Mia
Content
E
Mia
very day in the orphanage, I walked around pretending to play a violin. Back and forth I would go with my arm, sending my imaginary bow over the strings. The music I made was swirling around in my head, like the wind blowing on a summer day. I endured a great deal of ridicule because of the dream I was trying so much to make real. This wasn’t the only dream I had. My biggest desire was for a family with a Mama and Tata and with brothers and sisters. Most of the time I lived in a dream world. But being in the orphanage since I was three months old and never having my family come see me, I knew I would never get to have any of my dreams come true. I must have been bad that my parents didn’t want me. How could I expect to have anything good come to me? When I graduated high school, I knew I would be be living on the streets because that’s what happened with the orphans who graduated ahead of me. It was the same story year after year. The orphanage CP2 gave us Mia cared for Anca who was born blind.
no training or preparation for when we could no longer live there. No career training. I was frustrated, worried, and afraid as I had no family, no place to live, and no job. Through Cornel and Karen Bucur, who I had learned to know in the summer camps, I was placed in a Christian family. There I lived one year, and it was then that I made the decision to accept Jesus into my heart and be baptized at age 19. This family saw that I had music interest and abilities, and when they realized my greatest dream was to have a violin, they gave me one. They started me on lessons to learn it. I know it cost a lot of money. I was so grateful. It felt like my face was going to explode with all the joy that came out of my heart. I couldn’t get done thanking them for their kindness to me. I’m taking violin lessons at church and have been playing it now for three years. My teachers are twin sisters who manage the music there at church, the choir and instrument lessons for various people. Now I play at the church every Sunday. It helps me a lot to play the violin in a real music setting. My lessons are on Saturday to practice what we will perform on Sunday. This is more than I had ever dreamed – to actually have my own violin, receive instruction, and to get to play at church. Singing is also something I love and what I get to do on Sundays. At first I was unable to join this group because they wear a certain color of clothing so they all look professional as they sing. I did not have those clothes, and I did not have money to buy them. My first outfit I borrowed because I was determined to sing with the group, and I knew that was the only way I could join it. I look forward to church each Sunday because I know I will get to sing and play the violin. I’m getting to live out my dream every Sunday. I’m so happy and thankful to God. It’s Karen and Cornel that I give credit to for finding this family for me. They took some of the orphan kids from CP2 and placed them in Christian families. They could not think of having us kids end up living on the streets. They prayed a lot for the right families to take each of us as we graduated high school. My family exhibited a lot of love to me. They taught me how to be in relationship with others, with family members. They helped me learn social abilities. That is something we never were taught in the orphanage. In that family, I drew much closer to God. The family was part of the Baptist church, Biserica Tapor in Oradea. I am close with that family still today. The parents asked me to call them Mama and Tata. It took me
awhile to do that because I never had anyone to be Mama and Tata in my life. That is the first chance I ever had to have someone be that. I used to just call them by name, but they insisted. They helped me to see that it was okay to call them Mama and Tata. As much as I wanted to be in family, it was difficult for me to adjust and adapt to being a child in a family. I didn’t know what it really meant to live like that. Mama and Tata have five children natural born in their family. One was living in Austria, and one was serving in the army. The other three were living at home. At the beginning we had a tough time living together, us four and relating in a good way. Those three children used to say, “You’re a Gypsy. You’re not like us.” That hurt me a lot. I hated it. In fact, sometimes I just felt like running away. But I knew I had no place to go. I knew I would be on the streets. I would be without any one to care for me. I would be without Mama and Tata. I knew that it was only the kids who felt that way, not my new parents. It was the kids who did not trust having a Gypsy person live in their home. They thought such children were always stealing, and they thought it was worse with Gypsy children who were from an Soladat was born paralyzed from the neck down. orphanage. Over time, they learned that I was not that kind of person. I was close to Cornel and Karen in that time, and when anything got difficult for me, I would go talk to Cornel and tell him what I was feeling. He helped me cross the barriers with Mama and Tata’s children. I am most grateful to the Bucurs because I know without their intervention, I would have been on the streets. And where would I be today? I am very thankful for all their love. If they are doing anything bad, I would still love them – but I know they would not be doing that.
