Aggie volunteers time in Romanian hospital and orphanage
Many people dream of going to far-away countries as a volunteer in a hospital or orphanage. Caryn Bingham, a senior majoring in family and human development, decided to make her dream of service come true.
Bingham said she heard about the Orphans Around The World program in a class and immediately wanted to apply.
“I heard about it and thought, ‘that’s what I’m doing,'” she said. “I always hear about people doing things like that and think ‘I should do it.’ So I just decided that I would.”
She volunteered in Brasov, Romania for three-and-one-half months over the summer, working six hours a day in a children’s hospital and three hours a day in an orphanage.
Bingham went with three other college students – two from Brigham Young University and one from Utah Valley State College – through the OATW program.
The Spital de Copii, the hospital where the students served, is the only one in Romania that uses the play therapy program, something that was instituted by Dana Tananescu, a Romanian who saw a need and changed hundreds of children’s lives.
“Dana pretty much pushed her way in there and started painting walls, which was unheard of because the Romanians are very behind with things like that,” Bingham said. “The hospital I worked in was the only one in Romania with play therapy because they are so far behind over there.”
Play therapy is a different way of helping sick children cope with illness, Tananescu said.
“Being sick is a big trauma for a child, and through play, counseling and art, we are preparing children for the traumatic events in the hospital: surgery, injections and all kinds of treatments and for being separated from their parents,” she said.
Tananescu started the program 13 years ago and hasn’t looked back.
“We had a very hard road to deal with because of the old mentality where children were sick and not allowed to play, they should be in bed all day, they were told many lies and they did not know what it was going on with them and why,” Tananescu said. “So we had to implement with the medical stuff a new concept of care, a holistic care – both medical and emotional.
“We are very proud to say that it’s really working now! We have a great collaboration with doctors and nurses. They now ask us to work with a child because they are beginning to understand emotional needs of children and they see that if the child is prepared for the medical intervention or if the child understands why he has to be in the hospital, then the recovery is shorter and the child’s collaboration with the medical team is better,” she said. “It is a very new thing for our country, and it is really amazing that we are still working.”
To begin the program in Brasov, two English specialists lived in Romania, and a comedy store in England has been sponsoring it up until this year, providing money for toys and salaries. Tananescu said.
The funding has ended, however, and the workers and children at the hospital are doing everything they can to keep the program going, including painting cards to sell, Bingham said.
“The hospital won’t support them, the government won’t support them, and they need sponsors,” she said. “They even made and sold cards for money.
If sponsors are not found, the program will be canceled, Tananescu said.
“The hospital is too poor to give us money for toys, so if we can’t find someone to help us, we’ll have to give up the program, which is a big shame,” she said. “Also, we have been being paid extra for the counseling program, which will have to disappear. We need around $5,000 a year to keep going.”
But in spite of many challenges, the program continues to expand.
“We now have a counseling program for children who have attempted suicide, and we have become more and more specialized with certain diseases,” Tananescu said. “I am working with children with cancer, diabetes, blood disorders and attempted suicide, and I love it.
“My favorite part is the fight with children’s anxieties, fears and emotional disturbances. It is fascinating to help them release all of it, then sort it out, then cope with it,” she said. “It is the biggest reward when a sick child understands what’s going on, moves forward, fights, smiles and is no longer afraid of being in the hospital.”
Tananescu said OATW is vital to keeping the play therapy program running at the hospital.
“The program is very important for our children and for us. The girls work very hard at the hospital and orphanage, and the children progress a lot,” she said. “These girls keep up in touch with a fresh mentality about working with children. There is no similar job in Romania, so we have no one to teach us about changing professional experience.”
Bingham said she loved the experience and didn’t want to leave.
“The children were awesome, and they were definitely my favorite part,” she said. “The hardest part was leaving, not just for good, but every day – knowing that the child was not going to play again until the next morning when I came back.”
She spent most of her time with the children with special needs because they were often neglected, she said. She also worked with two-year-old children.
“Almost nobody went to see the disabled children except to change their diapers, so I stayed in there with them a lot,” she said.
Bingham said she wants to go back again and encourages anyone interested to go.
The cost of the program is a $350 program fee, and participants pay their own way. For more information, contact OATW at orphansaroundtheworld@hotmail.com. Programs are available during the fall, spring and summer semesters.
-kcartwright@cc.usu.edu