I am really glad that I was able to get up so easily when my alarm went off this morning. When I started up the water for my first shower, I was sprayed in the face with cold water and the shower curtain fell on top of me. There’s no showerhead, just a hand held sprayer. Later in the morning, we heard a few more loud crashes. One of my roommates had slipped and fallen, because our tub is so slippery.
After our adventurous morning, we walked a few blocks to the other girls’ apartment and met with Mario to go over some important business and to pay our rent. We showed up with lei, but are apparently supposed to pay our rent in euro for some reason. We couldn’t run to the bank and exchange our money, because today is Worker’s Day and all government institutions are closed. They will be closed tomorrow as well. Mario said that Worker’s Day is a communist holiday that the current government has continued to implement.
I got to meet Mario’s 4 year-old daughter. Her name is Joanna, but in Romanian, it is pronounced yoo-wahn-ah. She can speak English fairly well, but won’t respond unless you talk in Romanian. We were all a little intimidated to try, so we didn’t say much to her. She kept telling her mom, “I am frustrated. I don’t want to speak English.” When we all walked over to a pet shop with Mario to get flea spray, a few of us waited outside with Joanna since we couldn’t all fit in the store. I finally got the guts to speak to her, but couldn’t think of what I could say. Finally, I just told her she had a beautiful name. She opened up a little and started picking up piles of gravel and putting it in our hands. We made a game of it, and she’d laugh when we’d drop it. I realized that you really don’t have to speak much to be able to interact with the people here. As long as you just try your best, they’ll usually open up to you.
It rained a bunch today, so it was a good motivator to stay inside and do some spring-cleaning. There’s a lot of stuff that has accumulated from previous groups of interns, and so we sorted through everything and decided to throw a lot of it out. We bagged up tons of clothes and shoes, and hauled a spare mattress that was infested with fleas to the dumpster in the back of the building. Besides trash, we sat everything in front of the dumpsters rather than putting it inside. Just as we expected, everything had been taken within a short while. People out here will make use of just about anything that is thrown out. We always see people going through the dumpsters. After hauling the first load, we saw a man who was waiting close by, so he could have first dibs on everything. He was already pulling stuff out before we were very far away.
We went back to the grocery store at the Hala for a few more things. It’s so close that we’ll probably go at least every couple of days. We had a much easier time today. We noticed that some items are discounted if you have a grocery card, so we asked a cashier for one. It took us a little while for us to try and explain what we wanted and she laughed at us, but we finally got one.
Tonight, we watched Miss Congeniality while we ate dinner. We don’t have a T.V. but we brought some DVDs to watch on a laptop. I won’t have a hard time adjusting to having no television, because I don’t watch it very often back home anyway. I thought for sure that I would have a hard time leaving my cell phone, but I’m already forgetting all about it.
May 5, 2008
We Finally Made It!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008It is 11:00 PM in Iasi, Romania. I am sitting here looking out the window in sheer disbelief that I am finally here! A year and a half of preparation and this is finally it. I was on the phone with mom a short while ago, sorting out a problem with my debit card. While I am getting ready for bed, she is just beginning the most hectic part of her afternoon. There is a nine hour time difference. I should sleep fine considering the three exhausting flights it took to get here.
We actually left yesterday, and just got in this afternoon. I had a difficult time sleeping on the plane, because it never got completely dark before the sun started rising again and I was a little anxious. I felt completely fine until I arrived at the airport and began to feel pretty nervous. I just had no idea what to expect.
The first flight from Denver to Chicago was nice and roomy. They assigned me one of the premium seats with extra leg room even though I hadn’t paid extra for it when I checked in. I talked a lot with the elderly couple next to me. They were so thrilled about what I was coming to do and promised that if I ever wrote a book about it, they would read it. The woman said just to make sure to include my picture on the back, so she can recognize me.
