“Do not exploit the poor because they are poor…
For the Lord will take up their case
And will plunder those who plunder them.“
Proverbs 22:22-23
Dear friends,
This month I write to you from my parents' home in New Hampshire, surrounded by the serene beauty of the White Mountains. It has been very special to spend time with my whole immediate family including my older brother, Matt, and sister-in-law, Jenn, who both took time off from work to come up north and be with the family. It has also been a pleasure to see many of you who pray for me, support me and faithfully encourage me in the work the Lord has called me to in Romania.
The end of June will see me traveling to San Diego for a ten-day staff retreat with all American Word Made Flesh staff. This should be a special time of mutual encouragement and catalyst in building vision for the future of Word Made Flesh.
Though I am far away from Galati right now, my heart always remains close toRomania and her people. Last month I shared with you about the staff serving the poor in Galati. This month I'd like to share about Romania and some of the challenges we face as we live and serve in this country.
Thank you for your prayers and support. You are, as always, a blessing and encouragement to me.
With love,
Rachel
Word Made Flesh ministering in
Galati, Romania
(written by David Chronic)
As we enter together into the seventh year in this ministry, we want to update you with some information about the context in which we minister to Jesus amongst the poorest of the poor. Much of what follows are generalizations and debatable statistics. My hope is that the data will roughly sketch and broadly stroke a picture of this country that God loves and that needs to know His love.
The Economy
Economic indicators, such as the GDP, have shown positive growth since 2000. Positive economic indicators are like the Bucharest mall: they look nice, attract attention and sell western values. But the Bucharest mall, like the country's economic indicators, does not reflect the reality of life for most Romanians. The World Bank's poverty assessment of Romania stated that between 2000 and 2002 output grew by a cumulative 11.9 percent, but people below the 50th percentile, and in particular the poor, did not benefit from economic recovery as much as the non-poor did.
To give you an idea, consider the county in which we live. Galati (the county, not the city) has a population of 643,253 inhabitants, making it the fifth largest county per capita in the country. The population is approximately 60 percent urban and 40 percent rural. The population of Galati Municipal is 325,057 inhabitants. In Galati County, 33.6 per thousand people are unemployed; women suffer from a 16 percent unemployment rate. Long-term unemployment of 63 percent is significantly higher than the national average of 47 percent. Almost 20% of the city's employment comes from the steel factory, which was recently bought by an Indian firm. During the first year under new ownership, the factory has turned profitable (a positive economic indicator), but 15% of the employees were laid-off or forced to early retirement. The lay-offs continue and adversely affect the Galati community in the long-run.
The poverty is accentuated by Romania's self-perception within Europe. Romania ranks last in Europe as far as its citizens' purchasing power is concerned. The study also reveals that the inhabitants of the northern parts of Romania are by 86% poorer than the average E.U. citizen, given that the purchasing power index for that region ranges between 13.4 (northeast) and 15.1 (northwest). A survey from 2003 reported that spending for food and drink represented more than 50% of a Romanian family budget. Spending for heating and general utilities also has a high quota, between 16% and 24%. That leaves little income for renting or buying a home, medication and clothing. For a low income family it translates into living hand-to-mouth.
Corruption
Romania continues to be plagued with inordinately high levels of corruption. Romania ranked 77th among 102 countries on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index in 2001. (The higher the number, the more corrupt the country is perceived to be.) This, in turn, seems to be conducive to the existence of a number of criminal enterprises in the country. It is difficult for someone to be in business or politics without participating in corruption, which is endemic and systemic. Bribes, extortion, embezzlement and cover-ups are expected for the powerful and wealthy. This is destructive for the poor who are easily stolen from and who must give a larger percentage of their income for bribes.
Emigration
In Romania one may forget that the sun rises in the east because the whole country is facing west. The values and standards of western Europe and the United States are unreservedly adopted and yearned for. In 2000 the official report was 1.2 emigrants annually per 500 people. But that statistic does not include the thousands of illegal emigrants (estimated at over 21,000) who move to countries in western Europe and North America for better paying jobs and higher living standards. I heard an unofficial estimate of 20,000 Romanians in just one city: Rome, Italy. Many of those that are leaving Romania are the highly educated. I know a mechanical engineer who took a job in England as a babysitter. But Romania does not suffer only from the brain-drain; many of the youth can work illegally in the west at much lower wages than the nationals of the respective countries. The effect on Romania is a decreased labor force and a smaller tax base. The diminishing youth population also depicts a void in the next generation of national leaders.
