Angels Over Moscow
Life, Death and Human Trafficking in Russia – A Memoir
Angels Over Moscow is an inspirational, first-person account of the life of American physician, Dr. Juliette Engel, who founded the non-profit MiraMed Institute to devote her energy and resources to helping reform maternal and infant healthcare in Russia. During a mission to improve medical care for children in orphanages, she discovered a link between the State institutions and an international network that trafficked young Russian girls to Scandinavia for prostitution. She followed their trail north into Norway, where she ran headlong into the international slave trade of the 20th Century—human trafficking. From that point forward, there was no turning back for the determined doctor, as she traveled throughout the former USSR, often at great personal peril, building a network of villagers, educators, police, media, and government officials called the Angel Coalition who committed their talents and resources to fighting human trafficking, and bringing thousands of Russian trafficking victims safely home. As a result of her work, she became eyewitness to the collapse of an empire as the USSR broke apart, and the Russian people struggled to find their identity without losing their humanity. Her strength and personal commitment saved thousands of lives and has helped heal the wounds of a broken nation. In Angels Over Moscow, Dr. Engel describes her journey as the “gift of an unexpected life.” More than that, it is a tribute to American ideals, and to idealists like Dr. Engel, who put her life and freedom on the line to fight the good fight for all of us. Every human being encounters crossroads on the path of life that require fate-altering decisions with unknowable outcomes. Selling my medical practice to live and work in Russia wasn’t among my life plans when I first set out to explore what lay beyond the boundaries of my familiar world. How could I anticipate that I’d be drawn down the harder, darker, unexplored road into the tumultuous disorder of Russia? I look back and wonder if I might have been more cautious had I known the magnitude of the winds that were gathering outside my door, waiting for me to step beyond the limits of safety. I did not know. Instead, I engaged the opportunity for exploring new cultures without hesitation. It was 1990 when I first flew to Moscow. The Berlin Wall had just been torn down as the Evil Empire capitulated to the forces of greater good. The ideals of democracy and freedom could now be realized for all people. Like many Americans, I saw only optimism for the future, and it was in that heady atmosphere of the Age of Aquarius that I set out to explore the world behind the Iron Curtain. Do I regret it? No. My path became a difficult, frustrating and often tragic one but I was gifted with a rarified view into other dimensions and joined by a cast of characters that enriched my life even if they didn’t have a kopek between them. The takeaway for readers of Angels Over Moscow? You cannot anticipate the unexpected. Instead, open your arms. Embrace all that life has to offer. Drink it in. Celebrate every moment. Do not be afraid of tears.
Juliette M. Engel: I am a 71 year old retired physician and author. Back in my college days, I was determined to do something brave with my life. I put myself through university and medical school to become an Assistant Professor of Radiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Director of Diagnostic Ultrasound at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue, Washington. When my two children were in high school and college, I became the first American doctor to fly over the Iron Curtain to Moscow where I visited Soviet maternity hospitals and abortion clinics. I was so appalled by what I saw that I sold my my medical practice in 1990 and founded MiraMed Institute, determined to improve health care and human rights for women and children in the USSR. When the Soviet government collapsed and orphans were dying for lack of antibiotics, I organized “Cruise with a Cause,” in which tourists carried one suitcase for themselves and one full of medicines and warm clothing for an orphanage. While providing aid to infant hospitals and orphanages in northern Russia, I uncovered the crime of sexual trafficking in girls and a rage was kindled in me. The girls were defenseless, but I wasn’t. I moved to Moscow in 1999 and founded the Angel Coalition to combat human trafficking. The Angel Coalition grew into an underground railroad that assisted thousands of victims. I also co-founded Moscow’s municipal orphanage staff training center, Women and Children First, and a nationwide program of community center support for single mothers, the Babushka Brigade. Jill Dougherty of CNN once asked if I was lonely in Russia. I had to laugh. I was never alone. My life was a constant collage of travel and adventure with my cluster of colleagues and friends. I sweated in banyas and jumped into frigid Siberian lakes, traveled by train and bus to small villages on the steppes, and ate blinis with honey in Novgorod and smoked fish on the shores of Lake Onega. I sailed the great Volga River, delivering aid to orphanages and getting to know the kids, watching them grow over the years and trying, often in vain, to keep them safe. I came back to America in 2010 when my protégé was murdered by traffickers and Russian Military Intelligence warned me that I would be next. I am currently living in the Washington DC area and serving on a number of committees including the Presidential Commission “US–Russia Working Group on Civil Society, Corruption, Child Pornography, and Child Trafficking” along with representatives from the National Security Council, State Department, and White House. I am a frequent guest at the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2013, I received the University of Washington School of Medicine Humanitarian Award (Interview: https://vimeo.com/67433359). In 2016, the draft manuscript of Angels Over Moscow was awarded the Southern California Writers Award for Best Non-fiction.
