Walking to Romanian Children's Home
In the early part of this decade, Bill and I were part of serving orphans in Romania by going to the State-run orphanages and hospitals and holding babies and working with them to develop their physical development skills. You see, prior to becoming a professional photographer, I was a pediatric physical therapist at The Children’s Hospital here in Denver. Bill used to work at Colorado Christian University in their team of department managers.
During that time, we had taken a short-term trip to Romania with CCU and then decided to stay a bit longer….almost 19 months longer. Our typical day in Romania was to wake up, eat a quick breakfast, then head downtown to the orphanage where we would work with thirty-five infants from newborn to about a year old. I would generally work in the room with the newborns to three-month olds while Bill worked with the 7-12 month old babies. Each of us had our hands completely full because there were often 6-10 babies per room.
I helped to oversee the physical development of the children by evaluating where they were currently and initiating movement that would help them develop the skills that a “typically developing” child might have at the same age. I also taught the two staff nurses (yep, two nurses for 35 babies) how to work directly with the children to do the same things for the times we weren’t there.
An opportunity to serve again
While being in Romania for 18 months, we met up with a couple who had been there for about seven years (at the time). Their names are Michelle and Daniel Sims and they are the founders of Children in the Son. Their organization focuses on working with abandoned infants, teen pregnancy prevention and providing education and opportunities for the poorest of the poor in the country. You can see a list of their projects here.
Crina's Grandpa in Lazareni
We became instant friends with Daniel and Michelle and hardly a day goes by that I don’t speak with her on the phone. They have since moved back from Romania after finding out that they were pregnant with twins and now serve in the oversight and leadership capacity rather than in the day-to-day operations overseas.
Michelle contacted us March 20th and officially asked if Bill to serve on the board of directors for their International non-profit. Because of our experience in the country, we are able to relate to what they are dealing with and can provide insight to furthering the success of the work they are doing in Romania.
Rendering of community center
Funding the latest project
Children in the Son is an ever-growing organization. Their latest project is to build a community center in a small village called Gepis (map). Below is a letter about the center and what the purpose will be. Learn more about the Gepis project.
“The building is going to be used as an Educational/Worship Center. We can’t call it a church because there is already a Baptist and Pentecostal church in the village that the Roma (also called gypsies) do not attend because of all the rules and legalism. Of course there is also a Romanian Orthodox church, but the Roma (gypsies) are typically not welcome there. Due to local politics, we will have a Tuesday night and probably a Friday or Saturday night service and call them “youth meetings” which will be widely accepted.“
“The building will also be used to educate children who will otherwise remain illiterate. You see, the Roma people generally arrange the marriages of their young daughters for a fee of about $200 U.S. Many of these young women become pregnant and abandon their children into the State-run health care system because they can’t afford to care for them. When we explain to families that their daughters can earn $200-$500 monthly if they have an education, the families are more than willing to wait on arranging their marriages until AFTER their education.”
We spoke with Michelle a few weeks ago and they need an additional $30,000 to complete the building and open it to the families and children in the village. Our personal goal is to have all of that money to them prior to our trip this Fall and we have a plan to get it done! Wanna help?
The children living in Gepis
How you can help
If you would like to help fund the ongoing work with orphaned children in Romania or with the children who would otherwise receive no education at all, please go to Children In The Son and look for the “Donate” button on the bottom left of the screen.
