Meet RCE's Social Team!

Mimi, Carmen and Cara

Mimi and Carmen Bocsa (boke-sha) have worked together for years leading RCE's adoption agency. They have seen many children rescued from the state orphanages and placed in loving families. Mimi and Carmen, who are both social workers, work closely with Cara, a talented psychologist and Nelu a semi-retired pastor. As a team they not only facilitate adoptions, but also do evaluations and provide ongoing follow-up for both children and parents.This follow up involves not only visits to homes and ongoing counseling, but also often helping to provide food, clothing and access to medical care as  needed. Mimi is also an RCE Director. His name is a nickname for Mihai which is Romanian for Michael.

Elisei and his new Mom!

Florin in Distrofici Orphanage in 1999

Just this week we met a woman named Carmen, who has already taken one abandoned boy into her home. Last year she became Mom to a teenage boy named Florin (floor-een). Florin had been living in RCE's Darius House. For reasons unknown to us, Florin has been losing his sight over the past couple of years and is now completely blind. I first met Florin in 1999 when he could still see. Now Carmen is taking a second abandoned child into her home. As it turns out, she also grew up an orphan and lived in state institutions. So now she wants to reach out and help these two boys live the life she didn't have. Here she is with little Elisei (el-e-say) whom she will take into her home from one of RCE's Darius Houses very soon.

Ingenious they are... imagine this.. the face comes off your radio and disappears. You're left without any controls..you can't turn the radio on, change the station, etc.  Romanian solution-- stick half a toothpick in a hole and presto-- the radio works! If you look closely at the picture, you'll see the toothpick sticking out of the bottom of the radio. Want to turn the radio off? Simply pull the toothpick out.

Romanian word of the day:

Crate/box= lidisa (le-deetz-a)

This is a picture of all the boxes (crates) that once held the fresh produce that is served at RCE's Sunshine School and Darius Houses. Most is purchased, some is also donated. RCE emphasizes sound nutrition for all the kids..especially since many of them come to us from other institutions and even poor families where ensuring good nutrition is difficult. The lunch served at the Sunshine School each day is often the most nutritious meal of the day for the children who come from poor families.
 These boxes will be chopped up,  made into firewood and given to poor families. Nothing ever goes to waste at RCE!