Evan and the Babies: Down the Rabbit Hole

The last few days have really felt like Alice going down the rabbit hole into a series of bizarre and surreal encounters. And today was no exception.

When Dan arrived at the hotel this morning at the regular time we were already on our way out the door having decided to get to the clinic asap before another child left. We then found out from Dan that Dr. Delia had asked him to drive Maria Alexandra home at 7 this morning. Don't ask me why. Malika went with him. So we were unable to say good bye to "papanasci." (I think I've told you Robin called her this after the Romanian donut dessert.)

Upon our arrival, there was the ubiquitous television crew, today's from Antenna 3, a major channel. Then there was this pretty good looking photo journalist who works for CNN and other international networks and publications who was taking pictures. He spoke good English and was interesting to talk to.

Also when we arrived, Petre's parents were there. The situation seems a bit worrisome.It looked to me like the mother had some developmental disability. I think they sent some food home with him as well as one of the big blankets from the toddler bedroom and of course toys and clothes. He left mid-morning.

That left us with Gaby, Raul, Andrada, and Cleo. We were told Cleo and Raul would be going by ambulance to the hospital in Barlad and Gaby would be going home but it was unclear when or how. There seemed to be a big push to have all of the children out today. We played with the children in the play room but also in the entry way sitting on the red couch. There were all kinds of aides there I think partly to say good bye to the children and also there was something going on with their labor contracts with the new manager of the senior home. (Some will work there we think. We also heard there are several more openings at the hospital in Barlad.)

I got lots of quality time with Gaby although I did make sure to share her with my team mates. We were half laughing and half crying about having "baby therapy" to deal with being sad about the situation and having to share the remaining children among all of us.

We said we weren't going to go to lunch in case the babies disappeared while we were gone. Dan assured us Dr. Delia would call us so we went off to have our lunch and planned to return to the clinic asap. As we finished eating, we got a call from Dr. Delia that she had called the ambulance to pick up Cleo and Raul so we rushed back and waited for what turned out to be 2 ambulances (don't ask me why) and for Andrada and Gaby to wake up from their naps.

Raul and Cleo leaving was pretty sad even though we may see them if we volunteer at the hospital. I suspect they will not be as well taken care of at the hospital. I put Cleo's night light in my purse so we could take it to the hospital ourselves and hopefully find a place to put it and ask the staff to use it. I'm not holding out much hope for that.

The priest was also around a good part of the day. We were told he was going to baptize Andrada in the late afternoon and we were invited to attend. The television new story said she is the last child there and she is being baptized so God will protect her" or some such drama. We are being told she is going to an emergency foster family tomorrow. It sounds like they don't have a regular foster family for her yet.

Then the day became truly bizarre. There was something going on about the news crew though Andrada was the last child there but Gaby was still there so how were they going to exit Gaby from the clinic. Dan and Malika were taking her home which is apparently north of Barlad. We asked if one of us could go and didn't really get an answer. I did understand that it could be intrusive to the family.. Apparently the family didn't have a way to pick Gaby up and quite honestly I'm not sure that they are expecting her or want her. Nevertheless, we gathered up every ball we could find and clothes that could work for her or her twin Mihaela who went home last year. I also took 2 of the toddler blankets for them, one pink and one purple. (Not the white one with the pink flowers as I figured it would get too dirty.)

So we are playing with Gaby and I'm putting some more clothes in the bags for her and the next thing we know they are rushing around to put a coat on her and her and "snuck" her out the back door. Really. The good news is it kept me from crying too much because it was so shocking. I really hope CPS will keep an eye on her at home because I am seriously worried about if/how she will be cared for. Dan told us at dinner that it took them awhile to find the village the family lives in. The family wasn't expecting Gaby and don't necessarily want her but she isn't a CPS case so there was apparently no choice but to send her home. Dan said Mihaela, Gaby's twin, was a bit thinner but otherwise talking and seemed ok. There are two older sisters at home that Dan guesses are about 4 and 5.

At this point, it was about 4:00 and without much discussion we made a unanimous decision to leave Andrada to the aides and the priest and go back to the hotel. With Mihaela's ok, Caroline gathered up the mobiles and we took a few other things we didn't want to disappear and headed out the door. We decided to skip Andrada's baptism. Frankly from my perspective, I'd had enough of the Romanian cultural experience for the day. We did see some of the Tutova footage on TV at dinner time and saw Andrada being dipped into the baptism font. We had heard Dr. Delia wasn't going to allow the crew to film it but I guess that changed.

Oh yes, I got interviewed by Antenna 3. My team mates chickened out and as some of you know I'm pretty good at winging it. They asked me where I was from and how I came to be there or something like that. Then they asked some interesting questions: 1. How would these children fare if in the US? and 2. Had I heard about what was going on with hospitals in Romania right now? Generally, I talked about how Global Volunteers has been committed to the community for 12 years and hoped to continue to contribute. I said we were worried about the children and how they would be cared for recognizing that people lacked resources. I was trying not to be disparaging and make it clear that it was more of an economic issue. I said if they were in the US they would have more access to services like physical therapy and occupational therapy and that there would be more resources available to help parents care for the children. And I said I had heard on the news about what was happening with hospitals in Romania. I may have ended up on the cutting room floor. Who knows. Who knows is the answer to just about everything these days.

And by the way, the news story today about hospital "reform" was about how adult patient(s) have died as a result of not having a place to go to or there now being too great a distance for people to travel in an emergency to a hospital. Apparently in one community 12 "terminally" ill patients were left at a hospital that turned off the lights etc. Some people voluntarily stayed to care for them and the community brought them food. We also heard that the govt. now says it is reasonable for people to have to travel 35 km to get to a hospital. When we were talking to the photographer he said "any idiot" can make a decision but implementing it is another thing. And he is right - this could be a case study of having no implementation plan. What a mess.

So the latest is that we can go to the clinic tomorrow morning to see Andrada who we are now being told will go to the hospital because even an emergency foster home isn't available. Then we are supposed to volunteer at the hospital tomorrow afternoon.

Cathy had planned to leave at 1:00 tomorrow for a weekend in Iasi and I have now decided to go with her. I was going to stay here to go to the clinic this weekend but obviously that isn't an option and I think it will be too depressing to be in Tutova. Dorel, the driver, will take us there tomorrow afternoon and pick us up on Sunday. We are staying at a nice hotel and our former tour guide Radu (another good looking guy) will take us on a tour of Iasi. I saw some of Iasi on my first trip here and don't remember a lot of it and the guide wasn't that great so this will be fine. It will be good to get away.

I'm going to try and post a link here to the reality television video that showed yesterday. A former volunteer posted it on her facebook page and you can tell what is going on even without understanding Romanian. And you may see me in a blur playing with Gaby.

http://www.realitatea.net/zece-copii-abandonati-de-stat-dupa-ce-spitalul-tutova-s-a-desfiintat_822052.html

And here are some pictures from yesterday afternoon and today. Not necessarily sequential - sure you understand!

Thursday's tv station truck

Ionut

Coca and Petre before he left today

Nicoletta holding Cleo before taking her to the ambulance. She is clearly distressed. And they say she doesn't have much of a brain. I think she knew something was wrong.