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Not to forget…
the history.
The first family home and the Tanner Mission:
Sandie and Bruce Tanner, from Ohio, USA, arrived at the Spital
in Nicoresti in 1991. Here they were faced with terrible scenes,
with 150 abandoned children with various disabilities, grouped in
huge rooms, often tied to beds with chains, completely abandoned in
nauseating dirt, without any medical care and often subjected to
various types of violence.
After
two years of assisting these children, Sandie and Bruce knew that
the only way to save them from possible death and abuse was to get
them out of the Spital.
So after difficult decisions deciding who to chose from these
horrific situations, they created the first family home thus saving
the lives of these children, and creating the foundation Tanner
Romanian Mission.
Cross Cause and Noiperloro:
One of the main supporters of the Tanner Mission is Conor Hughes, a
Dundalk man, owner of a music shop, composer and member of the band
Willin’ Fools (in Italy they already played in more than 40 charity
concerts, released 2 CD’s, with proceeds all going to Noiperloro, in
collaboration with 103 Editions and Trade Rai). Conor and Ettore met
in Ireland when Ettore was a volunteer in "the Simon Community” a
community for homeless people. And from that friendship Ettore came
as a volunteer to help the Tanner Romania Mission.
Conor in Ireland has successfully founded "Crosscause" and in
Romania through its charity organization has built casa Bridget.
Ettore and Eithne, arrived in Romania in 2001 and with the support
of their relatives and friends have created "Noiperloro."
The Tanner mission, Crosscause and Noiperloro work for the same
overall big project which is to help disabled and abandoned children and
young adults, and provide outreach to elderly people living alone
and poor families with many children in need.
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Immediately after the fall of Ciausescu’s regime in 1989, all
the failings of the communist regime were highlighted. One
of these failings concerned the children. Many of them were
gathered in institutions relegating the misfits in hospital
facilities, which were instead like concentration camps: the
“spital”
Ciausescu, in the seventies, unexpectedly and without
any social preparation abolished abortion. Many families,
without having received any sex education and without
knowing any contraceptive method (these were taboo during
the communist regime) were left to cope with the birth of
unwanted children. In many cases they relied on homemade
abortion methods. The consequences of these were disastrous:
the birth of disabled children and a myriad of infants
abandoned.
In this context arose "the spital" (orphanages) often hidden
in the most remote parts of Romania (as Nicoresti) thus
hiding the wounds of a regime that was no longer working. In
these institutions the lack of ethical values, the lack of
qualified staff and the lack of funds led to disastrous
results. A lot of residents fled the institutions searching
refuge in the big cities (see the boys of sewers of
Bucharest) and the ones most in need were kept in a state of
abandonment and abuse in the spitals. |
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