Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children

Those who know me would probably tell you I’m not exactly a humanitarian. I rarely look past the issues and thoughts of my own life and family, so the plight of others will often fall on deaf ears.

However, there is one specific subset of humanitarianism that weighs heavy on my heart and that is neglected and abandoned children. Without exception, if I hear of a case of child neglect, abuse or abandonment, I am brought to tears.

Coming from a single parent family, I know the pain and insecurity that comes from abandonment. My mother did the best she could raising me to be a good man, but there is much to be said for the absence of a father in a young man’s life. There is more to be said for the absence of a father in a young woman’s life. For only a father can show a little boy how to be a man and only a father can show his little girl what healthy love from a man looks like.

In the last month, I’ve read of three stories of severe child abuse and neglect in my native New Zealand. This absolutely breaks my heart, because I knew many children in my youth, living in West Auckland whose parents beat them regularly, left them at home alone for hours, even days at a time and rarely made sure they were fed, let alone clean and healthy. In New Zealand, like so many other “modern” countries, the highest incidence of child abuse occurs in low income families. In New Zealand, these families are predominantly Maori and Polynesian. This is exactly the demographic I grew up in.

The worst case I read about, involved a 9 year old girl who had literally been tortured by her parents for two years. She had had her a toe nail pulled from her foot and boiling water poured in the wound. She’d be severely beaten repeatedly and locked in a closet, which is where Police found her after responding to reports of the abuse. How this went on for so long is absolutely amazing. Teachers and neighbors had reported incidents many times over and nothing was done about it.

Just a few days ago, I stumbled on a song I’d heard about a year ago, called “Children of Romania” by a New Zealand-Maori singer/songwriter called Maisey Rika. The inspiration for the song was a expose piece she saw on a show called Campbell Live. The piece exposed severe neglect of children in the orphanages of Romania. Perfectly healthy children, locked away and left to go insane due to a lack of stimulus and input. Strapped to beds in cold, sterile environments, these children without exception lose their minds and become institutionalized. No longer children, but empty, mindless shells.

Having not seen the piece mentioned above, I decided to look it up on Youtube. While I didn’t find that piece, I did find a piece about an institute in Mogilino, Bulgaria. In this piece we see what can only be described as a prison for abandoned children. Children, abandoned for various reasons ranging from autism, blindness and deafness, to the death of their parents, grow up entirely cut off from the outdoors. One blind child, would stand motionless, like a statue, if a worker let go of his hand. He stay like that until a worker would take his hand again. They would leave children for hours at a time on their potty chairs. We see children so malnourished that their bones have become brittle. Almost without exception, these children spend the entire day, sitting in a chair rocking back and forth.

As I sat and watched these empty shells of children walk move across my screen, I couldn’t help but weep with sense of deep sorrow for these children. Each face, replaced with the face my own child. Truly heart-breaking.

I then watched a follow-up piece that showed a handful of these children thriving after being moved to better facilities, where the staff actually fulfill their purpose and provide care for the children under their charge.

I am blessed to have had the upbringing I did. While it might not have been an ideal situation at times, all things considered, I think things turned out very well for me. I was able to go to school. Whats more, I did so with a full belly and a packed lunch. I was able play outside with my friends and play any sport that took my fancy. I was able to attend university and graduate. I was able to enter a career of my choosing.

Take a moment and spare a thought for children unable to do the simplest of things. Children should be free to play, free to imagine things that don’t exist. Children should be free to be children.


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