After months of waiting for permission, I am finally working in the local orphanage! It’s been a challenging, but rewarding experience so far.
The orphanage is only a 10 minute walk from the house, so I enjoy walking to “work” in the mornings. I work in the “baby room” where the children are anywhere from 6 months to 6 years old. Because all healthy children are placed into foster homes, all the children in the orphanage are children with special needs. My job is to get all of the children out of their cribs during my shift which happens to coincide with their daily activity time. Each child has specific developmental goals they are working on and during our play time I help work on those goals. I must confess that having never worked with children with special needs, it was a bit challenging at first. I didn’t know how to hold the little deformed bodies and I hoped I wasn’t hurting them, I had to get used to the strange noises and behaviors of the autistic children, the lack of body control of others, etc. Most of what I’ve learned is that they just want to be loved…and I can do that! This realization was reinforced recently when I was watching a tribute to Rich Mullins, Christian songwriter and musician. In the tribute, his sister spoke of a phone call she received from Rich shortly after she had given birth to a child with a birth defect. The family was upset and she was angry with God wondering why this had happened to her. Rich, however, told her he was proud of her…proud that she was his sister. When she asked why, he explained that God only chooses special people to give children with special needs to because He knows they will love them in special ways. It really touched my heart because I realized how blessed I am to be here and to be given the opportunity to be used in this special way.
There are 7 children in the baby room at this time, but for several weeks we had additional children, healthy babies, while they were awaiting foster homes. Each of the seven children is unique…both in age and disability. George is 6 (almost 7) and is both blind and autistic. I’ve been warned by almost everyone there to be careful of him because he bites! Fortunately for me, I have never been bitten by him. He is verbal, but only with noises and grunts/growls. He doesn’t speak…actually none of the children I work with speak. He does LAUGH though and LOVES to be tickled. In fact, he has recently started mimicking the “tickle, tickle” sounds I make when I tickle him. It’s pretty cool. One of my favorite moments with George happened when I was hugging him and patting him on his back. He wrapped his arms around me, snuggled in and began patting ME on the back! It was so awesome! Adriana is 5 and is confined to her crib unless she is picked up. She is extremely rigid and can barely move on her own. I recently worked with the physical therapist to learn how to massage her skinny little limbs and manipulate her body. She doesn’t have much cognitive ability, but she does recognize people…and the most amazing thing about this little girl is that she is almost always smiling. I’m not talking a little grin either…her whole face lights up as her mouth opens in huge smiles over and over again. You can’t help but smile when you see her. Mia is 6 and autistic, but is the most mobile of the children…she can actually walk on her own and LOVES to get out of the baby room and go for walks down the hall. We even went outside the other day and it was a real treat for both of us. Although she can't speak, she does communicate and I know she likes me because every time I’m there she manages to maneuver herself to be sitting on my lap. She’s happiest in my lap and she loves hugs and tickles too. There are three babies…one is blind, one has severe hydrocephaly, and one just doesn’t like physical contact for some reason. The most severely disabled child is Cristi. He was born normal, but contracted meningitis and now he is trapped in a twisted, deformed little body. You can tell by the expression in his eyes that he would love to play or speak, but his body won’t let him. He does like to be held and talked to and he especially enjoys it when I sing to him. I guess the most amazing thing about all these children is how quickly I found myself falling in love with them and how much I enjoy seeing them and helping them develop to their full potential.
I am fortunate to be working with both the children’s protective services as well as the non-profit organization that oversees volunteers and numerous programs for the hospital and orphanage. I have been invited to attend their weekly staff meetings and am officially part of the team. In fact, they are beginning a restructuring process…new organizational chart, job descriptions, etc. and I have been asked to help with this endeavor. This is right up my alley as I spent considerable time assisting with department reorganizations while working at Albertsons. I am excited that my experience there can be used here as well. The staff of the non-profit organization extends to orphanages and hospitals across Romania and includes members from Bucharest as well as other cities throughout the country. The non-profit organization’s staff in Bistrita is comprised of a psychologist, social worker, physical therapists, and administrators in both the orphanage and hospital. They are a great team and all but one of them speaks English! Although the meetings are in Romanian, I have the benefit of translators and consequently communication has not been a problem. I am enjoying getting to know them and look forward to furthering my relationships with them.
I’ve had some amazing times at the orphanage so far. It’s interesting to think back at how nervous and apprehensive I was those first couple of days and how much more comfortable I am now that I am beginning to learn the ropes. I did have one really bad day the second week I was there. I had several of the kids out of their cribs…one of the babies was in a walker and he was happily exploring the room, another child was sitting in a special chair designed to help them change positions allowing them to sit up since they can’t do it on their own, and Mia was happily wandering around the room and playing with her toys. I also had a baby in my arms and things were going well despite the fact that all of the workers had left me alone in the room again. I’m not supposed to be left alone…there is supposed to be at least one attendant in the room with me at all times. Unfortunately, the ladies were using my volunteer time as an opportunity to take a break and enjoy a smoke outside. They were often gone for 30-45 minutes at a time and it was becoming a habit despite all the efforts by the office administrators to prevent it. On this particular day, one of the attendants apparently didn’t like that I had turned on the radio so she pulled the cord out of the wall before leaving on her break. That dangling cord happened to be just long enough for Mia to reach and when my back was turned she managed to grab the cord and pull the radio down on her head. I heard a loud crash and turned to see the radio and Mia on the floor. Mia was crying and rocking back and forth in a seated position. I just assumed the noise had scared her and focused my attention on the radio…I just knew it was broken beyond repair! To my surprise, the radio still worked and I thought a catastrophe had been avoided…until I saw the blood! It turns out that Mia pulled the radio down on her face and it hit just below her left eye causing a scrape which bled. I quickly called for help using my cell phone and began comforting her and putting the other children back into their cribs. Mia was alright…it turned out to be only a minor scratch, but it sure scared me! The good news is that Mia healed quickly with no behavioral side-effects and from that day forward I have always had at least one other worker in the room with me. Thankfully, I have not had any more days like that one!
My latest adventure has been assisting with the addition of a Special Olympics program. There are programs in other parts of Romania, but this summer will bring the first Special Olympic events for Bistrita. We have had our first meeting with a committee of parents last week and they are so excited. We’ve got our work cut out for us, but I’m confident we’ll have a great event!
My next step is to begin volunteering at the local hospital. I hope to start working there later this month.