The way I met Cornel and Karen was when I was still in high school and living at CP2. They invited all of us, as many as could come, to go to camp in the summer. I don’t remember where it was, though it seemed a long way off. But I do remember that it was a gorgeous setting, out in the country and away from the CP2 campus. It was beautiful, especially at night with the sky full of stars and lots of fresh air. It seemed I could breathe from the bottom of my feet with fresh, strong breaths of clean air. It was there in the camp with them that I learned to know God and learned about the Christian life. Many young people were there from Emmanuel Baptist College in Oradea. They help with the camps in the summer. I remember that first experience. I was so refreshed that I was transported into another time and place. Not until our return did I realize the depth of my desire to live a life with meaning and not repeat what was done to me. We campers from CP2 did not have a regular, on-going relationship with Karen and Cornel at that time, but they surprised me and some others with beautiful flowers at our graduation from high school. It was then that we experienced their love for us and when they saw that we each got placed into good Christian families. Mine was the one who ended up giving me the violin and encouraging me in it, as you remember from what I said before. With my graduation and entering this family, I started thinking more about my biological mother. She had never tried to make contact with me or find me through all those 19 years since I was abandoned to the orphanage. I had been told that she had left me there when I was three months of age. I did not know if I had brothers or sisters. I thought I might have, but did not know. It was a very lonely feeling to me. Like I was just dropped off out of nowhere. Like I never belonged to anyone. Like no one ever wanted to have me around. Finally I met my mom when I was 28 years old. I learned that I have two sisters. She told me they were in the orphanage, too. But I don’t know – were they in the same one as me? That was never clear to me. I have never met them. I just know about them. I don’t even know their ages. As for my mother, I was shocked when I first saw her. I asked her, “Is it true that you are my mother? Show me your identity card. I will not believe it unless I can see that.” I talked to my mother from a distance. I had no desire to get close to her. I asked her why she had abandoned me. I wondered if she did not have the conditions to raise me, or what the problem was that
she cast me aside. She answered me, “If I had raised you, you wouldn’t have had the opportunity to have graduated high school. You would have had no education. That’s why I took you to the orphanage.” When my mother asked me why I don’t call her Mama, I said to her, “I don’t call you Mama because you didn’t raise me. Mia loving the least. It’s very hard for me to call you Mama, when you did not take care of me but just abandoned me instead. I will call you only by your name. Just your name.” She had no concept of how painful it was for me to grow up without a mother. I learned she was from the Gypsy village in Osorhei. When I first met her, she wanted money. She knew I had a job and that’s why she asked me for money. I think she wants to have a relationship with me now because she is hoping I will give her money. I am not giving her any money. Instead I bought her some shampoo, some personal hygiene items, some supplies and some food. Those types of things. That’s what I will do. But not any money. She is not happy about that. My uncle, my mother’s brother, told me that if he ever meets me alone anywhere, he will beat me up for not giving her money. Interestingly, he does not allow my mother to have me come visit her any more. My mother does have an occasional job now, cleaning for various people. At my last visit I learned that my mother has a medical problem, epilepsy. I am concerned about that. I encouraged her to go to the Pentecostal church in Osorhei village. In fact, I asked her to come with me to church, but she doesn’t want to know God. I told her about how I learned to know God in the camps and how I took Jesus into my heart. I explained to her all about the peace I have in my
heart, but she still does not want to allow Jesus into her heart. As I talked with her some more, she started to cry. Maybe she will start to think about our talk and go to church where they can help her and pray with her. Maybe she can be healed of her epilepsy. I thought to myself, was she crying because of thinking about the peace she could have with Jesus or was it because she was sorry for abandoning me or was it both? I don’t know, but I know that I will always pray for my mother. I had another question for my mother, that was about my father. I wondered where he is and what has happened to him. I have never seen him in all my life. What I think about him is just a total dream. I have no imagination to consider him. I have never seen any pictures of him. So I have no idea of his appearance. My mother said he stays with another woman in some other place. I would like to someday meet him, but maybe I won’t have any more satisfaction with that meeting than I have with my natural mother. I have to accept that my parents had a lot of troubles. I want to make my life better and not have those troubles. My third family, actually my first family, was the orphanage family. I can hardly call them family for I did not have any family-type feelings from living there. Nevertheless, it was family because that’s all I had and that was where I lived day in and day out. Actually, I was part of three different orphanages – two in Oradea and before that one in county Bihor. This living situation was very bad. I remember
Mia loves them and they love her.
