Imagine if, instead of spending the next few weeks at home surrounded by family, you were locked inside a government institution, surrounded by miserable inmates and abusive staff.
It may sound like prison, but it applies equally to life under quarantine in a Romanian state orphanage. For 16-year-old Nora, this has been daily reality since Romania instituted a strict lockdown to combat coronavirus.
Nora wasn’t always in the orphanage. From age three to thirteen, she lived with a family in our private foster program. But when her beloved foster mother passed away from cancer, Nora had difficulty bonding with her second family. When the government seized our case files two years ago in a hostile move against NGOs, they placed Nora in an orphanage.
Since then, our ministry director, Corina, has never forgotten Nora, visiting her regularly in the orphanage and working to get her in a family again. But now that’s all on hold. For now, Nora clings to electronic communication with the outside world, messaging with Corina every day, but it’s barely enough. Deprived of anything outside the orphanage walls, Nora and her fellow residents are struggling to keep their spirits up.
What you can do:
Pray daily for Nora. Ask God to be her ever-present friend and comforter throughout these days of isolation. Ask God to strengthen her and protect her from emotionally abusive staff. Ask God to help us remove her from the institution once Romania gets back to work. To join our email prayer team and get timely requests, click below.
Give toward our ministry. After a successful lawsuit against the government, we’ve recently regained the ability to place children in families. Your one-time or recurring gift will help us remove children from institutions and systems and place them with moms and dads, where they belong.