Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared.
Numbers 14:17
God we pray for the children in Romania and elsewhere who, because they do not have papers, cannot attend school or access special services. Please give Mia’s Children the resources to educate them. Give them a deep assurance of their identity in you as they wait for the state to acknowledge them. Amen
This is Flory.
She is 17 years old and suffers from a severe hearing impairment.
Flory is an Olympiad competitor at chess, math and drawing. She took first place this year in Turkey while representing Romania at the Drawing Olympiad. She won the year before in Italy. Next year she’ll compete in Great Britain.
Flory drew the dog in this picture because she loves animals and considers dogs a blessed and faithful friend.
She needs an acoustic machine and a special battery every two weeks for her hearing aid. The kids love her and most of them communicate with her using sign language. She teaches the younger children chess strategies and secrets.
Her family comes from a poor town a long way from Bucharest, but because of the lack of work, many people have moved into the city to find employment there. In Bucharest, her mother helps prepare meals at Mia’s Children. Meanwhile, Flory’s sister entered is studying psychology in college, focusing on children with special needs.
Flory wants to stay at Mia’s Children all the time, but she’s learning in Craiovei at a high school for children with special needs. She studies architecture and would like to attend university to study architecture in the future.
We’ve gotten in all the records from this school year. Can this list be any more exciting?
Praise God for these amazing children, teenagers and adults as they influence their schools and workplaces.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9
God we pray this week for Bogdan, whose final exams today precede his graduation from college.
Thank you for the fruit we have seen in so many of our students’ hearts and educations. You have raised up loving and accomplished children from the ashes of broken places, and you have involved us. For that we look back, and are grateful.
A woman begs on the street in Bucharest
France is again returning Roma people back to their home country of Romania, even though the practice has been controversial.
The displacement of the Roma population is at least partly political. Many Roma people have squatted in France and live there illegally in conditions much like a refugee camp. The decision to destroy those quarters and move the Roma back to their home countries began in late summer of 2010, as part of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to crack down on illegal immigration and crime.
Regardless of my views on France’s action and the immigration issues that surround it, one question that stands out to me is, “Who will love these marginalized people?”
France claims that the Roma live on the outskirts of society. But whether they are in Romania or in France, they are blocked from employment. They receive little to no education – often because the parents will not encourage school attendance, but sometimes because they are denied access or bullied by educators once there. They have almost no path for moving up in the world. Without the encouragement and opportunities to learn to read and write, it is very difficult for them to integrate into any community.
When Mia’s Children first started, one of the biggest tasks was ensuring that all of the kids would get an education. Roma students who were willing to attend school were treated badly by their teachers and ignored. Mia would have to tutor them for hours in the afternoon, because essentially they were not given any attention in class compared to the other students.
The problem continues to this day. Mia has found it very discouraging trying to get education for Roma children who were born without birth certificates. The country does not recognize such children as people (without a birth certificate, you obviously were never born!). And as non-persons, they can not be in school.
Mia has managed to open a path for these students by teaching them herself. God bless her.
Who else will love these unloved children? Will you? Will I? Is it acceptable to say that a child found in a trash can with dark skin is less a child? The Roma people are looked down on as nomads and criminals, but when a person is blocked from all employment crime becomes normal. It is a terrible cycle that can only be addressed through Roma children becoming properly integrated, educated, faithful men and women who know they are loved.
There are many problems inside the Roma population. As much as Mia cares for the children, she doesn’t deny the many generational sins that burden Roma families and affect their reputation as a people group. But love can reach through darkness and save a person from anything. Love never fails.
Even as Romania and Western Europe fail the Roma, love will not fail them, and neither should we.
– Joanna Miller
I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.
John 17:4
God, you have created work for us to do and we pray for the strength and faithfulness to do it well. May you use the work of our hands to repair this broken world and bring you glory. Please encourage all of the students at Mia’s Children this week as they study and learn, despite their difficult lives and increased physical needs.
(The following update from Bucharest tells the story of two new members from the “wolf group” of children – arrivals at the mission who Mia and the rest of the association have very courageously taken in. Please consider their plight in your prayers this week. They represent exactly why Mia’s Children exists.)
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In times of concerns and social, economical, moral crises when people are so much focused on their own drama, trying to find answers to so many questions, God is giving us grace, prosperity, meeting His promises for us: “Don’t be afraid, I am with you !”
And He is!
