The tragedy of Romania’s street children

In the 1980s communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu wanted to double Romania’s population and encouraged women to give birth to as many children as possible. Mothers of four or more children were fêted as heroic mothers. Many families were not able to support their children, however, so the government built hundreds of ‘children’s homes’ to house them. In these homes, children were taught that Mr Ceausescu was their father and his wife, Elena, their mother.

n A six-year-old homeless boy

It was only when the Ceausescu regime fell in 1989 that the horrors of these homes were revealed to the world: they were virtual concentration camps with about 100,000 starving, filthy, unattended children, many of them chained to their beds, some dying of AIDS. Many children had managed to escape these camps, preferring life on the streets, becoming the first street children of modern Romania.

Since the fall of communism, conditions in the orphanages have improved immensely, thanks to foreign aid, but more still needs to be done. The children living on the streets today are usually runaways fleeing social difficulties at home, often caused by alcoholism – one of the results of Romania’s severe economic crisis. The communist era, which deprived citizens of any political influence whatsoever, thereby destroyed people’s sense of responsibility. This legacy is still apparent in Romania today, where neither politicians nor government authorities will take responsibility for caring for street children. The Christian community, however, recognised its responsibility, setting up an organisation named AIDRom. In 1994, AIDRom opened the Sfanta Macrina Drop-in Centre for Street Children. (SR 27/6 - 11.01) [PHOTOS]