Sat, 14 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0700

Hi again!

It's Saturday evening and I spent the day around town on my own. Toured the People's Palace or Palace of Parliament as it's also called. This ENORMOUS building (second largest in the world to the Pentagon) was built by Ceaucescu and there are many rumors about the building, including golden toilets which he had made for him and his wife and some secret tunnels. The tour didn't take you through all of the rooms (majority are not open to the public, hmmm wonder why?) but we did get to see many of the large halls which were very beautiful. Lots of marble, hand-crafted flooring of various wood, window coverings, and carpets. Apparently all of the materials are from Romania. The guide said that he built the building specifically for offices and never intended to live there. It's still not even finished. It was so ironic to think that this dictator erected this huge building by the sweat of his own people and he never even got to use it. I guess the huge halls can be rented for "conferences, banquets, or concerts" as the guide told us in each of the halls we saw. Oh yeah, I did get a shot of the view from the balcony that Michael Jackson looked out and said "Hello Budapest!"

Well, this week was tough I must admit...

We've continued with the program and continued working with the community kids (had a couple new ones added with very sweet parents who are so appreciative) and the younger kids from the center. After the honeymoon phase, a couple of the girls from the center got more aggressive this week. I had to physically restrain one of them during time out several times and it was about 100 degrees that day, so I was sweating like there was no tomorrow. I had forgotten how demanding working on behavior can be. But, after she got the idea that kicking or hitting meant time out, she stopped. I'm actually glad I have that story to share with the caregiver staff next week during the Behavior Management training Mioara has asked me to do. What I hope they will see is that there are other ways to handle behavior and help change it besides hitting or yelling. It will be good to share a "real-life" story of one of the kids they know who responded pretty quickly to the strategy I used and will be sharing with them.

On a more positive note, the "educator staff" (the 6 women that Lili and I work with during the programs) have remarked that they have been surprised that the kids from the Center are actually making quicker progress than the kids from the community. Now, this is of course because of many reasons: the kids from the community have very over-protective parents and we are all strangers to them (they let us know by crying for pretty much the entire 2 hours--joy!), the kids from the Center are starved for positive attention, we aren't asking too much of them, etc. BUT...it is answer to my own prayer that this would help open their hearts and minds to the potential that lies in each of the kids they care for!

The kids keep me going but the staff definitely are the bigger challenge for sure! I'm not losing hope that I might see some small changes before I go, but I/the kids desperately need your continued prayers for that. Overall, they have lots of excuses why they can't work with the kids more, they are constantly complaining about the long hours (mind you, only a total of about 4 of their 8 hour paid day are they doing actual hands-on work) and the "caregiver" staff don't do much with the kids beyond caring for basic needs, and even that is at an absolute minimal level. You can pray for wisdom and patience for me in my dealings with them. It's a real challenge. You can also pray specifically for Mioara, Lili, Ariana, and Roxana who are all wonderful ladies with big hearts who serve the kids tirelessly everyday. I think the real potential for change may be in the Christlike example they are setting for the others.

On Friday, Mioara asked me to document the program (which I've already begun doing) because she said the Child Protection Service rep. wants to give the staff each a certificate for completing the training. Also, he/she (can't remember which) is going to come to observe what we're doing this next week so that it can be replicated in other Centers! I couldn't be more pleased at that news because that was my deep desire for all of the efforts we've made. This means even more needy children will be given a chance.

I will keep you posted on how this next week turns out. I'm going to be doing lots of specific training this week on behavior, autism, some basic strategies for Occupational and Physical therapy. I'll be training the educator staff and the caregiver staff (they're going to get an overview of what we're doing with the 2 programs). Please pray that I will be able to answer their questions with wisdom and that they will begin to use some of the strategies.

Thank you so much for the faithful prayers. I know each day they are answered and have seen many examples of God's faithfulness, even in the small things.

Love,
Jo

Fri, 6 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0700

Hi everyone!

Before I begin, I must share with you that the lovely Bono is serenading me this very moment singing "With or without you". It must be destiny to sit here in this internet cafe after a week in a country where I'm barely able to buy myself a bottle of water in Romanian (Apa Plata: Plain water, as opposed to however you say Mineral water which is apparently what I said because it's what I ended up buying myself every time until today--yuk!) and listen to U2. Thank you Jesus for the small things in life!!

So, it's Friday about 6:00 pm and the end of a long week with some challenges and some rewards. In a nutshell (I hope) this is how things went...

Monday: Met all the kids at the Rehab center and started to plan for our program, which will involve 2 hours with 6 little darlings with autism from the community (seriously, they are precious and all about knee high), 2 hours with the younger kids from the Rehab center (all with pretty severe issues and virtually no communication) and 2 hours with the older kids from the Rehab center (same issues as the other Rehab group).

Tuesday & Wednesday: Created, wrote, printed, copied, laminated and velcro-ed (yes, it's a word in Special Education) about 1,000,000 picture symbol cards for the program we'll be using (PECS: Picture Exchange Communication System), more planning of the daily lessons and then some very brief staff training.

Thursday: Began the program with the kids from the community with Lili while the parents stayed and helped, and the staff observed too. It was a little chaotic having only 3 kids and about 15 adults. HELLO! During the afternoon, met with the director (Dr. Mioara Cazac), put the brakes on a little and planned some more detailed training for the staff and parents. Put together some documentation for the program and a system for tracking progress. This will be very important for us and it will help to give the parents some hope about their children. For the rehab kids, it will show the staff that they can make progress, however limited.

Friday: Met with parents, went over the program and some draft goals for all of the kids that we'll be implementing next week. Planned, wrote, and distributed our schedule (this concept does not seem to be typical Romanian practice--I guess my overachiever, semi-neurotic, task-oriented, American work ethic will come in handy!) Debriefed with Mioara and Lili and discussed the possibility of a disabilities training/conference for the community sometime in the future. It was extremely exciting to dream big!

Other things to report: I'm living in a spacious apartment in the city with 4 other interns and 1 more arriving today. I don't see them as much b/c they are working together in the camp for the other orphans next week, but 3 of us did manage to get 2 runs in during the evening at a beautiful shady park nearby. That was really great!

The weather has been a little on the hot side (as in somewhere in the high 90s F as opposed to C which I can not for the life of me interpret) up until yesterday. It cooled off yesterday and today which was a welcomed relief for me personally.

Been getting around on the subway and lots of walking, which I really enjoy. Yesterday and today went to and back from Rehab on my own which I felt was a worthy accomplishment! And, pretty much without a hitch. This weekend will be spending time with the other interns getting around the city a bit and relaxing a little. They will all be heading out for camp Sunday or Monday, so I'm on my own for a week. I do have a mobile phone here.

So far, it's been an emotional 5 days as these kids have really gotten into my heart and I've been so fulfilled being able to spend time with them but so heartbroken thinking I just can't do enough for them. But, I am really excited about the program we're going to start and the potential of it to impact the community in a really huge way. There is nothing like it in the area (or the country) and it will hopefully and prayerfully serve as a model for other centers. To help with that, I'd like to put together a very basic training manual outlining the steps we followed to get it going and include some of the documentation which I brought from Long Beach Unified and had translated in Romanian.

Thanks again for making it possible for me to be here for these 3 and 1/2 weeks. I am really grateful for all of the prayers because I desperately need them. But, know that you have helped to bring some much needed change in the life of many deserving children!

I will bookend this email with the words Bono has just shared (they've actually been playing a U2 Live CD this whole time!!!) "We are all created equal in God's eyes". Yes, he really just said that...seriously!

I must admit, those words are very appropriate when I think about why I am here.

Love,
Jo

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