About The Program
- Romania Internship
- The BYU Romania internship is a service learning program associated with the School of Family Life. The program prepares students to work with children in a small orphanage in Eastern Romania. Students live in Iasi (pronounced yawsh) Romania and work for 6 hours a day with children with special needs and developmental disorders in an orphanage and a children's hospital. The experience is rewarding and culturally immersing. You will make a lasting impact on many children's lives. For more information please come to one of our posted information meetings and explore some of the posts on this blog. For application please go to http://kennedy.byu.edu/isp/isp.php?id=141
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Information Meetings
Information meetings are held in room 257 of the HRCB (Kennedy Center) on BYU campus.
The following are meeting times
Monday April 7 @ 12 Noon.
For more information:
Call Holly or Laura at 422-1488
or
E-mail: Romaniaiibyu@gmail.com
Romania Information
NPR story on Romanian Orphanages
This story discusses brain research on children raised in orphanages in Romania and some of the attitudes and behaviors of child care providers.
BBC Story about Orphans in Romania
This story discusses the conditions of institutionalized children and the results of deprivation. (requires windows media player)
Romanian Streetkids
This is a blog with information about Romanian Street kids with several pictures and a few videos. Information is fairly current.
Romanian Spirituality
Some information on the Romanian Orthodox Church and spiritual traditions
Romanian Culture
A site featuring Romanian Poetry, Images, Humor, Theatre, Carols, Folk Music and Stories, Old Tangos and Classic Rock Music
About Iasi Romania
Tanners Of Romania:
This video shows how tanners in Romania do their work. Dialogue is entirely in Romanian with English subtitles.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Insights from a Former Romania Intern
(Excerpt from her award-winning essay of the 30th Anniversary Essay Contest (2004) of The Office of Academic Internships)
"Understanding requires experience, that which daily demands the sacrificing of energy, emotion, perseverance, and sometimes even the very soul of an individual. Internships are the most powerful methods of gaining this deeper understanding.
In the field of child development, employers are depending less on a bachelors degree and more upon questions such as, does the person have patience? Does she enjoy children? And the greatest of all, does she love? Indeed, love is the most important factor in a career involving children. In my experience as a intern, I learned about love in the context of the individual, the community, and the world.
A powerful lesson I learned from these orphans was the devastating effects of the lack of love. Children handled only by stern workers, who insist they stay still and keep quiet, almost always have psychological problems such as "Reactive Attachment Disorder," or RAD. As a result, the children`s development in these vital years slows, their speech is impaired, and their ability to develop relationships gradually disappears. The result is a dependent child with multiple problems who will never lead a normal life. Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr., said, "Understanding human needs is half the job of meeting them." I knew love was a human need before I went to
Love is not simply a human requirement, but also one of the family and community... Before my internship I studied I studied the effects of the "disintegrating family" in communities, including gangs, violence, truancy and high drop-out rates, RAD, premarital sex, sexually-transmitted diseases, and teenage pregnancies. However, I understood the urgency of the situation through my internship experience. I saw many of these "calamities" manifested in the older orphans of
The children of
John Locke wrote, "The improvement of understanding is for two ends; first, our own increase of knowledge; secondly, to enable us to deliver that knowledge to others." My internship has changed my career goals, my perspective, my future, and hopefully the futures of many others. I enter the field of Child Development armed with understanding of the desperate need for love at the individual, community, and global levels, and with determination to make a powerful influence on less fortunate nations. Where I once "knew" of love`s importance, I now deeply understand. As my quest for knowledge comes to a close, I now embark on a new journey: to bring that understanding to the world."