Buckner opens Child Development Center in Romania

Posted: 10/26/07

Buckner opens Child
Development Center in Romania

By Jenny Pope

Buckner International

TARNEVENI, Romania—At least 60 Roma—also known as “gypsy”—children will be given a head start in life through the opening of the Buckner Child Development Center in Tarneveni, Romania, a struggling community of 30,000 people with an estimated 85 percent unemployment rate.

Randy Daniels, Buckner’s director of global initiatives, recently joined Phil Brinkmeyer, director of Eastern European ministry, and the mayor of Tarneveni for the dedication ceremony of the new center. Twenty children are enrolled, with enrollment expected to grow to 60 by the end of the year.

“This is the only ministry of this type to the Roma population outside of Bucharest,” Daniels said. “It’s one of a kind. We understand the ultimate importance of this school—not just to educate these children, but to create a culture change. This school will provide these children with the foundation they need to be successful in elementary school, in high school and in the rest of their lives.

“If we want to make a change in this culture, we have to start with the youngest ones. When education becomes routine, when it becomes the norm, these changes will last.”

A typical school day lasts from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with each child receiving breakfast and lunch—often their only meals of the day. Tuition is free, but parents are expected to participate in the school as they can—cleaning, volunteering or providing resources.

Buckner hopes to use the relationships built through the school to reach the extended Roma population through the center, Daniels said. Several Buckner mission teams have paved the way for these relationships by reaching out to the surrounding community, and a local Baptist church has played a significant role by providing volunteers and support.

An East Texas company—Red Dot Building Systems in Athens—funded the construction of the school, which was a hospital before it closed seven years earlier and squatters stripped it.

“There wasn’t anything left inside this building when we first came; it was just a shell,” Daniels said. “They even took the plumbing out, the tiles from the roof. I think there was only one toilet left in the entire building, and it was shattered.”

Today, the children’s classrooms are clean and bright. It’s a beacon of hope amidst a village engulfed in poverty, Daniels said.

“There is still a long way to go in this community to gain the trust of the people,” he said.

“But give us more time and we’ll become a trusted partner; we can do so much more.”

For more information about the Buckner Child Development Center in Romania, e-mail [email protected].

For information about mission trips, call (877) 7ORPHAN or e-mail [email protected].