Once I made it to the Chicago airport, I had a difficult time finding my gate, because the airport is so huge! After walking across the entire airport, I found I needed to get on a tram that would take me to another building totally separate from the main airport. While I was still wandering through the main terminal, I saw a Hispanic woman fighting tears and looking around in confusion. She approached me and I couldn’t understand her, but she pointed to the gate number on her ticket and mumbled something about her son. I hardly know any Spanish, but I was able to walk her to her gate and make a little conversation on the way. I think she felt a little better when I pointed to my ticket and told her I was struggling myself. She was a sweet lady and seemed very grateful for my help. Soon after, I met up with the eight other interns at our gate, and traveled together the remainder of the way.
The second flight from Chicago to Vienna took about ten hours. We flew on Austrian Air and everything was in German, which we found quite amusing. There were about 80 other BYU students on our same flight who were on their way to Jerusalem for a semester. The food was surprisingly pretty good. We ate dinner and breakfast, and were offered lots of drinks and cigars in between. I was thankful for so many non-smokers on the flight. To pass the time, I watched a couple of free movies, talked a bit with a man next to me from Israel, and spent a lot of time staring out the window even though it was almost impossible to see anything with the cloud-cover. There was something so exciting about seeing even the tiniest patches of green here and there and just knowing that I was flying over entirely new places. Once we began descending, I could finally see clearly the gorgeous, green hills of Austria. I already can’t wait to go back and stay a few days at the end of my trip.
We finally made it to Iasi, exhausted and slightly nauseous from yet another landing. It was raining a little when we got in. Like Vienna, everything is so green here! The airport is tiny. There is only one landing strip and besides about four airport personnel, the nine of us were the only ones there. We gathered up our luggage and discovered that two girls were missing some of theirs, but the airport manager seemed very considerate and provided them with some overnight kits until the luggage arrives. We finally got to meet Marionella (Mario), a local who speaks fluent English and who has agreed to help us with whatever we need during the next four months. She already had taxis waiting for us outside. As we loaded everything into the little compact cabs, the drivers were laughing at the size of our luggage. It took three cabs to fit all of our things. Mary, Whitney, and I had a very friendly driver and it was fun trying to put our Romanian to use for the very first time. We struggled quite a bit, but found roundabout ways to tell him what we wanted to say. We passed a big lake and I was curious to know the word for it. All I managed to ask was, “How do you say big water?” He knew what I meant and told me how to say it. When he turned on the radio, we were all shocked to hear a popular American song. Many stations here play music by American artists, even though most people do not speak English. I guess there just aren’t too many popular Romanian artists out there, so they have to borrow music from elsewhere.
I live at Strada A. Panu Numerul 21, Blocul 7, Etaj 6, Apartamentul 29. Everyone in the city lives in a high-rise apartment building called a bloc. My bloc is called “Scala” for short. The floor at ground level is used for small businesses. We have a bank right under us. My apartment is on the sixth floor, but there are far more than six staircases to get up to it. Lucky for us, we have an “elevator” which is really just a small metal door in the wall that opens to two more wooden saloon-like doors; all having to be opened and closed by hand. Only about four people can fit inside at a time, and not comfortably. We learned that lesson right away when the four of us crammed inside and found we couldn’t even shut the doors unless we stood literally shoulder to shoulder. Personal space is a luxury I will soon miss.
Every hallway and stairwell in every apartment bloc has it’s own smell, although the majority contain some variation of a sewage or outhouse odor. Ours smells like a giant sewage pipe while the other girls’ apartment smells just like Casa Bonita to me. I think that its due to all the millions of plants they have in their stairwell.
I can easily say that I will come out of this experience being so much more grateful for the living conditions in the U.S. The tap water comes out brown every once in a while, one of our toilets doesn’t flush at all, and the other can’t flush any paper. The washing machine water is also brown and empties into our bath, and there are flea and roach problems. Luckily, we have only come across two roaches so far and they sell very potent flea spray here. There are four of us in our apartment and we each share a bed with one other person, although Mary and I lost the coin toss and got the couch pullout rather than the bed. The other apartment has five girls, who share two or three to a bed, so I can’t complain. Everything in the kitchen is miniature sized. We have a tiny stove that has to be lit with a match, and is difficult to regulate the temperature. It’s gets extremely hot and it’s hard to avoid burning food. The counters are not connected to the walls, and the drawers in them are broken and falling apart. We have no kitchen table or chairs, so we eat in the living room. The fridge is now working fine, but it took us a little while to figure out how to make it cold.