Orphans
In 1990 the Romanian government reported that there were over 47,000 children in social care institutions, nurseries, orphanages or specialized units for children with disabilities. That number grew to over 52,000 in 1994. Since 1998, efforts have been made to find alternative forms of family type care and prevent institutionalization and abandonment. In 2002 the number of children institutions reportedly dropped to 43,000. In our city, Galati, there are still 800 children in institutional care. But the political push to move children out of the institutions has created other problems. Many of the foster caregivers see the child as a means of income. Many of the children are moved from one family to another. Many of the foster caregivers are not properly trained and supported. Plus, there are few who are willing to work with the older children. Some of the older orphans are now living on the streets or in poverty or being co-opted into prostitution and crime.
Street children
Though there are many nongovernmental organizations working to help children come off the streets and to prevent children from coming to the streets, the estimate of street children (6,000+) has not declined. As the orphanages are closed and poverty rises, children continue to come to live on the streets.
Sex trafficking
A drain is the correct image, as long as we are not talking about the trickle running off the gutter. Think more of an Olympic size swimming pool that maybe had a couple of leaks but once the plug was extracted, the vacuum force pulled everything down the drain. Vulnerable girls are being exported for sex at an unbelievable rate. Thousands of girls are being recruited and sold to pimps. We knew sex trafficking was a growing probl
em, but now we know the names and faces of the girls: Vivi, Ana Maria, Anca, Nela. It seems like each week we hear of another girl who has gone to “work” in Italy or Spain. Many go hoping to make enough money to send home and to make a better life. Others are tricked by pimps and sold and moved in what is a modern form of slavery and billion dollar industry. One study reported that each year over 6,000 children between the ages of 12 and 16 from eastern Europe are being sold into sex slavery in western Europe. The majority are girls, coming from Romania and neighboring Moldova. Unfortunately, the number of those trafficked for sex is growing and includes destinations like the Middle East, Turkey and Thailand.
Prostitution
Prostitution is not only an export for Romania. Save the Children reports that 5% of the homeless children in Romania are in prostitution. The main railway station in Bucharest is a main area for children in prostitution. Romanian police are increasingly arresting foreign pedophiles. Prevalent pornography and strip clubs feed this industry. Girls often line the highways and truck stops to service travelers and truckers. The Romanian government is considering legalizing prostitution so that they can regulate it; but one should keep in mind that prostitution is so rampant that legalizing it would increase tax revenue.
School drop-out rates
There has been an alarming decline in school enrollment rates in Romania since 1992. According to statistics published by the Romanian government, more than 400,000 children have abandoned school in the past seven years (published in 2002). Enrollment in secondary school (grades 5 to 8) dropped 20 percent in that period – with no corresponding decrease in population. Contrary to popular belief, many of these children are not “Drop-Outs.” They are forced out and expelled by the very nature of the school system. Though there is a myth that the state education system is free, there are significant hidden costs (textbooks, school supplies, uniforms, fees for security and supplementary materials) that make it difficult for low-income families to send their children to school. Studies suggest that economic pressure on families is one of the most significant factors in the decline in enrollment rates, and Roma (Gypsy) children are disproportionately affected by it.
A second reason for the dropping rate of enrollment is the structure of the state education system. Children begin school at age seven and during the first four years (grades 1-4) learn simple reading, writing, and arithmetic. The focus of the curriculum is on building skills rather than on acquiring knowledge, and few hours are devoted to science, geography, or history. At age 11 students move on to grade 5 where there is a sudden leap to an information-heavy curriculum with eight subjects taught by eight specialist teachers. The textbooks are dry, and full of definitions of new terms and phenomena. More importantly, the texts assume a high level of general knowledge that is not acquired in the previous grades, but at home: from parents, books, magazines, television, and other media. Students from low-income families rarely have this body of knowledge, and find themselves struggling to understand the new concepts presented. Teachers, who often have 35 students in their and spend only 50 minutes with them twice per week, can do little to narrow the gap. Many students are unable to keep up and drop out.
Under Romanian law, children who have been out of school for two years or more (Education Act 1995, article 21) are legally barred from reentry. In practice, most school directors enforce an older, three-year absence rule. Nonetheless, the number of children who no longer have access to education in Romania is staggering.
