Romania
OverviewRomania is often viewed as the “pole of poverty” in Eastern Europe. After suffering for more than 40 years under communist rule, the people of Romania are struggling to rebuild their nation, hoping for a better future for their children. FactsThe greatest poverty in Romania is in the rural areas of the country where:
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Helping the Children
Kids Alive Romania is committed to providing at-risk children with long-term care that meets their physical, emotional and spiritual needs – to see each child grow up in a loving home to become an independent, responsible, well-trained citizen able to serve their own country and be a role model in Romanian society.
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Support House of Hope Children's Home
House of Hope Children's Home
The vision for the Romania Children’s Home came from a Romanian woman, Camelia Cismaru, who witnessed the extreme neglect and abandonment of Romanian orphans in loveless state institutions. Camelia had a burden from God to help children in her country by removing babies or young children from government orphanages and giving them long-term care in a family environment. For the first three years, Camelia’s family started the House of Hope by opening their home to four babies. Since then a larger house has been built, which is now home to ten children and provides a family-style setting where house parents live with the children 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the children are involved in all aspects of a family-type home.
Support Denisa Care Center
Denisa Care Center
In 2007 Kids Alive expanded our ministry in Romania by opening the Denisa Day Care Center for poor, illiterate and impoverished children in the village of Dobrun. The Center is impacting the lives of approximately sixty children, who spend four hours every day with Kids Alive. We help them get ready for school and provide them with clothing, school supplies, a nutritious meal, a library, and teachers who help with their homework every day. This is vital because most parents have had no education and so are not able to help their children learn. By touching these children’s lives we help them to develop physically, educationally and spiritually, as well as impacting their families, the community, and the Romanian educational system in our area. Additionally, employment opportunities at the Center provide jobs for a number of people in the community.
Support Camelia Cismaru
Camelia Cismaru
Camelia Cismaru, Kids Alive field director in Romania, was born in the small town of Dobrun, Romania, where the House of Hope Children’s Home is located. Cami’s parents and entire family were involved in founding the Children’s Home and Denisa Care Center, even using their house as a temporary home for babies rescued from government orphanages until the House of Hope Children’s Home was built.
Prior to coming to Kids Alive International in September 1998, Cami was a substitute teacher of the Romanian language and literature, and a Romanian language teacher and translator for English-speaking missionaries. In 2007 she obtained her Bachelor Degree in Social Work at the University of Sociology and Social Assistance in Bucharest.
“There is not more rewarding work in this world than working with children. God calls us to be like little children if we want to enter the Kingdom of God. I believe that by being close to the children, we can grow closer to God; by loving the children, we love God; and by teaching the children, we teach ourselves to be like them.” Camelia Cismaru