The one (and only) element of the apartment that I absolutely love is our balcony that overlooks the city. It’s the length of the whole apartment. It’s fun to watch the people coming and going below and there are tons of pigeons that come and perch on it. We have a clothesline that stretches across it to hang out our clothes and towels since there are no dryers. Just below our balcony is a little rooftop with a small shed on top of it. We frequently hear an elderly man clinking and hammering in there.
We went to the Hola Centrala earlier, which is an old mall with a small grocery store inside. We felt a bit lost and did a lot of wandering before we found foods we are familiar with. Many things are similar to what we have in the U.S., but it’s hard to tell what things are by the packaging. We were hungry and exhausted, so we didn’t have a lot of patience. I think the only thing that kept us sane was the American music playing in the background that helped us to feel more at ease. They played songs by Nickelback, Norah Jones, Fergie, and Chris Brown. When we were finally done, we argued over who would pay at the register first, since none of us had ever paid with Romanian lei before. Once we figured out how it was done, it was very easy though. On our way out, with our hands full of groceries, we experienced our first pickpocket attempt. A man passing us on our way out felt Whitney’s back pocket. Luckily she didn’t have anything in there. We’ve been keeping all our cash in our bras and it seems to work very nicely.
After going to our apartment to finish unpacking, we went to get some dinner at the Moldova Mall, which is a bigger and much newer mall. It’s still small compared to ones in the U.S., but just about as nice. We ordered Schworma, which is actually not all that bad. It’s basically a wrap filled with chicken, sauer krout, pickles, whole French fries, and some other things. It took them about thirty minutes to make our food, so we had to sit in the food court and wait. We were all talking and didn’t notice that Mary had dosed off until a mall security guard came over and started yelling at her to wake up. He was speaking so quickly and we told him we couldn’t understand, but he didn’t seem to care. He finally left, but kept close watch on us from a distance. After that we helped each other to stay awake, although it was hard. We aren’t used to the huge time difference, and our bodies are trying to sleep against our will. At least now we know not to fall asleep in public places.
February 17, 2008
My Research
In Romania, I will be conducting research to study the effects that institutional care has on young children and their development. I will be comparing quality of care between an orphanage and a small, children's group home which offers more of a home-type atmosphere. Here is my research paper:
Abstract
Environment has been shown to play a strong, contributing role in the development of young children. The quality of the environment can greatly benefit or hinder cognitive and social learning processes. For institutionalized children, many negative effects have been shown to take influence over this process, due to the lack of nurturing qualities most commonly attributed to the home. Studies show that among the factors that determine the overall success of child development within childcare, quality of care-type has been shown to be most significant.
Introduction
The educator and communications theorist, Marshall McLuhan stated, “Environments are not just containers, but are processes that change the content entirely.” Numerous studies have been done that show a strong positive correlation between the environment in which one is surrounded and the influences on the individual. This is markedly true for young children, whose developmental tracks are exceptionally fluid, and whose surroundings largely govern their learning processes. Not only is environment fundamental, but particularly that of the home and family. No other environment shows a greater magnitude of effects, whether positive or negative, than the incalculable influence of the home environment and the inexchangeable parental bond. With this being said, children under institutional care face some of the biggest challenges. Not only have they come from difficult circumstances that brought them to the state, but they also face additional challenges that exist within the institutional setting. The challenge then, is for institutions to come up with meaningful methods that will rear infants and toddlers in settings of security, consistency, and learning opportunities. It is important to recognize that while child care amenities have the ability to facilitate children in a positive manner, it is difficult to establish characteristics as influential as those provided by the home environment. In the past two decades, one of the most consistent findings to emerge in child development research is the link between quality of care and a child’s developmental progress. Little attention, however, has been directed toward quality of care within different types of child care settings (NICHD,1998). In order to fill in this gap, different types of care should be analyzed to determine the differences, if any, that exist in environmental settings and how each contributes to a child’s cognitive and social growth.