being beaten by older orphans and by adults there. The adults were staff members who were to be our guides and protectors. When we received Christmas gifts or any kind of gift, the older kids would steal them from us or beat us to get them away from us. They took all our presents from us. Life was very hard there. It was hard to go to school from there. We were treated poorly and with contempt by children from families in the community and by the teachers and staff at the school. All of us kids from the orphanage would stick together at school for protection and safety. Every day I trembled with fear and insecurity, trying to learn my lessons anyway. In spite of everything, I did make some good friendships at CP2, and I have those friends today. They work with me in the hospital and we live together in an apartment. I count them as my family. In a sense, they are my fourth family. The big concern I had when I was pushed out of the orphanage was how I would fend for myself. What kind of work could I do? I knew I needed to work to pay for food and clothing and a place to live. Living with the Christian family Karen and Cornel arranged for me helped that first year, but I still wondered about my future. I had no skills and no training for any kind of occupation. I had just come to know the Lord Jesus, and I believed in my heart that He would provide for me because He loves me. Karen and Cornel approached me about working in the children’s hospital to help take care of babies abandoned there by their families who never came to see them. I perked right up because I remembered what had been done to me, and I sure did not want to see that done to other children. Four of us girls from CP2 who grew up together and became friends were given these jobs to care for tossed-off children. We had no training. All we had to offer was the love of Jesus in our hearts. We each had the memories of having been unwanted for our entire lives. Three of us were together from the beginning – Ana, Maria, and I. The other friend came to live in our orphanage later on. We were and still are like sisters. We share our apartment together. Ana and I are especially close and share the same bedroom. It’s now been over ten years that I’ve been working in the hospital. My interest area has been working with the special needs children, babies with genetic problems. My heart is very touched with them because they are cast off even more than just a normal child. They need more love and affection. Our foundation, Pathway to Joy Ministries, and other foundations provide supplies such as diapers, clothing, bottles, toys, and even food items such as bananas, yogurt,
formula, etc. The hospital is government owned and operated, but it does not provide any of these items for the children. The most difficult part of my job is that I get very attached to these children. For instance, Rebecca stole my love when she first came to us. She suffered with hydrocephalic condition and she died at 12:00 noon one day when I was taking care of her. I cried as I closed her eyes. I cried to lose her, and I cried that no one in her family was there to hold her as she died. No one had come to see her at any time. Another girl four years old, named Mikal, took a spot in my heart. When she had a birthday, I bought a big cake for her. Later she died, and I bought some new clothes to put on her for her funeral. Again, she was without her family. Now I am caring for Kevin, who is suffering with Down syndrome. He has been here for a couple years. His big problem is that he has severe indigestion and is in great pain. When I hold him and stroke his back, he seems relieved and is able to relax. He has no family coming to see him or inquire about him. When I learned he was going to be taken from the hospital and placed in a large foster home, I burst into tears. I worry about him. Will he receive the love and care he needs there or will he be just another child? Since he will have his birthday before leaving, I am preparing a little party for him. I purchased some new pajamas and some other clothing for him. I am very attached to Kevin, perhaps more attached to him than I have ever been with any other child. In his own limited way, Kevin has started to call me, “Mom-mom, Mom-mom.” He always has a little smile when he sees me come in each morning at 8:00. I will miss him very much.