Romania is going crazy through all this: the school system, the medical care, the social policy and not only these, are not covering the real life and the results are a disaster. More kids are abandoning school, all types of viruses are going around, and there are no medicines, no money, no proper education in school–the society seems that it is asleep.
But in spite of this, the Lord is giving us a special vision to redeem, to rebuild, to refill the precious spirits and hearts of those who are brought into our work. That’s why we accepted two more children, coming from” the wolf group”, Bogdan and Emi. At the age of 8 they look like 4-year olds, mal-nutitioned. Wild an scary as they lived for months and months in a place where they imitated the way beasts are walking and speaking.
It’s incredible how children can survive with no love, no care in this moment in the society and how they can try to survive, having refuge among animals, who became a kind of family for them. The first days they were speaking in strange language, imitating the sounds of animals. And it required great courage for Costi and Oana to bring them inside the group, to clean out their lice, to try to calm them and cut their wild hair, and to give them the first bath….the words are too poor, sometimes ….
It is tremendous to see how hard it has been for them, and also for the group, to all of us to change their habits. The kids are trying to adjust their new life, including the new boys. We notice the great progress the two boys are making in one month: they started to love to play with other children, to speak, to listen and respect simple rules, to take baths, to stay dressed.
They still are rocking back and forth and sucking their thumbs, and they want to be taken in your arms as babies, emitting different sounds that have no meaning for us. They started to love to be hugged and touched, and looking at the rest of the group, they want to start to write. Emi drew his first tiny house and gave it to Mia, telling her how much he loves her. He also hangs on Oana’s feet, and we discovered that one of his legs is shorter than the other. Please pray for these children and us to continue to improve their lives.
All of this is possible because God loves each of us so much, because of each of you who are praying, giving, trusting, helping to design a vision for a better tomorrow. This can be a way for a better society, an answer for a safer world, where love and peace and understanding and supporting can take place and help human beings to live in harmony with God and each other, rebuilding the moral fiber of God’s creation.
Thank you for your faithfulness and dedication, for your supporting Mia’s Children!
Petre (Peter) about 10 years ago
Petre (Peter) now, on his way to study cooking in Germany
Mia sends along this update:
Peter is in Germany and he sends you all his love. He works hard to find new things for his work, cooking.
The kids are great. They study hard, work hard. Some of the kids have coldness, but it’s normal for this period of time. Mario went to the hospital again, but right now he’s out of danger, praise the Lord!
The new building it’s finished outside and mostly inside. The owner ordered also bunk-beds for 32 children, wardrobe for all the kids. We’ll have to purches many items basic necessary for the new place. God is so, so good! He’s unlimited!
We should also pray for Mia’s health. She is in physical therapy for her spine and is seeking out some medical opinions on how to proceed.
What’s that? You hadn’t heard about our NEW BUILDING? Perhaps that’s because you’re not on our mailing list. To sign up, just contact us and we will send you our latest newsletter to get you caught up.
It’s the end of the school year for our students, and that means graduation! Three cheers for the children’s continued success in school.
Here are some pictures of Raluca at her graduation:
Congratulations to the graduates and to all of the students for another exciting year!
This past week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released the 2010 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, which reports on the State Department’s recommendations in fighting human trafficking worldwide.
Human trafficking is a criminal activity in which people are recruited, harbored, transferred, bought or kidnapped to serve an exploitative purpose, such as sexual slavery and forced labor.
The report rates each country in their efforts to fight human trafficking, with Tier 1 being the highest rating and Tier 3 the lowest. Romania received a Tier 2 rating.
According to the report:
Romania is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and women and children in forced prostitution.
Romanian men, women, and children are trafficked within the country for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor, including forced begging and petty theft. In 2009, the majority of trafficking victims identified within the country were victims of forced labor…including forced begging.
The report goes on to say that more measures can and should be taken by the Romanian government to stop trafficking.
But we already knew a lot of this, because the children who come to us have often been either victims or witnesses of human trafficking. Extreme poverty in Bucharest’s poorest neighborhoods has led to many forms of criminal activity. Innocent children get lost in the shuffle at best, and trafficked at worst.
Mia’s Children provides counseling and education for these young people from the hard streets of Bucharest. And most importantly we work to offer them a home and a sense of belonging that is based on the truth and love of the gospel.
That is how we are fighting the horrors of human trafficking – and let us tell you, it works!