Greetings in our Lord's name, and welcome to Zan's Virtual Romania! The
information at this site are letters, e-mailed from Romania, updating
friends and family about everyday happenings in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, as I
have witnessed it and experienced it first hand during the summer of 1997.
The letters deal mainly with children I call "cave kids," who are homeless
children I've met and come to love, and who are living in caves.
After Romania's bloody revolution in December, 1989, the borders were
thrown open and relief from the West poured in. The world stood appalled
at the inhumane treatment of orphans in facilities with minimal provisions
as well as untrained, uncaring staff who were simply their keepers. Needs
in Romania were so great that my husband, Dennis, and I began bringing in
supplies, clothing, food, medicines, medical equipment, anything we could
get our hands on that we knew was needed, then we'd haul it to Romania to
people and places where the needs were. We realized that what we brought
was a "drop in the bucket" compared to the needs on a larger scale, but we
also realized that "any little bit" helped.
It was because of their work that I traveled to Romania for the summer, to
be of help with any kind of work they were doing. In July, another
milestone occurred in my life and changed it once again, forever. I
learned of and met homeless children who live in caves. That's right,
caves. These boys, 13 to 18 years of age, have been thrown out of their
homes by abusive, alcoholic parents, they have been through the orphanage
system, and have ended up homeless, sleeping where they can, surviving by
begging, spending the money they beg on chemicals to sniff and get high to
escape their miserable existence.
In developing a relationship with the cave kids, I've seen that they want
and need positive role models in their lives. They respond favorably to
attention and love. They react thoughtfully and positively when shown, by
example, that stealing is unacceptable behavior, or taught that it is
simply not polite to eat with a mouth filled with food. I've seen that
these children, though physically quite dirty, want to be clean. They
desire a "normal" life.
My vision for the cave kids is to have a shelter provided for them where
they can have a safe place to sleep and good meals to eat. Eventually some
of the children would desire to make a change in their lifestyle, get off
the streets entirely and live at the shelter as permanent residents. In
time, these same children would grow up to become part of the staff and
participate in helping other homeless children become self-sufficient and
integrate back into society.
These children of the streets, under bridges, in caves, need to be saved
from the fate life has unmercifully dealt them. They need to get off the
streets and come out of the caves, but they have no place to call home. A
shelter would provide a "safe" location for these children who need to be
redeemed before the chemicals they sniff offer another alternative which
too often means death.
As you get to "know" them, I'm certain these cave kids will capture your
heart as they have mine. They are "real" children! Each has a name,
feelings, a personality, each with his own little quirks, and they all
have one thing in common, they are "throw away" children.
Please, pray for the cave kids of Cluj, Romania.
Cu mult drag. . .
(With much love)
Zan Kriegel
I am often asked WHY I come to Romania. A number of reasons spring quickly
to mind, beginning with my first, five day trek into Romania in May 1989.
I was among a small group being trained to smuggle goods to what was then,
the "underground church." I fell in love with the Romanian people during
that trip, witnessing a hospitality unparalleled in any other country I had
ever visited, and a generosity which caught me totally off guard. Here
were a people enslaved under the communist yoke, made even more frightful
by their pitiless dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu. Rationing was meager, yet
in every home we were welcomed into, a feast was always laid before us. I
later learned that we were actually consuming their monthly rations. Ever
since those few days in this closed land where people risked their own
freedom to take us into their homes and lives, my life was changed forever.
In the summer of 1992, we organized teams to come work in one of the
orphanages in Cluj. It was during this trip that my friends, Craig and
Victoria Goodwin were introduced to Romania, and fell in love with this
country exactly as I had. The Goodwins are now living in Cluj, working
with Mr. Constantin Asavoaie, Executive Director of Prison Fellowship
Romania. Please visit their web site,
The St. Nicholas Home, and see the wonderful work they are
doing here in Romania.