Mothers Still Waiting - Ukraine - Mariam Lambert and The Emile Foundation - The Change Agent Podcast

The Emile Foundation works two cases: 48 infants from the Kherson orphanage and children with disabilities from the Oleshky boarding school, all with living relatives waiting, in many cases without a word, for years. Finding one child can take two months or several years. The Russians are the only ones who can authorise a release. Every country, every institution failed these children. One recent peace proposal offered armistice with no accountability for war crimes. Treating oil access as a higher priority than stolen children is not diplomacy. Childhood has an expiry date. That lands differently once you have heard a mother describe finding a single memory, a ballet lesson her daughter half-remembered, to convince a child she was her mother.

00:00 Introduction

05:10 From volunteer to full-time: the moment Mariam chose this life

10:00 What it costs to walk away from security for a cause

15:30 The scale of Russia's child deportation operation

20:45 How the crime extended to teachers, nurses, and businesses

25:00 The Emile Foundation's two pilot cases and the return process

30:00 What families go through while they wait

36:00 The international community: an honest assessment

42:30 Peace deals, accountability, and why armistice without justice fails victims

48:30 The Seven Women Seven Lives campaign and the mothers still waiting

54:30 Why return and justice must run in parallel

57:00 How Mariam stays in it

Mariam Lambert LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariam-lambert-43527a3a/ Emile Foundation Website: https://emilefoundation.org/

Our Stuff

Our website: https://www.thechangeagent.studio

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheChangeAgentPodcast

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-change-agent-podcast/id1794550342

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4LoAakYrrg60ld766wKqto?si=OjaQfNF9RbiRH1GCzxOtsw

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechangeagentpodcast?igsh=OXRoZmp5Z2FhdjJm Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1WtowvBVkr/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Music licensed via Soundstripe

Song: Winds of Change Artist: Four Trees

ContentID: RKQSKSJCG9XNSTHB