One of my biggest passions in life is ministering to and raising awareness about the plight of the thousands of institutionalized children in Romania, not to mention the thousands that call the sewers home each and every day. Last weekend, while I was in Targu Mures, I had the opportunity to visit with many of the children who have permanetely put their stamps on my heart. I wish I could give you a good report, but unfortunately, I am as concerned about the plight of Romania's orphans as ever before. Ludus, a small community to the south of Targu Mures, is home to a large orphanage housing many orphan children in Mures (moo-resh) County. One of the directors of an American non-profit orphan outreach foundation recently spoke before the European Union in Brussells, Belgium to warn the EU that the current social-welfare laws in Romania may be worse today than they were 15 years ago. In an effort to appease the EU officials, the Romanian government has put a moratorium on international adoptions. This means that thousands of Romanian orphan children who had a sponsor and a family waiting to adopt them, had their hearts broken all over again. Hundreds of families were just waiting on a signature, before the Romanian government pulled the rug out from under them. The Romanian government claims they are working to clean up the system from corruption. While it is true tha
t many women were having children just to sell them for upwards of $20,000; the question today is, "what has the Romanian government done to stop the corruption?" In Ludus, for instance, accusations of sexual abuse within the walls of the orphanage are widespread. An article appeared recently in local papers detailing the abuse, as well as on local television. While the Christian aid workers new that this information needed to be reported, they also new, and feared, the ramifications of this information being published. As expected, the director of the Ludus orphanage is quite upset and, at least for now, refuses to allow the Christian foundations to continue working in Ludus. Is this in the best interests of the children? Obviously not. Over the past several years, the Romanian government has been transitioning from the old "orphanage" system into group homes. There are pros and cons. Many NGO's are able to sponsor group homes and staff them with loving caretakers. Moreover, the kids are given responsibilites and taught life skills that they would otherwise not have in the orphanages. Still, many kids were taken from their siblings and put in separate group homes. The staff to orphan ratio, however, is much better in the new system.
Still another issue is that while some counties in Romania have completely converted to the new system, other counties are just talking about how to
start the transition. Things don't necessarily happen overnight in Eastern Europe--but its the kids who suffer from the complacency and inertia of the elites. The other week, I visited an orphanage in Bucharest that reminded me of Romania 15 years ago. Babies were tied to cribs, children were sitting in their own urine, and every child was cross-eyed. I did a lot of praying that day and have to admit that I was pretty mad at God. How in the world, I said, could this still be going on, especially in the capital, just driving minutes from the seat of government? But I know that God is not far away from these children. Praise the Lord for the many organizations who labor each and every day to give these kids hope, nourishment, and the promise of a better future in Jesus' name.
Plea
se pray with me for the children of Romania and for the government to adequately address and care to their specific needs! Please also understand that I am NOT totally knocking the Romanian government. I understand how difficult it is to transition out of a 40+ year system that is so heavily ingrained in the culture, into a new free-market system. They have so many pressing needs, and they are working hard to ascend to the EU. Some things have improved, and I give them credit for that. But, the children should NEVER be put on the back burner! Pray for a hedge of protection around these children, pray that international adoptions would re-open, pray that those who work with these children would love and nourish them, and pray that the abuse and neglect would stop. And last, but not least, pray for the thousands of children who call the sewers and subways home each night. These are the children of the "underground". They used to be in the Subway stops, but that looked bad to foreigners. Then they moved to the parks, but people complained. The proverb in Romanian is that if they can't see you, you're not a problem. Pray that the government would SEE WITH OPEN EYES the plight of their children. Ministering to street-children is EXTREMELY difficult, because some are there by choice, almost all have severe trust and attachment issues, among other things. God bless those who have not forgotten them. No matter how hard they are to work with, each and every one of them is someone with a name, a story, and someone who God loves infinitely. A friend of mine from Minnesota recently sent me a very interesting article that I hope all of you will take the time to read. And if I might, I would also encourage you to take the time to look at the other articles posted at the bottom of the following link, it's important for us to be educated:
www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=2242*Please remember the children and government of Romania in your prayers! Thank You!
My friend Manuela (we call her Manu for short) will be visiting her brother and working as a nanny in the Chicago area for four months. Her parents came down to Bucharest last week to see her off from Vaslui (northeastern Romania/near the Romania and Moldova border). I had a great time visiting Manu's church and her parents. Manu is a great guitar player and recently composed several new songs--they're great! Please pray for Manu, as this will be her first time out of Romania. And as you can imagine, the Chicago area is quite the juxtaposition from the rural life of Vaslui, Romania. Please also pray for her parents
who are trying to get visas to attend their son's wedding in Illinois this coming fall. They are a really nice family--her Dad has already invited me to come and help out with the youth at their church in Vaslui. At Manu's Church, I also ran into Cristina (pictured with Manu) who I met several years ago at the "Benjamin House" in Bucharest for orphaned, disadvantaged, and needy children. At that time, Cristina had much shorter hair and big thick glasses. The Benjamin House has since been shut down (it is a LONG, very tragic story) and the children scattered around Bucharest and Romania. So, it was a true blessing to see Cristina at Manu's church--and I would recognize her any day. Praise the Lord that Cristina is being taken care of by a loving group of Christian women who used to work at the Benjamin House. Unfortunately, when I asked, these former workers to this day have no idea where the rest of the kids are or what has happened with them.
Last weekend I made a very special visit to Targu Mures, Romania (northern Transylvania, and one of my favorite places in the world) to attend the baptism of my friend Calin Florea. Calin and I met in the summer of 2002, when we spent a summer together working in orphan outreach. This was a very special time for me to be able to be a part of such a big day in Calin's life. I was very encouraged to hear his testimony and to see how God is working in his life. I am convinced that God is going to do some great ministry through Calin's life. The service was beautiful, and included a large choir from Cluj-Napoca, Romania, which is a large city about 150 kilometers to the east of Targu Mures. A special quartet from one of the local Penticostal churches (friends of ours) also sang. After the service, Calin's grandmother and other church members prepared close to one thousand sarmale (stuffed cabbage rolls), a true Romanian delicacy. It was W
Friends from the Penticostal Church singing at the service
