Case story – September 28, 2006          

 “The little girl with a doll’s face”

I met Sinen and her young parents on a cold day of February…

My mind and my soul will probably retain for a very long time those stirring images…

I thought I knew, or at least that I could imagine how poverty, misery and pain look like… But when I entered the house where little Sinen and her parents were living, I understood that life can be much more than miserable and ruthless.

The cold, the hunger, the lack of current water and electricity transformed this family’s existence in a continuous and unfair struggle. The night falls upon the house alleviating their pain through sleep and oblivion, only with the promise of a sweet dream, about a beautiful morning when the struggle will stop, the sun will rise and every day from that moment forward, will be a wonderful story… But the morning continues to be cruel; it ruins the beautiful dream and the struggle starts once again…

The two parents, much too younger and without any experience, have their moments of renunciation, of surrender, and only the little girl’s innocent eyes give them the strength to go on…

clothes, healthy food and what a child should never miss: toys, hurts the two parents more than anything.

It may seem unbelievable, but little Sinen’s fingers never caressed a toy…Her senses never enjoyed this beautiful gift of childhood…

This little girl with the face of doll never had a doll… Why?!

And yet, the child’s eyes, sometimes sad and other times gleaming playful, keep their innocence… If you look at them, your lips cannot help to whisper involuntarily the very same obsessive “Why?”… 

Without any support and overwhelmed with burdens, Sinen’s parents requested Holt Romania Foundation’s support. Since then, there have been some positive changes in their life; they became more optimistic and more motivated in their efforts to have a better future. The social worker offered the young family moral and financial support (food supplies, clothes and diapers) in order to help them surpass at least part of the difficulties. Moreover, Sinen received her first doll…

Social worker: Loredana TURICEANU

Case story – September 2006 

Childhood’s worries

 When you are ten years old, you are still a child. Psychologists, social workers, teachers, parents, adults, and statistics- all of them agree with this statement. When you are ten years old you live the most beautiful moments of your life.

At this age a child should be preoccupied with school, doing homework for the next day, dreaming at heroes from books, laughing and discussing with your favorite colleagues, choosing the colors for the clothes and the toys to play with.  

To be worried because you don’t have enough money for food and clothes, that there is no firewood for the cold season, that because of the poverty your mother and your grandmother fight all the time, that there is a permanent risk for your mother to be thrown out of the house, that your mother is thinking to abandon her new child in maternity, or that there is a risk even for you, to be abandoned...these kind of thoughts should never pass through a child’s mind when he is only ten years old. These are worries only for adult persons.

Iuliana is ten years old; she goes to school and she likes very much to learn new things. She has a lot of friends to play with; she laughs and discusses with them all kind of subjects.

Iuliana is a blonde and delicate girl and she has a smile which shows that, despite all the problems, she still enjoys her childhood. Iuliana advices her mother and teaches her how to behave with the grandmother in order to prevent a quarrel.

She goes shopping exactly to the places where she can find the best prices, and she worries for the family’s future and unity.

Iuliana lives with her mother, her two month old little sister and her grandmother. Iuliana’s mother works as a day labourer and her grandmother is a pensioner. The material and financial situation of the family is very difficult, and the permanent needs generate conflicts. Once it happened her grandmother to trough out of the house her daughter and her child. Because of this situation, Iuliana’s mother asked for help to Holt Organization. Using counseling and material support the social worker helped Iuliana to improve her situation. Now, the girl is together with the persons she loves the most- her mother, her sister and her grandmother. The relationship between her mother and her grandmother has taken a turn for the better lately.

Now, the girl can become concerned only with her childhood’s worries.

Social worker: Iuliana ZAGAN

Case story – September June 2006 

An uncertain future

  My name is Szilard and I am 6 months old. I live with my parents and siblings in one- roomed apartment which is rented from the City Hall. I have a twin brother and another two sisters and a brother.

               At first sight someone would tell we have a good life, but the reality is quite different. My mother is missing a lot from home. My siblings and I are missing her a lot. My father, sisters and brother know what is happening, but I can't understand because I'm too young to know. My mother has a very serious heart problem and therefore, my father must call very often an ambulance. Since my twin brother and I were born, my mother had two heart strokes. Despite her illness my mother is doing everything for our better being. She can't work and my father does occasionally works by the co-citizens. Sometimes my parents can't gather enough money to ensure us with the necessary daily food supplies.

               My father's identity card expired and he can't make himself a new one because we don't have a permanent address. Unfortunately, without an identity card he can't be legally employed. We are living every day with the fear that somebody, someday, would come and throw us out from this one- roomed apartment, because it may happen that my parents can't pay the rent. And this is happening because they have to choose between buying us something to eat and paying the rent, so sometimes they don't pay it.  

              I am happy to have parents who love their children very much and who are fighting every day for a place where they can sleep at night. Although my parents have so many problems they have managed to send my siblings to school.

             One day, a lady came to our little apartment. She said she is from a foundation and that she will help us. She heard about me and my family from those nice men which saved my mom's life. She talked a lot with my mother, I don't know about what because I am too small to be able to understand anything. After a while, the lady left and came back with food supplies, clothes and toys for us. My parents were very happy. Since this lady visited us, my mother isn't so sad anymore and she believes that we will manage to pass through the hard winter which is coming soon and that they will get through all the difficult situations.

            I am very scared that it will come a day when my mother will go away with the ambulance, and she won't come back anymore.

Social worker: Kamelia BORSA