Piotr swaps Cherven orphanage for Doonbeg

ANYONE who met 19-year-old Piotr Klimkovich in Doonbeg over the last two weeks could not have imagined what a tale the Belarussian national has to tell.
Piotr was placed in an orphanage in Cherven, Belarus at the age of seven and only recently moved out to live with a ‘momma,’ which is what orphanage carers are called in the eastern European country.
Piotr visited Doonbeg for the last fortnight, as a guest of the Doonbeg Cherven Orphans group, which is headed by Edel Smith. He was accompanied by Roma, another youngster who was reared in the same orphanage. Piotr spoke to The Clare Champion in Doonmore, Doonbeg last Saturday.
He wasn’t too keen to talk about some aspects of orphanage life but attempted to give some insight into what his childhood and teenage years in the orphanage were like.
Edel is currently planning a number of fundraising events in West Clare to help her build a halfway house for young adults in Cherven. Older people like Piotr would then be able to move out of the orphanage and live outside of the institution, with some support to help them adjust.
“I didn’t really feel ok with it,” Piotr said, through interpreter Alena Martsyanava, as he reflected on life in the Cherven orphanage.
“I was trying to find a way to find my position and show the others that I was not to be offended, insulted or oppressed in any way,” he added.
Having been reared with his family until the age of seven, Piotr knew what life had to offer away from the confines of his orphanage home.
“Of course, I was longing for it,” he revealed, speaking about the day when he would be allowed out.
“That’s what I wanted always. I didn’t fear it. I knew exactly what I wanted and I knew how life was outside because I spent a lot of time with my family until I was seven. I never had any fear of life on the outside,” Piotr explained.
He got to know the Doonbeg Cherven Orphans group when he was still a child.
“I don’t even remember. It has been a long time. I feel now that Edel (Smith) has always been in my life,” he said of the group that was established in 2001.
Piotr often felt frustrated in the orphanage and availed of any chance to take a look at the world outside of the orphanage walls.
“I can’t remember any single day when I didn’t escape the orphanage. After 5pm I usually jumped over the fence and off I went trying to escape or just trying to feel a little bit of the outside world. Just into the local forest. Usually we were hanging around the fire brigade place very near to the orphanage,” he recalled.
“Most of the carers that I used to be friendly with are all retired. I keep recollecting some very good things about some of them that are gone at this stage. But I made friends with some of the mommas.
“All the boys that I used to be friendly with unfortunately are in different institutions or some of them are in prison already,” he revealed.
Piotr’s father is dead and he is not in touch with his mother. However, he is in contact with one of his two sisters. Recently he started his first job. Piotr collects metal and loads it onto delivery trucks in Cherven. Long term he wants to work as a builder and live on his own but first he has been enjoying an eye-opening couple of weeks.
Until flying to Ireland, Piotr had never been in an aeroplane and since coming to West Clare, the friendliness of people has stunned him.
“I was really impressed by people here and by the attitude they have towards each other. The way they greet everyone in the streets. They are very friendly and they smile at each other. That was very unusual for me,” he said.
Interpreter Alena, who works for the Burren Chernobyl Project, said the lack of education in the orphanage has hindered Piotr’s progression.
“There was no education in the orphanage. If he’d had a chance to go to an educational orphanage, then he would have had his education and that would have made it much easier for him to do a trade or go to college,” Alena explained.
“There are colleges that would probably take him but he needs to have his general education, the one that all the children get in primary and secondary schools. He doesn’t have it and we need to sort it out.
“There is evening school for those who missed this opportunity to go to school. That is a chance because we were checking with all of the colleges around Cherven and they wouldn’t take him without a general education.
“There is one college that would but it’s for professions like gardeners or cleaners. It’s no good for a young boy like him,” Alena stated.
She said the attitudes of people towards orphaned children is changing in Belarus.
“Young people are more flexible and at this stage we’re getting some Belarussian volunteers involved in visiting different orphanages and helping out kids and adults.
“Still, in small places like Cherven, people would still be a little bit biased. They would think that this is for crazy people and they call orphanages ‘crazy houses’ but they are changing their attitude because they see Irish volunteers coming over, taking the kids for a walk in town or whatever. They are used to it now and treat the situation in a different way now but it takes longer for our people to get used to it,” she said.
Back in Cherven since Wednesday of this week, Alena is certain that Piotr’s trip to Clare was good for him.
“There’s a huge change in him and I do believe that this will give him a reason to stay on the right track in life. He sees a totally different life and real families.
“He will understand in the future that this is the way that he has to treat his own family members, his future wife and his kids. Because he has never seen anything like this before,” she noted.

In the coming months Doonbeg Cherven Orphans will be running a number of fundraising events, including Strictly Come Dancing, to raise money for the halfway house.