I only learned of the plight of Romanian orphans when I saw the Oprah Winfrey show

As the mother of a beautiful, healthy, happy son, I felt compelled to learn more about Romania's intolerable treatment of these innocent children.

I was appalled to learn that this suffering is the direct result of mandates by Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu (who was executed in 1989). Ceausescu required woman to have 4-5 children, strictly prohibiting any kind of birth control in his Country. His goal was to increase the population of "pure" Romanians and to build a "robot work force" out of the "impure children" (Hungarians, Bulgarians and Gypsies). Because parents of all nationalities could not afford to feed their children during Ceausescu's regime, it became an accepted part of Romanian culture to simply give one's children over to the state-run orphanages. The Concentration-camp-like conditions occurred because Ceausescu theorized that it was the "Impure" children that ended up as wards of the state, so food, medicine, blankets, clothing and other necessities were not "wasted" on them. Citizens who complained about the treatment of orphans would be imprisoned and their children sent to the same institutions.

Thirteen American volunteers visited a Romanian orphanage to make repairs. What they found were 49 starving children ages 3 to 8, naked. (The volunteers arrived when they were not expected, staff members scrambled to find the children some clothes). This orphanage is a place where even older children are not potty trained; many suffer from chronic diarrhea due to malnutrition and illness. These children do not wear pants, even in the winter. The orphanage has broken windows and often, no heat. Children sleep four to a cot or on the floor, sharing blankets that are soiled, wet with urine and lice infected. They do not have disinfectant, they do not have soap, and they do not have hot water. Illness and infection run rampant. Scabies, the itch mite, torments many of the children. They are under the state's care, but the state does not provide medicine. The younger and weaker children are prey to the older and stronger children, who routinely steal their food. Younger children eat whatever they can, banana peels, and crumbs from the lunchroom floor, even another child's vomit.

photo by James Nachtwey

So why are orphanage conditions still so horrendous many years after dictator
Nicolae Ceausescu's death?

Ceausescu impoverished the nation with various grandiose projects, and starved his people in order to export food. Economic conditions today in Romania remain stagnant, with over one million adults unemployed and the rest, underemployed, making the U.S. equivalent of $30 a month). The Romanian medical system is outdated, with minimal infection controls, needles reused on patient after patient, and nurses trained only in high school. Many adults and children are treated at clinics for a less serious illness only to become infected with the AIDS virus as a result of treatment. Romania itself has no civic tradition, no model for community activism or volunteerism due to communism and the remnants of Ceausescu's tyranny.

photo by James Nachtwey

In Romania, the orphanages are simply not a priority. Many Romanians are so poor they resent the attention given to the orphans. There is still widespread prejudice against Gypsies, so many Romanians do not wish to adopt or even help the "gypsy orphans". Most of the "caregivers" in the orphanages are members of the old Ceausescu regime and don't recognize the need for any change in the system. Even in the cleaner orphanages, the ones with new directors and more staff, there is no bonding with the children, no contact, no holding. Babies are swaddled with a bottle propped in their mouth.

Many children stay in Romanian orphanages and are not adopted because their parents have yet to give them up formally. As long as a parent visits once every six months, the child cannot be considered abandoned. Some parents promise to come back when the children are older, but statistics show only about 10 percent actually do.

[story written by Machelle Dunlop]

Experts say things are slowly improving.
Foreign charitable organizations are making an impact.

Your help will make a difference!

How can you help?

YOUR DONATION IS TAX DEDUCTABLE

or Visit our website to find out more

http://www.operationhelpchildren.org

Operation Help the Children is a non-profit charitable organization helping Romanian orphaned children and teenagers in need. The organization is made up of volunteers and does not have any paid staff.

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Operation Help the Children
4 Quartz Mill Road,
Lendenberg, Pa
19350 U.S.A

The official registration and financial information of Operation Help The Children may be obtained from The
Pennsylvania Dept of State by calling tall free within Penn:1-800-732-0999

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