Abortion
Romania has the second highest abortion rate in the world! Of over 1 million pregnant women registered annually in Romania, 700,000 opt for abortion. That means that everyday three out of four Romanian children are killed in the womb. A Romanian woman goes through 3-4 abortions, while a Western one faces the situation less than once in her life, on average (AM Press). Abortion is an affordable means of birth control. In Galati an abortion costs about 30 USD. It is reported that hospitals have increased abortion prices to limit the number of interventions, but we should be aware that abortions are very profitable for the doctors that provide them. The abortion death rate doubled in the first half of last year (to 0.17/1000).
HIV/AIDS
According to Ministry of Health data, as of September 30, 2003, 4,591 persons in Romania (3,526 children and 1,065 adults) are currently living with AIDS, and another 5,825 (4,416 children and 1,409 adults) are HIV-positive but have not developed AIDS. Romania still has more pediatric AIDS cases than the rest of Europe combined, but the number has leveled off. The majority of children who carry the virus were infected in hospitals through blood transfusions or re-used needles. Most of the carriers of the disease receive the anti-retroviral medication (though they often struggle to buy medication for other illnesses they acquire.) Today in Romania the disease is being transmitted mainly through sex and drug use.
Medical Care
In the past few months we have seen lines of mostly elderly people in front of pharmacies. The lines start in the evening and continue to grow until the business hours begin the following day. Though these queues are full of sick people, they are so desperate that they wait overnight in order to receive government supplements for the medication that they need. One problem is that the high officials of the Ministry of Health fill their pockets by dipping into the state budget. Another problem is that the health budget is being cut in order to build military machinery to join NATO and to fight America's war on terrorism. One recent study indicates that 98.63% of the medical patients in Romania cannot afford to pay more than 35,000 ROL (a bit over 1 dollar) for medicines per month, which is approximately 15 USD per year. In Ireland, the average is 147 USD/year, in Britain – 207 USD/year, in Italy – 210 USD/year, in Germany – 232 USD/year, in U.S. – 593 USD/year. Moreover, Romania also stands out for the lowest share of the G.D.P. allocated to health care: 3.8%. Germany allocates 10.3% for this purpose, while Slovenia, an EU candidate, spends no less than 9.2% of the G.D.P. on health care. Romania's 3.8% can compare to Turkey's 4% or perhaps Bulgaria's 4.8%.
Poverty and the lack of medical care are reflected by the fact that the general mortality rate has been on a constantly upward trend for the past 13 years: 10.6/1000 in 1990, 11.4/1000 in 2000, 11.6/1000 in 2001 and 12.4/1000 in 2002.
Elderly
It is estimated that there are now more elderly on the streets of Bucharest than children. Some are senile. Others have lost their homes because they could not afford the maintenance expenses. Others were tricked into selling their homes and then robbed of the money. Romanian pensions increased by some 15 USD between 1996 and 2003 and will reach some 70 USD per month on the average this year. If this sum is divided by the average length of service before retirement, the result is that a Romanian pensioner gets about 2 USD worth of pension per month for each year of service.
Our Response
Though this information should be shocking, I am not sharing it so that we will gawk or gasp, but that we will intercede in the Spirit with groans too deep for words. The church in Romania is yet to speak out against sins like abortion, prostitution and sex trafficking. Until we name the sin, we will tolerate it in our midst. Please pray that God would give us His heart, that He would purify us, and that He would make us witnesses to the Light piercing the darkness. Pray that God would intervene on behalf
of the unborn children that cannot voice their own defense. Pray that God would break down the organized mafias that exploit the young children and women for profit just as He broke down Babel as it organized against heaven. Pray that Jesus would be present by His Spirit to the children that are sleeping on the cold, wet streets tonight. Pray that His Body would be a family for the orphans and would love those who have known nothing but abuse. Pray that God would bless Romania so that Romania could bless the nations. Pray that God would judge the corruption that so entrenches this society. Pray that He would touch and heal the sick, especially those with incurable diseases like AIDS. Pray that the Spirit would raise up a new generation of educated young people that stand up for justice and seek righteousness and surrender to the King of Kings. Pray that the Church would be filled with the values of the Kingdom and pray that She will faithfully co-labor in the harvest fields. Pray that we could hear the Father's Word and obediently respond. Pray that we could be used as He would use us.
We are grateful that we can stand together before the Father praying, “Your will be done in Romania as it is in heaven!”