At the end of December 2002, the official opening of the Social Center "St. Lazar" was one of the most important humanitarian initiatives in this field in Romania. Established by the CONCORDIA Humanitarian Organization on the government, "St. Lazar" is a night shelter and a transit station for street children.
Youths come to "St. Lazar" and those who choose to stay are encouraged to join a process of family and social integration conceived by CONCORDIA for deprived children.

Father Georg Sporschill established CONCORDIA in 1991, when Romania was in a dire situation, with thousands of children roaming the streets and a communist-type of system engulfing hundreds of thousands of institutionalised. CONCORDIA is now a model for any NGO working in Romania. With an annual budged of $1 million and around $2 million earmarked for investments, CONCORDIA operates under the high patronage of Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel, Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, receiving constant support from the Austrian Embassy in Romania, from friends and supporters in Austria, Germany and Liechtenstein. As Germany's former ambassador in Romania, Mr. Anton Roßbach, noted, "St. Lazar" is a "transit center for children, an extremely important interface for their integration in school and social environment, in a normal way of life."
Eighty kilometres north of Bucharest, in Aricestii-Rahtivani, CONCORDIA has built what is called "The Children's Farm". A small and beautiful village, with 12 houses, stores and sports hall.
"The Farm," said Christian Mihai Rohas, director of the center, "is a place where young people can build their own future. Here it is a small village near to a bigger village. Our children village functions totally independent, with everything we need inside our community. Our houses were built respecting the architectural style of this rural area and in every house we have a so-called family of eight children. We have children from all over Romania, most of them found by our street workers. Now they have confidence and know that nothing bad can happen to them. We have been active in this field for more than ten years and now in every new CONCORDIA center many kids present themselves to be helped. There is still a lot to be done, and a lot of space to do good things. We have constant support from the Austrian embassy and from the local community, which becomes increasingly aware of the good things we are doing."

Serban Grigore, 23, nicknamed Gore, was raised in the Farm. When he was 13, Gore joined one of CONCORDIA´S centers and since then he has tried to catch up with the lost school years. Gore worked at Aricestii-Rahtivani in a vocational center in order to qualify for a job. His story is genuine, and I found in his voice an uncommon strength and determination.
"I came to Aricestii and here I attended a school to become a baker, to find later a job. After that, I started to look for a job and with help from CONCORDIA´S people I found one and I obtained a new qualification. I met a girl, Cristina.it was love at first sight. At the beginning it was very hard. Her parents rejected me as "street child," a future outlaw. She eloped with me and in time her parents accepted me, realizing that I am not so bad. In the spring of 2000 we married and CONCORDIA offered us the possibility to live in a house in the village next to the Farm. Now we have two babies and we are all right. I think I was lucky and I want to work, to build a future as good as I can. I want to offer my children everything that I did not have." Gore proves that no effort should be spared to offer deprived children a fair chance.

Though not all institutions in Romania are as bright, friendly and good as "St. Lazar" is, CONCORDIA offers a model and a source of hope for so many children that can use a unique chance to build their own life. With financial support, but more important, with a professional and human approach of a team of devoted people, CONCORDIA makes a big difference. Here, children of unknown origins, with unknown age and past are looking now at a completely different horizon. Even now, there is a lot to be done in Romania's system of institutional care. As the Head of the European Commission in Romania, Mr. Jonathan Scheele said, it seems that "the new government very rapidly understood that if it did not sort this out, it would never stand up to international scrutiny." Therefore, there is room for hope. If the government acts against the endemic corruption we can expect that this new coalition of government, local authorities and foreign humanitarian organizations will solve a painful problem.

by Stefan Popenici

- The Romanian Review, 11-17 January