Yesterday we started out by going to number six, the center for 'rompers' through 'schoolers', basically toddlers through grade school. We took out about 15 pre-school age kids to the park. The director at number six is a more than a little OCD or something, because she never lets the kids outside unless we come. The kids don't really play around or have freedom. The really just sit inside most days. So when we came with balls and ice cream and bubbles and a trampoline, they were VERY excited. First, we performed a skit that we prepared based off the book, Just as You Are by Max Lucado. We shortened it and modernized it to include a girl who wanted to be a dancer and a model. It ends with the king coming and adopting the little girl with no gifts but a big heart. It was a lot of fun and the kids paid attention very well and seemed interested. Introducing the children to this book was something the staff had wanted to do for sometime and I could tell why. It really resonated with them, even at this small age.
After this we went to Chitila, an all girls orphanage with a few special needs girls. We did the usual fun things like balloon games and we even learned "Jesus Loves Me" in Romanian, which the girls enjoyed very much. Fibia, the worship leader, was amazing, coming up with hand motions on the spot and teaching the words to all three verses.
The staff continues to amaze me. After spending three months with them and then coming back, the amount of love and devotion and hard work that they put in is absolutely incredible. They face so much discouragement day after day, year after year, and yet they still pour their hearts into these kids. They have them over to their house to cook dinner together and they talk with them about the hard things, even when their time and money are very precious and even when they have been burned in the past.
Today was a lot easier physically. We went to a day care center where we did the same skit again and did lots of carnival activities. When I think of Casa din Tei, its a place where the staff goes to have fun and be encouraged. These kids act like normal children. They see their parents every day and they aren't nearly as clingy and impossible to control as the kids at the other centers. I think they need to actually see that not all the kids in Romania are doomed.
As much as I would like to end on a good note, I got a bit of difficult news today from Ariana. Ariana was CTL's special needs specialist when I was an intern here. She eventually left to work in Great Britain out of frustration. I don't blame her for leaving at all. She was living in a 3 bedroom apartment with 5 other people, working to try to change a system that just wouldn't change. She was eventually just too tired and frustrated. She is back, visiting the children she worked with. She told me that David is back in the hospital because he is still having seizures. I haven't seen him yet but Ariana says that he is doing worse than last year. Please pray that he stays alive long enough for the Don Orione Center to get the papers they need to house more children. He needs more care than he gets. I am pretty sure that his seizures are caused by dehydration, something that could be easily fixed if someone would just take the time needed to give him liquids.