About the same time my friends and I started working at the hospital, another foundation called People to People helped us to get an apartment – one that had three bedrooms where six of us can live together and share expenses. But without the help of the foundation, we are not able to pay all of our expenses. The Christian family I had stayed with for a year is part of that foundation. I know they had something to do with helping us get a place. When I look at my life, I am so thankful to God. I had a little time in the hospital as an adult patient, and I think it helped me to have more love for the children I watch. I’m thankful to Cornel and Karen, for they have been like parents to me. I count them as my parents. They gave me job opportunity and have given me much love and affection. It’s not an easy thing to be an orphan. When I would see other families, I felt sadness and loneliness. But I have come to know that I must be thankful for the life I have. The biggest wish for all orphans everywhere is to have a family,
Mia lovingly cared for Kevin until he was placed in a group home.
to have parents. They see other children who have a family and who do not show their parents any respect. In the orphanage it is painful because no one shows you love and affection. No respect. I see that many children who grow up with parents and family are not grateful and never say thank you to their mother and father for all they are given, such as food, clothing and shelter. They have no gratitude in their hearts. That makes me sad to see such an attitude. One of my biggest points of thankfulness is the money and supplies the sponsors send each year for the abandoned children here at our hospital. I am so thankful to God. I pray God’s blessings on each person who gives. I’m so grateful for the mission teams that come here to show love and attention to our dear little babies. That makes me smile and thank my Jesus. For you see, these children are now my children, my family. Editor’s note:
During times when donations have not been adequate for providing some of the basics for the children, Mia has purchased supplies with her own money – especially for Kevin, because he needed more diapers and wipes than the other children.
Mia with Ana, Maria and Irene Byers
Mia
very day in the orphanage, I walked around pretending to play a violin. Back and forth I would go with my arm, sending my imaginary bow over the strings. The music I made was swirling around in my head, like the wind blowing on a summer day. I endured a great deal of ridicule because of the dream I was trying so much to make real. This wasn’t the only dream I had. My biggest desire was for a family with a Mama and Tata and with brothers and sisters. Most of the time I lived in a dream world. But being in the orphanage since I was three months old and never having my family come see me, I knew I would never get to have any of my dreams come true. I must have been bad that my parents didn’t want me. How could I expect to have anything good come to me? When I graduated high school, I knew I would be be living on the streets because that’s what happened with the orphans who graduated ahead of me. It was the same story year after year. The orphanage CP2 gave us Mia cared for Anca who was born blind.
