Romanian Orphans Inspire Family -- Aid Effort Started In Edmonds
By Mary Nolan
Flies encrust the eyes of children too listless to shoo them away.
Rows of metal cribs stand side by side, row by row, like loaves of bread on a shelf. Babies lie in their own waste, conditioned to silence by the lack of nurturing.
These televised images of Romanian orphanages have prompted an outpouring of humanitarian aid from thousands of people in the Puget Sound area. Their generosity is literally spilling out of the Edmonds home of Margie Malkasian, founder of the Extended Hand volunteer relief group.
Boxes of children's clothes, shoes, medicine, ointment, diapers, vitamins, sleeping bags, blankets, toys and food fill the Malkasians' home, and this is just a fraction of the humanitarian aid that has been collected.
Malkasian and her son Gary will fly to Romania Sunday to personally deliver medical supplies, infant formula and 200 sleeping bags to a mountain-based orphanage facing a winter fuel crisis because of the rise in oil prices. They will escort several local people who want to adopt Romanian children as well as a delegation from a Centralia church. Ten people from Washington state will be traveling to Romania under the umbrella of Extended Hand.
Malkasian will be joined on her upcoming trip by a doctor and nurse, Extended Hand volunteers, who will determine medical needs. The nurse will observe AIDS-testing procedures to provide assurances to adoptive parents that the test results are valid. Children adopted overseas must pass a mandatory AIDS test to immigrate to the U.S. An estimated 30 percent of Romanian orphans have tested positive for the HIV virus. Health experts believe the virus probably was spread through indiscriminate blood transfusions and lack of sterilized needles.
The grass-roots organization was born after Malkasian saw a documentary on the Romanian orphans in March and decided to turn her Christian compassion into action.
She began slowly, researching other relief efforts. Volunteer work on political campaigns gave her some ideas about how to make a mass appeal. She started with a 700-name mailing list and began making her pitch for donations. In August, Malkasian, along with her husband, Paul, and son Gary, personally delivered 2 tons of food, toys and medicine to Romanian orphanages.
``We can't do it all and we can't help with one-time aid,'' says Malkasian, clearing a box of sample-size cough medicine from a chair.
The relief effort has consumed her life and her home. Extended Hand has no paid staff and Malkasian's study serves as the group's headquarters. Malkasian has made a five-year commitment to help the orphanages.
She hopes Extended Hand can serve as a conduit for others who want to help the children victimized by the economic and social policies of deposed dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
During Ceausescu's rule, contraception was outlawed and married women were forced to bear at least five children under penalty of fines and regardless of health or financial ability. As a result, an estimated 65,000 to 100,000 abandoned children live in institutions lacking even minimal care.
In August, the Malkasians met with the Romanian minister of health and secured to allow Extended Hand volunteers to work in the orphanages. By establishing a long-term relationship with several orphanages, they hope to monitor donations and open the door for adoptions.
Gary Malkasian said stories have come back about orphanage workers washing out paper diapers and attempting to reuse them. He said some of their notions are outdated, such as refusing to open windows even on a sweltering
summer day out of fear the draft will cause illness - a notion rooted in bubonic plague scares of the Middle Ages.
The plight of children is near to all of the Malkasians' hearts. Gary, 29, the oldest of their six children, is coordinating volunteers for overseas duty. His sister Deena works with volunteers here to raise money and collect supplies.
Extended Hand has collected about two truckloads of goods and raised $12,000 so far. The cause has sparked a personal commitment from several volunteers, who will spend a year in the orphanages providing assistance and training to the Romanian child-care workers.
Diane Johnson, a registered nurse who is devoting herself full time to Extended Hand, says the Malkasians believe in sharing their blessings and make others feel like part of their family.
Hundreds of calls are received each day from people who want to help. Volunteers cannot keep up with inquiries about adoption - which is no easy task because the child's parents must be located and then agree to sign a release.
Even nightly meetings in the Malkasians' home cannot accommodate all the interest. The past two Saturdays, about 120 people attended information sessions Extended Hand held at the Iverson Center, an adoption and counseling agency in North Seattle.
Carl Hill, director of the center, said he considered bringing Extended Hand under the umbrella of the adoption agency.
``We talked about Margie working for us, but I think we would have just been in her way. She's a self-starter and what she wants to do, she wants to do now. She's kind of a Lone Ranger,'' Hill says.
Although they are not formally connected, Iverson Center has provided support to Extended Hand and is assisting couples attempting to adopt Romanian children.
Hill cautions that foreign adoption, like the adoption of any child, shouldn't be taken lightly. He and his wife have adopted eight children from overseas countries, including India and Korea. He said the urge to rescue children from poverty and neglect should be tempered with realistic expectations.
``These children do not know what love is. Some will not bond, and it may take a lifetime for them to learn to express love properly,'' he says. ``We know that firsthand.''
Nils and Mary Lazich of Bothell are among those who say they can't bear to think of children warehoused and unloved. Extended Hand is assisting the couple with their adoption efforts, which will take months of work within Romania.
``I think the biggest difficulty will be to pick one child and leave the others behind,'' says Nils Lazich.