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Inside a Romanian Orphanage, Page 3

Part 3: Challenges and Joys

Each little child gave me something special to remember, each of them having such different personalities. Unfortunately, these children do not get any special attention or extra help, in fact they get very little more than food and water. Most had physical or emotional problems, and they were left to themselves for hours on end to entertain themselves with few, if any, toys.

I pushed and pushed to have the toys stay in the rooms for the children. I had to teach them what they could do with the toys. They really enjoyed learning how to rock the baby dolls, and then have me rock them the same way.

Each day was a challenge, and many days I left in tears, feeling the children were not getting a fair chance.

I did not go to change the world, let alone change the staff but, hopefully in watching me, they learned that hugs and kisses and some basic playing go a very long way. In the 11 months I was there, six of "my babies" were adopted overseas, and two of them went home. New children arrived to replace the ones that left.

My heart was heavy when the day came for me to leave. There were many changes coming up for the children, including down-sizing and the eventual closing of the orphanage. Setting up a foster care system will be difficult to manage and maintain. Employing families to care for the children requires close attention since subsidies are fairly good and this encourages the wrong kind of people to apply.

You cannot change the lives of all the children but you can take on the challenge to help change things for one or two. If each person takes a small share, the load will be much lighter and more children will benefit.

© Leslie McCarthy

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