the ASPect - American School of Paris

10/service special report
From the mouths
Dear ASP,
My name is Darius. I am 10 months old. I now live at the Alfred Rusescu Hospital
because my mommy couldn’t take care of me – she is pregnant again and already
has six other children living in our one bedroom apartment. I can’t hold my head up
straight, or even sit up. We don’t know why.
Most of my friends were born in hospital maternities around Bucharest and brought
here. Everybody has a different story: one of my friend’s mother is 17, some mothers
have problems with drugs or alcohol which causes them to leave their newborn kids at
hospitals. But most of the time we are born and then left at the hospital because our
mothers do not have enough money to take care of us.
Fortunately for us, we have the Fundatia Inocenti Child Life Program, which runs the
playroom we come to during the week. With the program we lead a more normal life:
we have a space to crawl, play and even start walking. We interact with other children,
and the program staff play with us and make us feel special. If we didn’t have this
program we would have to stay in our cribs all day long. We would never learn to crawl
that way.
My friends and I want to thank our new friends who came from ASP for a week to
play with and hold us. You guys really kept us busy. Boy did we need our naps after
playing with you! We hope you can come back next April. Most of us won’t be here
because we will be in foster care, but there will be other children. Who knows though,
the government has already cut back 25% of the money they pay foster families to take
care of us.
Multumesc, (thank you),
Darius
This Toussaint break 8 students from the Romania
Club and 2 chaperones worked in the playroom run
by Fundatia Inocenti at the Alfred Rusescu Hospital in
Bucharest, Romania. Students Dylan Begnaud, Emily
Bendix, Ines Duarte, Flor DeNoij, Brooke Holdenfield,
Oceane Langreney, Michelle Thissen and Misperi
Yigit along with chaperons Cathy McLaury and Jim
Denison helped in the playrooms and organized arts
and crafts activities for older children. The Romania
Club raises money to support the program through
bake sales, pizza sales, dodge ball tournaments, etc.
The club’s goal is to raise 3,200€ this year. With this
money the program buys diapers, baby formulas and
everything else needed for the babies, it also helps
cover the staff’s salary.)
The Aspect - November 2010