no training or preparation for when we could no longer live there. No career training. I was frustrated, worried, and afraid as I had no family, no place to live, and no job. Through Cornel and Karen Bucur, who I had learned to know in the summer camps, I was placed in a Christian family. There I lived one year, and it was then that I made the decision to accept Jesus into my heart and be baptized at age 19. This family saw that I had music interest and abilities, and when they realized my greatest dream was to have a violin, they gave me one. They started me on lessons to learn it. I know it cost a lot of money. I was so grateful. It felt like my face was going to explode with all the joy that came out of my heart. I couldn’t get done thanking them for their kindness to me. I’m taking violin lessons at church and have been playing it now for three years. My teachers are twin sisters who manage the music there at church, the choir and instrument lessons for various people. Now I play at the church every Sunday. It helps me a lot to play the violin in a real music setting. My lessons are on Saturday to practice what we will perform on Sunday. This is more than I had ever dreamed – to actually have my own violin, receive instruction, and to get to play at church. Singing is also something I love and what I get to do on Sundays. At first I was unable to join this group because they wear a certain color of clothing so they all look professional as they sing. I did not have those clothes, and I did not have money to buy them. My first outfit I borrowed because I was determined to sing with the group, and I knew that was the only way I could join it. I look forward to church each Sunday because I know I will get to sing and play the violin. I’m getting to live out my dream every Sunday. I’m so happy and thankful to God. It’s Karen and Cornel that I give credit to for finding this family for me. They took some of the orphan kids from CP2 and placed them in Christian families. They could not think of having us kids end up living on the streets. They prayed a lot for the right families to take each of us as we graduated high school. My family exhibited a lot of love to me. They taught me how to be in relationship with others, with family members. They helped me learn social abilities. That is something we never were taught in the orphanage. In that family, I drew much closer to God. The family was part of the Baptist church, Biserica Tapor in Oradea. I am close with that family still today. The parents asked me to call them Mama and Tata. It took me
awhile to do that because I never had anyone to be Mama and Tata in my life. That is the first chance I ever had to have someone be that. I used to just call them by name, but they insisted. They helped me to see that it was okay to call them Mama and Tata. As much as I wanted to be in family, it was difficult for me to adjust and adapt to being a child in a family. I didn’t know what it really meant to live like that. Mama and Tata have five children natural born in their family. One was living in Austria, and one was serving in the army. The other three were living at home. At the beginning we had a tough time living together, us four and relating in a good way. Those three children used to say, “You’re a Gypsy. You’re not like us.” That hurt me a lot. I hated it. In fact, sometimes I just felt like running away. But I knew I had no place to go. I knew I would be on the streets. I would be without any one to care for me. I would be without Mama and Tata. I knew that it was only the kids who felt that way, not my new parents. It was the kids who did not trust having a Gypsy person live in their home. They thought such children were always stealing, and they thought it was worse with Gypsy children who were from an Soladat was born paralyzed from the neck down. orphanage. Over time, they learned that I was not that kind of person. I was close to Cornel and Karen in that time, and when anything got difficult for me, I would go talk to Cornel and tell him what I was feeling. He helped me cross the barriers with Mama and Tata’s children. I am most grateful to the Bucurs because I know without their intervention, I would have been on the streets. And where would I be today? I am very thankful for all their love. If they are doing anything bad, I would still love them – but I know they would not be doing that.
