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Maria D

20/01/2014 - 19 Shvat 5774

Maria Davydovna has lived most of her 81 years in the suburban town of Orekhovo-Zuevo outside Russia’s capital city. She worked for many years as a nurse in a kindergarten, and although she had no children of her own. In the summer of last year, when fires began to spread into the suburbs, Maria’s house went up in flames. Everything happened at lightning speed, and although she managed to escape the burning house, she lost all her possessions and was left homeless.

If asked to describe Moscow, few westerners would use words like “scorching hot,” “windy and dry” or “prone to wildfires”—descriptions that seem more suited for Arizona or southern California. But Moscow and surrounding areas can become tinder-dry during the summer months, and wildfires last year left thousands of Russians homeless, many without financial resources to start over. For the elderly, the situation is even worse.

 

Maria Davydovna has lived most of her 81 years in the suburban town of Orekhovo-Zuevo outside Russia’s capital city. She worked for many years as a nurse in a kindergarten, and although she had no children of her own, the youngsters responded to her affection and her genuine concern for their well-being. She retired at age 70 with a pension, but it was barely enough for a modest daily meal. As she aged, she developed asthma, and due to cataracts and glaucoma, she lost her vision.


In the summer of last year, when fires began to spread into the suburbs, Maria’s house went up in flames. Everything happened at lightning speed, and although she managed to escape the burning house, she lost all her possessions and was left homeless. She stayed a short time with a distant relative, but with five people living in a small, one-bedroom apartment, it became clear she needed other living accommodations.


Maria moved into one of the overcrowded boarding houses outside the city and is now sharing a tiny room with another woman who is disabled. She was worried about getting medical care and her medications until she learned about one of IFCJ-The Fellowship’s partners in the former Soviet Union that offers personalized assistance and services to the elderly in need.

 

Until the Russian government is able to create social programs to adequately support Maria and others like her, IFCJ-The Fellowship-supported Chamah program cares for their basic needs as well as giving them comfort and moral support. 

 

Chamah staff and volunteers visit them in their own apartments, bringing them lifesaving medications, nutritious food and fresh linens, and providing housecleaning and upkeep services, and transportation to medical visits as needed.  They comfort the heartbroken, engage them in conversations about their life stories, include them when possible in activities, even if it’s only a walk outside, and genuinely take an interest in who they are and what they need.

 

“I have no family, but like the children in kindergarten who always made me feel special, I now have the wonderful volunteers who come to visit me,” Maria said. “God bless IFCJ-The Fellowship.”

 

 

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