Getting a vision from far off
- Share via
Elia Powers
In late November, six Orange County women -- including three Newport
Beach residents -- traveled to Azerbaijan on a joint
information-gathering and humanitarian mission.
Representing Women of Vision, a national organization with 16
chapters, they visited an assortment of public orphanages and
private-care centers that handle children with disabilities.
The travelers encountered Communist-regime tradition of parents
placing their disabled youth in orphanages. But that arrangement is
being challenged by a group of parents seeking more control over
their children’s lives, the travelers said.
The six women will report their findings tonight to Women of
Vision members who didn’t make the trip. The event is open to the
public and begins at 7 p.m. at the Newport Beach home of Bobbi
Dauderman, one of the six Azerbaijan travelers.
Women of Vision is a 14-year-old organization founded in Newport
Beach and Laguna Beach with a Christian emphasis. The Southern
California chapter has about 270 members, national director Penny
Wood said.
Dauderman said her job at the meeting is to describe to members
the handling of the young disabled population in Azerbaijan, a
country known mostly for its rich oil supply.
“We were the ambassadors from our group,” said Dauderman, who has
traveled to Eastern Europe and the Middle East on past trips. “Many
of us had gone on trips overseas, but we needed to put a face on that
part of the world.”
The travelers plan to show meeting attendees videos taken from the
trip. They also expect to hear comments from World Vision’s Leslie
Harnish, project manager for children’s programs in Azerbaijan.
World Vision is the umbrella organization that accepts money from
and advises Women of Vision.
Harnish, whose husband is the United States ambassador to
Azerbaijan, spent three days with the travelers in the capital city
of Baku and will explain more about the country.
World Vision arranged the group’s trip, which lasted a week.
“When the opportunity came, I jumped on it,” said Lauren May,
Women of Vision member and a 15-year Newport Beach resident.
May and the others interacted with children at the orphanages and
private-care centers. May said she was appalled by conditions at the
former.
“It was the hardest trip I’ve ever done,” she said. “There was so
much intentional neglect there. It was like the whole country was
thumbing their nose at these children.”
May and Dauderman said they witnessed the same scenes at the
orphanages: children, many severely disabled and under 5 years of
age, left alone and placed in dreary rooms with only beds and
televisions.
Wood, who went on the trip, said World Vision is attempting to
raise money for the private facilities, which emphasize personalized
attention and learning.
Wood is confident group members will be moved by the stories and
pictures presented.
“Once they see the conditions the children are in, and once they
see the women who have changed the lives of children, they will be
happy to get involved,” she said.
Wood said the group sent $3,500 in May to a private- care center
started by a woman in Azerbaijan whose son has cerebral palsy.
The money spurred the addition of two new classrooms at the
facility, she said.
“There’s a lot we can do to better the situation,” Wood said.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.