Norwegian Bible Society raises
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| Alina, 17 years old, ran away from home at the age of 10 after her father tried to sell her and spent some time living in an empty oil container before receiving support and a Bible from a day centre for homeless children. After being baptised, she sent the Bible to her mother in prison who now plans to be baptised. Bucharest, Romania. Photo: IBSR (ROM03DJ-1) |
BUCHAREST, Romania — Ionela (19) and 17-year-old Alina are just two of the homeless children and young people to whom the Interconfessional Bible Society in Romania (IBSR) is seeking to offer hope and comfort. This work is being supported by the Norwegian Bible Society, which has issued a leaflet to potential donors in which Alina’s story is told and general information given about Bible work in Romania.
One of the legacies of the Ceauçescu regime is that Romania still has large numbers of children and young people living on its streets (see Special Report SR 27/6). Some of them, like Ionela, survive for many years on the streets before receiving any support from a facility such as a day centre.
Outdoor home
When Ionela came to a day centre for homeless children in Bucharest in early 2002, she had been living on the streets for six years. She had been sent out on to the streets to beg by her mother, but soon decided not to return home, preferring to make a small area near a market her outdoor home.
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| Ionela came to a day centre for homeless children in Bucharest after spending six years living on the streets. There she found new meaning in life through the Bible and has now re-established contact with her mother, who had sent her out on the streets to beg, and with the rest of her family. Bucharest, Romania. Photo: IBSR (ROM03DJ-2) |
She had little contact with religion until she started attending the day centre, where she began to read the Bible, initially an illustrated version. She gradually found “new meaning in life” and has even re-established contact with her family. As she prepares for the challenge of the next stage in her life, moving into independent accommodation with others of her own age, she finds consolation and guidance in God’s Word.
Oil container
Alina, too, feels that she started a new life when she came to a day centre in a town 50 kms (32 miles) outside Bucharest in 1996. She had run away from home at the age of 10 after her father had attempted to sell her, and had spent some time living in an empty oil container.
She was baptised a few years later after receiving a Bible and learning that “God’s love also includes me!” The impact of this Bible has gone further than just Alina, who sent it to her mother in prison. Her mother is now planning to be baptised too. She says, “It is wonderful that my Bible could also help my mother. But I miss my Bible.”
Commitment
The IBSR has made a commitment to supplying the Scriptures to children and young people like Ionela and Alina as part of its wider program of working with specific population groups, including prisoners and the elderly. The support of “Bible friends in Norway” is vital to this work. As Sverre Smaadahl, who headed the Norwegian Bible Society’s work in Eastern Europe between 1967 and 1975, emphasises in the leaflet:
“There are grandmothers and children and grandchildren who want Children’s Bibles and books. We must help them with this.” (WR 375/39 - 3.03)