Romania, land of history dating well before the times of Christ. A place of contrasts and paradoxes, a picturistic landscape of mountains and valleys, castles and monasteries. A place with such culture and beauty it was once known as the “Little Paris” of Eastern Europe.

When we think of Romania, we may think of the great woman gymnast who scored a perfect 10 or its renowned soccer players.

There was also a darker side of Romania that was kept hidden deep behind the Communist walls. Dictator Ceausescu – called the “Unrepentant Tyrant” – controlled nearly every aspect of Romania life for a quarter of a century. He mandated large families in exchange of so called privileges. But these privileges still left the families without adequate means to care for their children who often became a ward of the state.

In desperation and with little hope peoples lives turned to despair. Atrocities, terror and Christian persecution came to an end with the revolution on Christmas 1989 when the communist regime ended.

The world was shocked in the early 90’s as the atrocities of the orphaned children hit the news. It took over five years to start to understand how many lives were hidden in the orphanages. Even then it could only be estimated to be somewhere between 120,000 and 150,000 children that were warehoused in state institutions. It was a stark, cold and crude reality that a system had failed.