do not have a model of family, they do not know how to live in a family, bring up their children, and they do not have life experience. They think: “I grew up in orphanage; my child would somehow, too”, says Nina Balabayeva, director of Almaty crisis center “Rodnik”. “We need to prepare girls as well as boys for their life beyond orphanage, without their tutors, but with responsibilities” – she added (Azimova, 2009).

This research report looked for solutions, which the government can apply to prepare teenagers while they stay in orphanage for the day when they leave it. The paper also offered the ways how the government can help teenagers after they leave orphanages. To find out this, the structured qualitative interview with a young man Philip[*] who had stayed in orphanage was conducted. In addition qualitative semi-structured interviews with volunteers Tamara and Maria[†], dealing with orphans, HR director of the Youth Assembly of Almaty Aidana were conducted. The Youth Assembly of Almaty has been paying attention to orphans during last several years. The interviews contained such questions as what is done by the government to help orphans after leaving orphanages, is there any financial support, if there is, how much tenge it is, is there anyone supervising future life of orphans, are there any centers which provide orphans with information about their rights, helping them with their problems, giving advice and all essential information, and what are their suggestions how to help orphans. The interviews were conducted in the period of March 5-11.

Questionnaires were distributed among twenty students of KIMEP to find out their attitude to the issue and what they can offer to solve it. Most of the respondents were first year students and they filled in the questionnaires during the period of March 10-15. The sample of the questionnaire is available in Appendix. In addition newspapers’ articles concerning the problem of orphans were studied. All the articles were chosen from the public newspapers and had been written by journalists. These methods helped to investigate the problem better and more properly and find some possible solutions to it. These very methods were chosen because they involve the people who are in the middle of the problem or face it directly; that is why the information, which was received from them was be very important and useful for the research. Newspapers were chosen, because they give the latest relevant information about the problem.

The research paper contains the literature review which has shown that there is a lack of information about the problems of orphans after they leave orphanages. The majority of the literature about orphans’ problems concentrates on the problems in orphanages. The following section is description of results. It described the answers of the interviewees. All of them agreed that the problem exists and the government should take measures to improve the situation. Some solutions were offered by the interviewees. The information received from the questionnaires is also described here. The respondents expressed their ideas of solutions as well.

The next part of this research paper is analyses. Here all the received information was analyzed. The reasons for not objective answers were supposed. Some solutions to the problem were found. The last part of the research is conclusion. It discussed the limitations of the research and offered what else could be done to investigate the issue better and find more relevant solutions.

Date: 2016-01-03; view: 810