Romania

A rural community near Iasi in NE Romania

Last week I travelled to Romania with some colleagues for a meeting with Operations Directors from across the region. Romania is a fascinating but at times confronting place to visit.  The country became part of the European Union in 2007, and in some ways has modernised since the revolution and fall of communism in 1989.  Events at this time included the capture, rapid trial and subsequent execution of the final communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife.  After the fall of communism, images of thousands of children institutionalised under Ceaesescu's regime shocked the world and prompted a large scale effort to deinstitutionalise Romanian children.  Efforts in this work continue to this day. 

In many respects the country has made progress, but areas of deep poverty and challenges with social cohesion in communities remains.  This is due to a range of factors, including limited economic opportunities and a declining rural sector, and also the legacy of years under communism where community trust and civil society were deeply eroded or non-existent.  The capital Bucharest is relatively well developed, but in some other parts of the country it's hard to believe you are actually in Europe.  We travelled to north-east, near the city of Iasi.  This region borders Moldova and is one of the poorest regions of Europe.  World Vision has several long term development projects in the area, focusing mainly on economic development, education and health/nutrition.  On the project visit we saw some examples of strong community/government partnering and the emergence of civil society, but in other places the visible effects of extreme poverty including malnutrition and hunger were apparent.  Under-development and 'stunting' in children is common in some communities, and the living situation for many families is very basic.  

It is confronting to be faced with hungry children in the heart of Europe.

A clip outlining some of the challenges for children in Romania can be viewed at:  http://meero.worldvision.org/frontline-focus/oneinfour.html

The pictures below show the People's Palace in Bucharest, otherwise known as 'Ceausescu's folly'.  He commissioned the construction of the enormous building, and it was actually completed after his death. It is said to be the second largest building on earth in terms of surface area (the largest is the Pentagon), and is easily visible as you fly into Bucharest.  Disturbing to consider that it was built at a time of chronic poverty across the country. At present only about 30% of the building is actually used to house the Romanian Parliament.

An old photo of the People's Palace in Bucharest, which
now houses the Romanian Parliament