Literature Review
Vast amounts of studies and research have been conducted to evaluate cognitive and social development in institutionalized children. In sync with the afore mentioned link between higher quality care and improvement in development, the National Institute Of Child Health And Human Development (NICHD) performed a longitudinal study in 2003 to determine the strength of this correlation. More than 1,000 children from various care centers were followed from birth to 4 ½ yrs of age, and by means of interviews and observations, cognitive skills and social behaviors were assessed for each child. Findings showed that there was indeed a strong correlation between child-care quality and children’s linguistic, cognitive, and social functioning. Those in child-care homes experienced significantly lower levels of behavioral problems and a higher level of social competence than children at a center.
In another study conducted by Fyvie and Ager (1997), 119 institutionalized orphans in Iasi, Romania between the ages of 16 and 24 were surveyed. Each orphan came from one of three groups; those raised in a state-run institution, non-state orphans attending a center for learning disabilities, and non-state orphans attending a mainstream school. The survey used in the study was split up into two parts, questioning these young adults about family-related variables and their academic achievement. After conducting the survey, Fyvie and Ager made two major conclusions. First, they emphasized the importance of cultivating “family links” while children are growing up in an institution and the associated feelings of security. Second, the survey showed that the type of institutional care received contributed immensely to each individual’s academic standing and overall success. It was hypothesized that the children who grew up in the state orphanages were at a much greater disadvantage than those who had attended either a center for the handicapped or a public school.
One method developed and practiced by the Pikler Institute in Budapest (2003), greatly contributed to the utilizing of methods to improve the development of children living within an institution setting. By placing high concentration on the roles of the caregiver and by simulating home-type qualities, they were able to render higher-levels of development as they eliminated many institutional characteristics. Nurses at the institution focused on having close, one-on-one interactions with individual children and bathed them in rich verbal exchange. Caregivers would always ask children for permission before performing tasks, so that “nothing was ever done in silence”. In addition, nurses offered consistency and predictability through highly structured schedules to give children higher feelings of security. During playtime, emphasis was placed on learning rather than teaching, and children were encouraged to develop skills naturally and in their own time. In allowing kids to explore without adult intervention, they developed “faith in their own skills” and independence. Finally, while nurses worked to build bonds with the children, they maintained enough distance so that when the time arrived for separation, it wouldn’t devastate child or caretaker. The outcomes of the Pikler methods were remarkable. Researchers studied 30 children who had spent their years of infancy in the Pikler Institute and found that none of the children showed any signs of institutionalization, emotional disturbance, or impaired development.
Not only have findings regarding the quality of child-care types been significant towards understanding child development in institutions, but also the numbers of children within a facility. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey Of Youth (NLSY), Blau (1999) discovered a positive correlation between child development outcomes and characteristics of low ratios between adults and children. The sample consisted of 12, 652 individuals between the ages of 14 and 21. Subjects were assessed using standard development tests at the age of 4 or 5, and then reassessed every two years. Variables included in the analysis were staff:child ratios, group sizes, and level of staff training. Training was classified by whether or not formal training or schooling had been received in childhood or special education. The outcome of the tests revealed that children scored better on the tests whose childcare experience was characterized by low ratios and more highly trained staff. They also found that these measures had lesser impact on children in their first three years of life, and increased significantly at 3 to 6 years. From this study, researchers were able to draw the conclusion that the factors of group size, staff:child ratio, and training render children, especially those between 3 and 6, in higher developmental success.
