Aspirations

“I am the only girl of the five children in my family and the only child that my parents abandoned. I grew up in a children’s home since I was three years old. I went to college. During the school year, I stayed on campus, and I came to the children’s home on vacations. During the summer break after the second year of college, I was abused by one of the educators. I was ashamed and afraid, so I went to a colleague for the rest of the vacation, hoping it would pass. It didn’t!  I fell into depression, I could no longer focus on my studies and ended up in the hospital.  My doctor knew and called MLI, they came to me in the hospital, and they’ve been with me ever since.”  N.M.

Aspirations is a Children at Risk program which seeks to address the needs of youth who are “aging out” of the social protection system in Romania and are at risk for social and occupational discrimination as they make the transition to become fully independent adults. Aspirations offers ongoing psychological and family counseling, helps the young people further develop social skills, provides training in personal finance and household budgeting and even provides some financial assistance. The program also includes tutoring in job application and interview skills as well as further job search assistance. University scholarships are made available to those who demonstrate a desire to work and to succeed academically.

The goal of each Aspirations participant is to become a well-adjusted, independent and self-supporting adult, fully integrated into Romanian society.

Testimony: 

“Deborah House means joy, love and hope, and for me personally, it meant a chance to do something different, to become a doctor. It is hard to describe ten years of my life in only a few words, but I can say that during these years I learned to give back and to be the person God wants me to be. The people I met have become my models. In the end Deborah House will always be my family and I always gladly return to visit, cherishing the great memories I made.”
– Dr. Mirela