Dear Family and Friends,
I cannot express to you how incredibly blessed I am to have such a loving group of people support me through my mission trip to Romania. This letter cannot describe all that I have learned in my journey, but I want you to know that you gave me an experience that will continue to shape my character. Being a part of the Fordham Global Outreach Romania 2011 team has honestly been one of the most challenging yet rewarding experiences in my life.
In our first stop in the city of Bucharest we worked at Casa Doru, a hospital for kids with HIV/AIDS. The language barrier was difficult to overcome, but we taught each other words by drawing pictures or playing charades and then writing corresponding words in both English and Romanian. Unfortunately, we could only stay at Casa Doru for two days. Mary Veal, the hospital director, was concerned that the kids would become attached to us, which would be problematic since the kids struggle with constant abandonment and rejection. Mary explained how the stigma of HIV/AIDS in Romania makes life extremely difficult and lonely. All of the kids we met live in fear that their illness will be discovered. Most will end up on the streets because they have to quit their jobs every time they get too sick to work. This tiny hospital is the only means for HIV/AIDS positive children in Bucharest to receive any kind of support or medical attention.
Despite all of this, these kids met us every day happily. They laughed when we butchered Romanian phrases with our American accents, and we laughed when they beat us terribly in ping-pong. They carried themselves so well that we quickly forgot they were dying of disease. Their attitudes inspired us to live optimistically.
Our next stop was to Braşov, the most beautiful city I have ever been to. The weekend stop was our tourism break. Initially, we toured the city ourselves on foot, but we also visited Castle Peleş and Bran Castle (otherwise known as “Dracula’s Castle) which both lay outside the city. We also hiked to the Braşov sign, a big sign on top of one of the mountains, similar to the Hollywood sign in California.
Next was Oneşti, the most difficult part of the project for me personally and I’m sure the rest of the team as well. Here we worked at Casa Alexandra, an orphanage for developmentally disabled children. The orphanage was divided into four groups based on mental capacity. The first few days we worked with more coherent individuals and the last days we spent with a more challenged group of kids.
Since I had never worked with the disabled before, I was very nervous initially. I kept my guard up around the kids because it is difficult to tell how they are going to react to new situations. The language barrier restricted us even further in our interaction with the kids. However, we found our way around these limitations. I spent a lot of time with a beautiful boy named Floree. Apparently he loves blonds. He found me right away and would not stop playing with my hair. He fluffed it up to make it look perfect and then told me to spin around, jump up and down, and whip my hair around by demonstrating these actions himself. Each time he motioned for me to do something and I did it, he burst out in a fit of laughter and clapped enthusiastically. I had never been so tired from dancing around or so dizzy from twirling but I had also never seen a smile so big. By spending time with the children, we realized that underneath each disability is just a playful kid.
The more severely disabled kids were the group that really got the wheels churning in our minds. We were in a room full of thirty children who sat in chairs and rocked back and forth all day long while three or four women did the best they could just to keep the room in order. It is hard to think about anything but how imprisoned these children are to their disabilities when you play hand games and only two of them have the motor skills to even attempt to slap your hand, or when you rub the back of a girl who has learned to bind her hands behind her to avoid hitting herself, or when you hold the hand of a girl for hours because it’s the only thing that brings a smile to her face. There are so many missed opportunities for these kids to grow and since the country only provides the essentials to survive.
I will admit, waking up and going back to that orphanage every day was an extremely difficult thing to do. I was mentally and physically exhausted. However, seeing my team get up and go through the same experience gave me strength to keep going. In this time period I learned multitudes about myself and about Romania. The children and my teammates taught me more than I will ever be able to give them, and I am grateful for that.
I can’t put into words what I have gotten out of this experience, but I hope this letter gives you an idea of what that is. I want you to understand that you have contributed to something that was truly worthwhile, and I want you to know that I will never be able to thank you enough. Please talk to me if you want to know more about the project and I will be more than willing to share.
I love you all and hope to see you soon.
