Romania
2002
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Newsletter 1
Saturday 7 December 2002
The days seem packed, but I'll try to get these emails out as often as I can. As most of you know, I'm in Timisoara, Romania for the month of December, working with streetkids et al. A few notes of this week's events:
Monday 2 Dec.
Finally arrived in Timisoara after about 40 hours of travelling, plus a bit extra in England en route. Many many thanks to Andrew for hosting me in there. Got to the Smith house at about 10pm. They didn't think that I'd get here at 7pm like I said. The plane was about half an hour late taking off. Me not realising that Hungary is in a different time zone to Romania didn't help. (FWIW thanks to daylight savings in NZ, Hungary is directly opposite NZ for time.)
Tuesday 3 Dec.
First full day here. At the girl's house where I worked last year building a workshop the girls all seem happy and have improved their English. The biggest change is Ana Maria, the daughter of one of the girls at the home. She was about 5 months old when I left. She's now about 21 months, scooting around, and beginning to talk. A "new" girl at the home named Veronica was a regular attender of the day centre last year. She doesn't remember me - yet. I figure as soon as I twist a balloon she will remember. Oh yeah. The workshop I helped build now has a couple of dozen live chickens in it at one end. Yum.
The streetkids at the day centre range from a lot different to exactly the same. For example, Vali when I was last here was 7 and looked 5. He is now 8 but still looks like a 5 year old.
In the early evening one of the streetkid workers was arrested/required to accompany the police. The kids had just been let out of the day center and one happened to set off a fire cracker, which are widely available here but illegal except for New Year's Eve. A police car happened to be going past and stopped to check things out. The worker tried to talk to them but because it was decided he was responsible for the child they made him accompany them to the station. We didn't know if he would be there for an hour or overnight. I found out later he and the kid were let go after two hours. He could have left earlier but he wouldn't leave without the kid in case they beat him.
You may remember last year while driving around the city a Romanian friend and I found a kid begging with only one arm at an intersection. (The kids tuck an arm inside their shirt and look really hungry and pleading. It's the equivalent of our windscreen washers.) Basically, because of that meeting the kid made it to the streetkids camp (with two good arms). When I saw him there I tried the one-armed begging angle on him. He dug into his pocket, gave me a 1,000 lei note (then worth about 8 cents), and ran off leaving me quite speechless.
Today I found out that this was the kid who a while back [in March 2002] was found dead in the river with his throat slit. Someone had set fire to their sewer home and when the kids came stumbling out they were beaten up, or worse. Cosmin was a pretty rough kid with a heart of gold who just needed more time. In the words of Jules Riding, "Where do the children fall when the bow breaks?"
Wednesday 4 Dec.
Corruption is still one of those widespread problems that seems to affect every part of life here. The latest examples:
Some orphanage babies do not have nappies because staff/management take the nappies home themselves - by the carload.
Some medical school professors can be bribed to give 10 out of 10 on results. (This to me seems a disincentive to studying hard since if someone got a ten, it would never be a doubt-free result. "I'll be your doctor today and you have nothing to worry about because I got 100% at medical school." To which WE would respond "Uh-oh.")
Some doctors will not treat patients unless a bribe is forthcoming.
Thursday 5 Dec.
Went to a village about 1.5 hours south of Timisoara. All the Aussie girls had to wear skirts and headscarfs to the Pentecostal church we went to there. It reminded me of the Exclusive Brethrens but without the horrible mind control they have. They don't believe in birth control, so families with 9 or even 14 children are not unusual.
A bit late coming home, leaving the village at 10:30pm. As we got back into Timisoara (about 20 or 30 minutes after midnight) we came across a man lying on the road tangled up in a bicycle. He was pretty unconscious and bleeding from facial injuries - no bike helmets here. We called the police and despite breathing the really bad exhaust from the police car for a while waiting for an ambulance, he eventually started moving his feet and was taken away. We think he had been drinking and drove into the back of a parked car. From the weather forecast it's good that he did it this week not next, or he would have been frozen to the road surface with his own blood.
Friday 6 Dec.
At the streetkid day centre again today. The Aussies turned up a bit late and stunned looking. It wasn't [just] because of the long day yesterday. On their way to the day centre they had come across another accident. A concrete truck had gone through a red light and hit an old woman. When the Aussies passed by, the woman was behind the wheels of the truck with her face covered. They described her as "obviously dead."
God bless you all.
Ian
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