The way I met Cornel and Karen was when I was still in high school and living at CP2. They invited all of us, as many as could come, to go to camp in the summer. I don’t remember where it was, though it seemed a long way off. But I do remember that it was a gorgeous setting, out in the country and away from the CP2 campus. It was beautiful, especially at night with the sky full of stars and lots of fresh air. It seemed I could breathe from the bottom of my feet with fresh, strong breaths of clean air. It was there in the camp with them that I learned to know God and learned about the Christian life. Many young people were there from Emmanuel Baptist College in Oradea. They help with the camps in the summer. I remember that first experience. I was so refreshed that I was transported into another time and place. Not until our return did I realize the depth of my desire to live a life with meaning and not repeat what was done to me. We campers from CP2 did not have a regular, on-going relationship with Karen and Cornel at that time, but they surprised me and some others with beautiful flowers at our graduation from high school. It was then that we experienced their love for us and when they saw that we each got placed into good Christian families. Mine was the one who ended up giving me the violin and encouraging me in it, as you remember from what I said before. With my graduation and entering this family, I started thinking more about my biological mother. She had never tried to make contact with me or find me through all those 19 years since I was abandoned to the orphanage. I had been told that she had left me there when I was three months of age. I did not know if I had brothers or sisters. I thought I might have, but did not know. It was a very lonely feeling to me. Like I was just dropped off out of nowhere. Like I never belonged to anyone. Like no one ever wanted to have me around. Finally I met my mom when I was 28 years old. I learned that I have two sisters. She told me they were in the orphanage, too. But I don’t know – were they in the same one as me? That was never clear to me. I have never met them. I just know about them. I don’t even know their ages. As for my mother, I was shocked when I first saw her. I asked her, “Is it true that you are my mother? Show me your identity card. I will not believe it unless I can see that.” I talked to my mother from a distance. I had no desire to get close to her. I asked her why she had abandoned me. I wondered if she did not have the conditions to raise me, or what the problem was that
she cast me aside. She answered me, “If I had raised you, you wouldn’t have had the opportunity to have graduated high school. You would have had no education. That’s why I took you to the orphanage.” When my mother asked me why I don’t call her Mama, I said to her, “I don’t call you Mama because you didn’t raise me. Mia loving the least. It’s very hard for me to call you Mama, when you did not take care of me but just abandoned me instead. I will call you only by your name. Just your name.” She had no concept of how painful it was for me to grow up without a mother. I learned she was from the Gypsy village in Osorhei. When I first met her, she wanted money. She knew I had a job and that’s why she asked me for money. I think she wants to have a relationship with me now because she is hoping I will give her money. I am not giving her any money. Instead I bought her some shampoo, some personal hygiene items, some supplies and some food. Those types of things. That’s what I will do. But not any money. She is not happy about that. My uncle, my mother’s brother, told me that if he ever meets me alone anywhere, he will beat me up for not giving her money. Interestingly, he does not allow my mother to have me come visit her any more. My mother does have an occasional job now, cleaning for various people. At my last visit I learned that my mother has a medical problem, epilepsy. I am concerned about that. I encouraged her to go to the Pentecostal church in Osorhei village. In fact, I asked her to come with me to church, but she doesn’t want to know God. I told her about how I learned to know God in the camps and how I took Jesus into my heart. I explained to her all about the peace I have in my
heart, but she still does not want to allow Jesus into her heart. As I talked with her some more, she started to cry. Maybe she will start to think about our talk and go to church where they can help her and pray with her. Maybe she can be healed of her epilepsy. I thought to myself, was she crying because of thinking about the peace she could have with Jesus or was it because she was sorry for abandoning me or was it both? I don’t know, but I know that I will always pray for my mother. I had another question for my mother, that was about my father. I wondered where he is and what has happened to him. I have never seen him in all my life. What I think about him is just a total dream. I have no imagination to consider him. I have never seen any pictures of him. So I have no idea of his appearance. My mother said he stays with another woman in some other place. I would like to someday meet him, but maybe I won’t have any more satisfaction with that meeting than I have with my natural mother. I have to accept that my parents had a lot of troubles. I want to make my life better and not have those troubles. My third family, actually my first family, was the orphanage family. I can hardly call them family for I did not have any family-type feelings from living there. Nevertheless, it was family because that’s all I had and that was where I lived day in and day out. Actually, I was part of three different orphanages – two in Oradea and before that one in county Bihor. This living situation was very bad. I remember
Mia loves them and they love her.
