Romania Facts • Population: approximately 23 million • Between 1977 and 1981, Nicolae Ceausescu's economic policies impoverished Romanians. Romania became a police state. • These hardships culminated in his overthrow and execution by firing squad during the Romanian Revolution of 1989. • Ceausescu made birth control illegal. Thousands of newborn babies from poor families were abandoned in hospital wards. • International adoption helped alleviate this problem until 2001 when the practice was prohibited as a prerequisite to inclusion in the European Union.

Background: Romania

In the early 1990s, CNN carried the dramatic footage of children overflowing the orphanages in the former communist country of Romania. The world was gripped with compassion as the plight of these unwanted children was made public.

Over 15 years later, the same orphans who stared into the TV cameras are now in their late teens and being released from their state-run institutions to an uncertain future they are ill-prepared to face. They are vulnerable, unsupported and without direction. Approximately 80,000 Romanian orphans live in orphanages and in foster care, where minimal skill training or preparation is provided prior to releasing the youth into the community. There are many kinds or orphanages in Romania, including specialized facilities for children of convicts, children touched by tuberculosis, children with special needs, and infants who have been abandoned at birth.

Program Leaders Bob Fukumoto Canadian Program Leader bob.fukumoto@iteams.org Dina Nechita Romanian Program Leader canada@iteams.org Gary Sharpe, P.Eng. Director, International Programs gary.sharpe@iteams.org

International Teams' Involvement

God has given International Teams Canada a purpose in Romania: to be parents to the disinherited and to prepare them for the future.

Building Relationships - The Romania Orphanage Project is focused on helping orphans in the northwest region of Romania. Our goal is to build relationships within the orphan community, especially with the older youth who are now living outside the orphanage institutions. While mentoring young adult orphans, we are encouraging them to build relationships with younger orphans. This results in Romanian orphans helping Romanian orphans - our ultimate goal.

Camp Discovery - International Teams Canada organized "Camp Discovery", a 6-day summer mountain retreat for 40 institutionalized orphans who would otherwise have few opportunities to do things outside of the institution. The children were accompanied one-to-one by young adult orphan mentors. The focus is as much on developing the leadership skills of the adult orphans as it is on serving the needs of the children.

How Your Investment Will Build This Community • Cost to support one Romanian orphanage team leader: $50/month • Cost to send a Romanian orphan to Camp Discovery for 1 week: $150 • Cost to support a Romanian team who coordinate weekly orphanage programs: $150/month • Cost to support an annual dental clinic with follow up: $1000/month

Summer Dental Clinics - Also, 8-day summer dental clinics have been organized. Two Canadian dentists, a hygienist, and an assistant provide dental care for institutionalized orphans who would normally have no access to dental care except for emergencies.

Building Community - Visiting Canadian teams provide much needed support. Together we form a community, whose primary goal is to equip needy young people with a spiritual foundation, practical life skills and a heart to serve the country of Romania. The life-changing relationships that have been forming since 2001 are creating a community of healing and restoration for hearts that have seen abandonment and abuse.