Insights from a Former Romania Intern

Rebecca Myler, a MFHD graduate, recently recounted here experience in Romania:

(Excerpt from her award-winning essay of the 30^th 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.

Romania , a tiny nation stricken with poverty, contains hundreds of orphanages. My internship took place in a center for special-needs children in a city called Iasi. My career goals included a masters degree and perhaps pursuit of a Ph.D. and eventual teaching of Child Development. Through serving these unique individuals, however, I discovered a love for special-needs children I would never have gained otherwise. My career goals have changed to include international non-profit organizations benefiting less fortunate children. Mother Teresa once said, "Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God, the rest will be given." Although non-profit organizations rarely yield a high salary, I am confident that I am more needed in this field than any other [field].

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 Romania. But, having seen it first hand, having worked with children who don`t even know the meaning of the word "love," I am more determined than ever to improve the lives of those precious souls.

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 Romania. Although community programs and counseling sponsored by child development groups can help somewhat, there is only one true solution: love at the family level.

The children of Romania also bear the effects of a nation torn apart by communism. Nicholai Ceaucescu, Marxist president until 1989, outlawed birth control and required women to bear multiple children in an already poor economy to strengthen his army. His decree resulted in thousands of desperate abortions, some unsuccessful. The unsuccessful abortions usually resulted in disfigured or handicapped children who were sent to the orphanage. Ceaucescu`s greed for national power mirrored that of other nations... Today, I understand, all too painfully, the importance of love at the national level and even between countries.

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."