Methodology
For a four-month duration, the environmental settings surrounding two distinct, non-maternal state facilities in Iasi, Romania were analyzed. Dissimilarities between a children’s placement center and a small group home were observed on a regular basis to determine the effects of a standard institutional setting versus a more home-like atmosphere. The method for analysis used was observational study and no factors within each setting were simulated or altered. Child-care measures were based solely off of the following variables: type of child-care, quality of care within the facility, and the staff to child ratio and interactive group sizes. The two samples of children observed in the study came from a variety of family circumstances and were of various ages, although the majority was made up of infants and toddlers. The samples used were significant to the qualitative research, because the majority were at the age where environment is critical to their developmental processes.
Type Of Care-
For this observational study, the two types of care-giving arrangements were simply classified as either center or group home.
Quality of Child Care-
Assessment of quality of care was obtained through observation of the fulfillment of care-giving roles and qualifications of the staff. During the observational intervals at each location, fulfillment of care-giving roles was determined by a few different factors. Notes were taken on the interactions between caregivers and children, including responses to behavior, amount of one-on-one communication, and consistency in methods. The verification of staff qualifications was based on interviews with full-time staff members to find what amount of schooling, if any, was completed beforehand and what other child care experience they had.
Staff:Child Ratio-
The quantitative ratio of staff members to children was measured by taking the total number of staff supposed to be working at any given time versus the number of children enrolled in the facility. In addition to this measurement, group sizes for activities during playtime, feeding, etc. were noted to determine how much close interaction was offered to each child.
Abstract
Environment has been shown to play a strong, contributing role in the development of young children. The quality of the environment can greatly benefit or hinder cognitive and social learning processes. For institutionalized children, many negative effects have been shown to take influence over this process, due to the lack of nurturing qualities most commonly attributed to the home. Studies show that among the factors that determine the overall success of child development within childcare, quality of care-type has been shown to be most significant.
Introduction
The educator and communications theorist, Marshall McLuhan stated, “Environments are not just containers, but are processes that change the content entirely.” Numerous studies have been done that show a strong positive correlation between the environment in which one is surrounded and the influences on the individual. This is markedly true for young children, whose developmental tracks are exceptionally fluid, and whose surroundings largely govern their learning processes. Not only is environment fundamental, but particularly that of the home and family. No other environment shows a greater magnitude of effects, whether positive or negative, than the incalculable influence of the home environment and the inexchangeable parental bond. With this being said, children under institutional care face some of the biggest challenges. Not only have they come from difficult circumstances that brought them to the state, but they also face additional challenges that exist within the institutional setting. The challenge then, is for institutions to come up with meaningful methods that will rear infants and toddlers in settings of security, consistency, and learning opportunities. It is important to recognize that while child care amenities have the ability to facilitate children in a positive manner, it is difficult to establish characteristics as influential as those provided by the home environment. In the past two decades, one of the most consistent findings to emerge in child development research is the link between quality of care and a child’s developmental progress. Little attention, however, has been directed toward quality of care within different types of child care settings (NICHD,1998). In order to fill in this gap, different types of care should be analyzed to determine the differences, if any, that exist in environmental settings and how each contributes to a child’s cognitive and social growth.
Literature Review
Vast amounts of studies and research have been conducted to evaluate cognitive and social development in institutionalized children. In sync with the afore mentioned link between higher quality care and improvement in development, the National Institute Of Child Health And Human Development (NICHD) performed a longitudinal study in 2003 to determine the strength of this correlation. More than 1,000 children from various care centers were followed from birth to 4 ½ yrs of age, and by means of interviews and observations, cognitive skills and social behaviors were assessed for each child. Findings showed that there was indeed a strong correlation between child-care quality and children’s linguistic, cognitive, and social functioning. Those in child-care homes experienced significantly lower levels of behavioral problems and a higher level of social competence than children at a center.
