On the night we arrived in Campulung we had an amazing dinner Vio and Estera cooked us. We were sitting around the table and Estera said "Ok, it is time to go" I felt like I was in a fire drill, the way everyone jumped up, grabbed coats, left food on the table and headed out the door. We drove about 30 minutes over a mountain to the next village to an orphanage. Going to Romania, we all knew Americans were not allowed into orphanages. Many years back 60 minutes did a piece on Romanian orphanages and it did not go over well in Romania. Human trafficking is also very REAL in Romania and people were going into the orphanages videotaping girls offering them to bidders and then purchasing them for the sex trade. So, we were not allowed to bring cameras of any kind. When we arrived we could hear the children singing in the main room. I had brought all of the candy left from Landry's birthday party and they let me distribute it to the 40 or so children. The headmistress gave us a tour of the rooms to show off the recent renovations. We later discovered only the rooms she showed us were in that nice of condition. They had 4 bunk beds to a room and an armoire. One of the young men in the orphanage Scott has been visiting for years was there. He is a student who just recently graduated with his bachelor's and is now working on his masters.
One of the other interesting things about Romania was the bribe system. The better jobs require a bribe for a job. He is hoping to take over the orphanage when he is finished with school, with the right amount of bribe.
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