Romanian Homeless - what is the answer?

March 2008: Last week in Ploiesti, Romania, I spoke to a group of homeless people in a bid to gain opinion to assist us to create a facility to provide help and support for a community of over 200 people in the city that live outwith its society. Some live in makeshift houses alongside some large pipes which afford them some free heat in a winter which often sees temperatures of -20 degrees.

One woman in her fifties told me that she had lived in the streets all her life. Her parents lived on the streets and so does she. Another man in his thirties concurred. he too had never lived in a house or experienced what we would consider normal life. He had been reised in one of Romanias horror orphanages which were revealed to the world in the aftermath of the removal of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and spent some time in Ploiesti's Rudului prison.

What then is the answer? I am not sure that the answer lies in 'giving them houses': There must be way however, to integrate and educate them into a more productive way of life.

NATO SUMMIT 08. Romania sweeps its 'dirt' under the carpet

In the week running up to the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest, Romanian authorities are busy preparing their city to hide embarrassing truths that they don't want world leaders to see. Last week in Bucharest and I met a family whose home had been demolished that morning in a bid to clear derelict land adjacent to a major city route. The family included seven children were left standing beside a pile of rubble which minutes before was their home. The house in fact was a makeshift effort and one of hundreds erected by Bucharests homeless familes. These shanty dwellings are an eyesore and I agree that Romania needs to rid their country of these shanty towns but I can't understand why nothing is offered to the families living there. Romanian child protection agency often take chidren out of their familes and place them in one of Romanias famous orphanages; many of which are clinical and staffed by uncaring, unmotivated and untrained staff.

I believe a form of Racism is at work here because most of these street families are of gipsy origin and some caucasian Romanians often treat them with racist comment and attitudes. Romanian authorities in my experience are no different.

Then there is the question of corruption in Romania !!! new blog coming soon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7241221.stm