In another study conducted by Fyvie and Ager (1997), 119 institutionalized orphans in Iasi, Romania between the ages of 16 and 24 were surveyed. Each orphan came from one of three groups; those raised in a state-run institution, non-state orphans attending a center for learning disabilities, and non-state orphans attending a mainstream school. The survey used in the study was split up into two parts, questioning these young adults about family-related variables and their academic achievement. After conducting the survey, Fyvie and Ager made two major conclusions. First, they emphasized the importance of cultivating “family links” while children are growing up in an institution and the associated feelings of security. Second, the survey showed that the type of institutional care received contributed immensely to each individual’s academic standing and overall success. It was hypothesized that the children who grew up in the state orphanages were at a much greater disadvantage than those who had attended either a center for the handicapped or a public school.
One method developed and practiced by the Pikler Institute in Budapest (2003), greatly contributed to the utilizing of methods to improve the development of children living within an institution setting. By placing high concentration on the roles of the caregiver and by simulating home-type qualities, they were able to render higher-levels of development as they eliminated many institutional characteristics. Nurses at the institution focused on having close, one-on-one interactions with individual children and bathed them in rich verbal exchange. Caregivers would always ask children for permission before performing tasks, so that “nothing was ever done in silence”. In addition, nurses offered consistency and predictability through highly structured schedules to give children higher feelings of security. During playtime, emphasis was placed on learning rather than teaching, and children were encouraged to develop skills naturally and in their own time. In allowing kids to explore without adult intervention, they developed “faith in their own skills” and independence. Finally, while nurses worked to build bonds with the children, they maintained enough distance so that when the time arrived for separation, it wouldn’t devastate child or caretaker. The outcomes of the Pikler methods were remarkable. Researchers studied 30 children who had spent their years of infancy in the Pikler Institute and found that none of the children showed any signs of institutionalization, emotional disturbance, or impaired development.
Not only have findings regarding the quality of child-care types been significant towards understanding child development in institutions, but also the numbers of children within a facility. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey Of Youth (NLSY), Blau (1999) discovered a positive correlation between child development outcomes and characteristics of low ratios between adults and children. The sample consisted of 12, 652 individuals between the ages of 14 and 21. Subjects were assessed using standard development tests at the age of 4 or 5, and then reassessed every two years. Variables included in the analysis were staff:child ratios, group sizes, and level of staff training. Training was classified by whether or not formal training or schooling had been received in childhood or special education. The outcome of the tests revealed that children scored better on the tests whose childcare experience was characterized by low ratios and more highly trained staff. They also found that these measures had lesser impact on children in their first three years of life, and increased significantly at 3 to 6 years. From this study, researchers were able to draw the conclusion that the factors of group size, staff:child ratio, and training render children, especially those between 3 and 6, in higher developmental success.
Methodology
For a four-month duration, the environmental settings surrounding two distinct, non-maternal state facilities in Iasi, Romania were analyzed. Dissimilarities between a children’s placement center and a small group home were observed on a regular basis to determine the effects of a standard institutional setting versus a more home-like atmosphere. The method for analysis used was observational study and no factors within each setting were simulated or altered. Child-care measures were based solely off of the following variables: type of child-care, quality of care within the facility, and the staff to child ratio and interactive group sizes. The two samples of children observed in the study came from a variety of family circumstances and were of various ages, although the majority was made up of infants and toddlers. The samples used were significant to the qualitative research, because the majority were at the age where environment is critical to their developmental processes.
Type Of Care-
For this observational study, the two types of care-giving arrangements were simply classified as either center or group home.
Quality of Child Care-
Assessment of quality of care was obtained through observation of the fulfillment of care-giving roles and qualifications of the staff. During the observational intervals at each location, fulfillment of care-giving roles was determined by a few different factors. Notes were taken on the interactions between caregivers and children, including responses to behavior, amount of one-on-one communication, and consistency in methods. The verification of staff qualifications was based on interviews with full-time staff members to find what amount of schooling, if any, was completed beforehand and what other child care experience they had.