being beaten by older orphans and by adults there. The adults were staff members who were to be our guides and protectors. When we received Christmas gifts or any kind of gift, the older kids would steal them from us or beat us to get them away from us. They took all our presents from us. Life was very hard there. It was hard to go to school from there. We were treated poorly and with contempt by children from families in the community and by the teachers and staff at the school. All of us kids from the orphanage would stick together at school for protection and safety. Every day I trembled with fear and insecurity, trying to learn my lessons anyway. In spite of everything, I did make some good friendships at CP2, and I have those friends today. They work with me in the hospital and we live together in an apartment. I count them as my family. In a sense, they are my fourth family. The big concern I had when I was pushed out of the orphanage was how I would fend for myself. What kind of work could I do? I knew I needed to work to pay for food and clothing and a place to live. Living with the Christian family Karen and Cornel arranged for me helped that first year, but I still wondered about my future. I had no skills and no training for any kind of occupation. I had just come to know the Lord Jesus, and I believed in my heart that He would provide for me because He loves me. Karen and Cornel approached me about working in the children’s hospital to help take care of babies abandoned there by their families who never came to see them. I perked right up because I remembered what had been done to me, and I sure did not want to see that done to other children. Four of us girls from CP2 who grew up together and became friends were given these jobs to care for tossed-off children. We had no training. All we had to offer was the love of Jesus in our hearts. We each had the memories of having been unwanted for our entire lives. Three of us were together from the beginning – Ana, Maria, and I. The other friend came to live in our orphanage later on. We were and still are like sisters. We share our apartment together. Ana and I are especially close and share the same bedroom. It’s now been over ten years that I’ve been working in the hospital. My interest area has been working with the special needs children, babies with genetic problems. My heart is very touched with them because they are cast off even more than just a normal child. They need more love and affection. Our foundation, Pathway to Joy Ministries, and other foundations provide supplies such as diapers, clothing, bottles, toys, and even food items such as bananas, yogurt,
formula, etc. The hospital is government owned and operated, but it does not provide any of these items for the children. The most difficult part of my job is that I get very attached to these children. For instance, Rebecca stole my love when she first came to us. She suffered with hydrocephalic condition and she died at 12:00 noon one day when I was taking care of her. I cried as I closed her eyes. I cried to lose her, and I cried that no one in her family was there to hold her as she died. No one had come to see her at any time. Another girl four years old, named Mikal, took a spot in my heart. When she had a birthday, I bought a big cake for her. Later she died, and I bought some new clothes to put on her for her funeral. Again, she was without her family. Now I am caring for Kevin, who is suffering with Down syndrome. He has been here for a couple years. His big problem is that he has severe indigestion and is in great pain. When I hold him and stroke his back, he seems relieved and is able to relax. He has no family coming to see him or inquire about him. When I learned he was going to be taken from the hospital and placed in a large foster home, I burst into tears. I worry about him. Will he receive the love and care he needs there or will he be just another child? Since he will have his birthday before leaving, I am preparing a little party for him. I purchased some new pajamas and some other clothing for him. I am very attached to Kevin, perhaps more attached to him than I have ever been with any other child. In his own limited way, Kevin has started to call me, “Mom-mom, Mom-mom.” He always has a little smile when he sees me come in each morning at 8:00. I will miss him very much.
About the same time my friends and I started working at the hospital, another foundation called People to People helped us to get an apartment – one that had three bedrooms where six of us can live together and share expenses. But without the help of the foundation, we are not able to pay all of our expenses. The Christian family I had stayed with for a year is part of that foundation. I know they had something to do with helping us get a place. When I look at my life, I am so thankful to God. I had a little time in the hospital as an adult patient, and I think it helped me to have more love for the children I watch. I’m thankful to Cornel and Karen, for they have been like parents to me. I count them as my parents. They gave me job opportunity and have given me much love and affection. It’s not an easy thing to be an orphan. When I would see other families, I felt sadness and loneliness. But I have come to know that I must be thankful for the life I have. The biggest wish for all orphans everywhere is to have a family,
Mia lovingly cared for Kevin until he was placed in a group home.
to have parents. They see other children who have a family and who do not show their parents any respect. In the orphanage it is painful because no one shows you love and affection. No respect. I see that many children who grow up with parents and family are not grateful and never say thank you to their mother and father for all they are given, such as food, clothing and shelter. They have no gratitude in their hearts. That makes me sad to see such an attitude. One of my biggest points of thankfulness is the money and supplies the sponsors send each year for the abandoned children here at our hospital. I am so thankful to God. I pray God’s blessings on each person who gives. I’m so grateful for the mission teams that come here to show love and attention to our dear little babies. That makes me smile and thank my Jesus. For you see, these children are now my children, my family. Editor’s note:
During times when donations have not been adequate for providing some of the basics for the children, Mia has purchased supplies with her own money – especially for Kevin, because he needed more diapers and wipes than the other children.
Mia with Ana, Maria and Irene Byers
