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This is Ela's Story
These hands
and feet began almost to the day four years before Ela Besedena was born. On April 26, 1986 the nuclear reactor #4 at Chernobyl blew up
and burned, spewing radioactive poison on everyone downwind.
Ela’s parents were among the targets. Her mother and father passed to
the unborn Ela their DNA that had been damaged by the radioactive fallout. Even while in her mother’s womb the residual
genetic destruction deformed Ela’s hands and feet.
As it was, everyone had to depend on the communist government for
everything and when she was born Ela was immediately cast aside into an orphanage. So she has lived since her birth March 24 1990 a “ward of Ukraine”.
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| Ela could be anyone's daughter. |
She could be anyone’s daughter but in some places she would have never seen the inside of an orphanage.
She would have been raised with her family and in a home, no matter how humble. Enter Sonia Paz Baron-Vine,
a total American living in California with family ties to Chile: “Dear David, This is the story, I went to Ukraine in 1998 to adopt Nikita a 9 year old with extrophy of the bladder (the actual bladder outside
the body plus deformities of urinary track and genitalia). While I was there, they introduced me to Dimitri age 6 with the same exact
problem. I stayed longer; (one month) did the paperwork and adopted him too. Then Ela approached me. She was 9 years
old, had hydrocephalic head (extra fluid in the brain, mild learning disability) and marked deformities of both
hands (lobster hands) and feet (extra toes and deformities). She begged me to adopt her too, she
said she was ‘like a sister’ to Nikita and Dimitri (which turned out to be true) and she wanted me to be her mom.
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| Ela in Dance |
I was brokenhearted,
I wanted to adopt her too, but I did not have the money or the permission to adopt another child in that trip. So I
promised her I would NEVER give up and I will adopt her.
But she would have to wait until Nikita
and Dimitri were done with their surgeries.
We continued to be in contact by mail and I sent her monthly ‘care packages’.
Five years later my sons were done with the seven surgeries each and I was ready to start the adoption of Ela.
I gave the $500 non-refundable deposit to Life Adoption Inc to start the adoption procedure.
But Ukraine had ‘closed’ adoptions
due to adoptive parents not keeping their monthly reports.
By the time they lifted the ban, Ela was 16 years old;
'too old to be adopted' by American adopting laws.
I was devastated, I wanted with all my heart to adopt and love this child,
and I was dealing with cold bureaucracy.
I spoke to my congresswoman Lois Capps, she wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and we applied for a ‘humanitarian
visa for Ela’ and my application changed from regular to ‘congressional level’.
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| Ela as choreographer |
It seemed like she was going to be allowed to come for a year and have her surgery, I got Dr. Jason
Diamond MD, a plastic surgeon, to agree to see Ela.
But alas, the Department of Homeland Security in its bizarre wisdom denied
the humanitarian visa based on my income being ‘borderline’. So I was told I needed a ‘co-sponsor’.
Many friends offered to help, but when they downloaded the DHS form, they freaked out, as it has very heavy language,
making them ‘financially responsible’ up to 10 years for Ela.
So they backed down and I found my
self alone again...naturally. So here we are, Ela will turn 18 in two days. Because of her schooling she will continue to
live in the orphanage for a little while until she graduates.
But then she will be alone and poor. We need to ask God to show us the way.
Thanks David”
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| Ela with mask |
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| Ela in glasses |
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| Ela hides her hands. |
So that’s it. Sad. This girl has been put upon all of her life even starting before her life began.
None of it is of her doing.
Here are the statistics for Ukrainian orphans after they are put out of their orphanages. The
numbers vary but these are consistent with other reports:
10 – 15% commit suicide because of absolute hopelessness and despair.
60 – 70%
of the boys turn to crime and are eventually are put in prison.
60 – 70% of the girls (and boys) become prostitutes. AIDS/HIV
in this age group is approaching epidemic proportions in Ukraine.
Of the approximately 100,000 street children/young adults in Ukraine 90% are
drug addicts.
This future for Ela Besedena is not an option. It can not be. Imagine being part of saving this girl.
We can help Sonia Paz Baron-Vine make it so.
This is what
I would like for you to do. Click on Sonia's photo to go to the donation page at Mellow Swan Foundation.
Just follow Sonia's instruction to add a twenty dollar gift with many that will change Ela's life.
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| Sonia writing to Ela 2001 |
Sonia
writing to Ela 2001
Thank you, David
You might want to look at Ela's time line, if so click below.
Internal Navigation
Ela's Lonely Orphanage Journey
Ela's Time Line
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