Staff:Child Ratio-
The quantitative ratio of staff members to children was measured by taking the total number of staff supposed to be working at any given time versus the number of children enrolled in the facility. In addition to this measurement, group sizes for activities during playtime, feeding, etc. were noted to determine how much close interaction was offered to each child.
February 14, 2008
Why There Are So Many Orphans
One of the most outrageous policies that was put into place under Nicolae Ceausescu, was created in an attempt to double the entire poulation of Romania in just ten short years. In efforts to accomplish this, contraceptives and abortions were made illegal and all women were forced to have monthly examinations to ensure abortion attempts hadn't been made. After 1983, all women were expected to birth a minimum of five children. Failure to do so would result in being taxed infeasible amounts of money, making it even more difficult for families to survive off of their already meager incomes. Barren and unmarried women were also subjected to higher taxes. Women who were submissive to the policy were glorified by propaganda calling them "Heroine Mothers". Because families were so impoverished, many could not afford to support their children and had to give them up to state orphanages. Sadly, others simply abandoned them. By the time Ceausescu was executed in 1989, there were over 200,000 children under state care. With so many children and such a small number of caretakers within each orphanage (roughly 2 workers per 100 children), the children spent their most critical years of development laying in cribs with little or no human interaction. As a result, the majority developed severe physical and mental disorders from lack of stimulation, interaction, and nurturing. For some, the lack of being nurtured was enough to stop their bodies' growth entirely. This meant that even a decade later, a child could still appear and have the same mental capacity as an infant. In addition to the disorders, children fought malnutrition, disease from the unsanitary conditions, and mistreatment. Those that managed to learn to crawl were tied by the ankle to their cribs to keep them from climbing out.
Since 1989, conditions have improved, but change is still slow. There are about 50,000 children in orphanages and other facilities today. While this is only a fourth of the original number, there are still far too few resources to give adequate care to these children. In addition to those under state care, there are thousands more children living on the streets who have either run away from a facility or were released due to their age.
Since 1989, conditions have improved, but change is still slow. There are about 50,000 children in orphanages and other facilities today. While this is only a fourth of the original number, there are still far too few resources to give adequate care to these children. In addition to those under state care, there are thousands more children living on the streets who have either run away from a facility or were released due to their age.
February 8, 2008
About My Internship
I will be working with orphans in Romania, the majority being disabled and having severe developmental delays. The purpose of my work there is to assist the children in their physical, emotional, and social development through structured play, as well as tests performed to track their progression over a four month period. Test results and thorough notes about each child's behavior, symptoms, and progress will be kept and filed for the facility's future reference. I will be working one on one with about five children for the entire duration, to provide for them a secure attachment, but will also dedicate time and attention to numerous others. I will also be conducting my own developmental research, which I can integrate into the time spent with these children. I'll be volunteering out of the orphanage six hours a day, and a few additional hours each day with the orphans at a local hospital. The children in both places range in ages from a few months to about ten, but infants and toddlers make up the majority.
The internship is located in Iasi (pronounced "yawsh"), Romania, which is the second largest city, located on the northeastern border of Europe. Romanian is the spoken language. The people there are of many different nationalities, but the majority are Romanian and Gypsy. They are among the poorest of all people in Europe. The country is still struggling to recover from a corrupt government control under Nicolae Ceausescu and the damages of communism. Revival is slow, but Romania was finally able to join the European Union in January of 2007, and some positive changes are sure to come as a result.
(read more in "A Brief History: The Downfall Of Romania")
The internship is located in Iasi (pronounced "yawsh"), Romania, which is the second largest city, located on the northeastern border of Europe. Romanian is the spoken language. The people there are of many different nationalities, but the majority are Romanian and Gypsy. They are among the poorest of all people in Europe. The country is still struggling to recover from a corrupt government control under Nicolae Ceausescu and the damages of communism. Revival is slow, but Romania was finally able to join the European Union in January of 2007, and some positive changes are sure to come as a result.
(read more in "A Brief History: The Downfall Of Romania")
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