Day 6: Out In The Community

After two days of training with the staff, the Regent team went out into the community. We were split into four teams, each one going to a different Smiles Foundation project. The locations and the people the teams served were varied, but we found many converging themes of hardship, poverty, and abuse. The first team, led by R. LaVerne Washington, visited the Gepiu Family Center, where they spoke to a group of teens about relationships, and self esteem. After each presentation, the teens were separated by gender in order to process the topics more fully. While many of the teens participated and shared very openly in the groups, it was clear that the concept of self-esteem was virtually nonexistent, especially in the female groups. Many of the teens come from homes where alcohol and abuse is common, and access to education is very limited. The Smiles Foundation has worked very hard over the last several years to target the younger generation of this gypsy community in order to break the continuing cycle of abuse, poverty, and alcoholism. It was a privilege to come along side the Smiles Foundation staff and help continue their mission.

The other three teams went to different locations in and around Oradea, the nearest town to Cihei, and conducted home visits. Dr. Harris-Keyes’ team met with the seniors of Tilead, mostly widows, and conducted reminiscence group therapy. This style of therapy is especially beneficial to elderly populations as it allows the group members to share stories of the good times in their lives. Following the groups, the team played wheelchair tennis at the Tilead community center. In Romania, and especially in the gypsy population, people with disabilities are seen as liability and are often a source of shame for the family.

Dr. Keyes’ team also conducted home visits with families with which the Smiles Foundation works. One family that the team met with consisted of a single mother with 9 children, one of whom showed signs of being sexually abused. The team worked with the children and conducted art and play therapy with them, to which the children responded very positively. Other meetings with Romanian families who have lost providers through abandonment and domestic violence, and psychotic clients attempting to self-sustain kept this team busy throughout the day.

Finally, Dr. Reese’s team visited an apartment building outside Oradea. These single room flats typically house families of 3 to 10 members. One particular family the team met with consisted of a single mother with two children whose husband had left her during her pregnancy. Because of the divorce and the shame that came with it, this mother was disowned by her parents and ex-communicated from her family’s church. Through the therapy session the team did with the mother and the play therapy they did with the children, the mother indicated she was open to giving church another try and will consider attending the Smiles Foundation church service this coming week.

The team as a whole was touched by the lives they encountered today, and will not soon forget the stories they heard. We were able to see firsthand the Smiles Foundation mission and how hard they work with the impoverished Romanian and gypsy population. Indeed, the foundation’s staff is dedicated to serving “the least of these” among them, which has made the Regent’s team experience in Romania all the more inspirational.

--Jason Boling