Emanuela Chiritescu, who works for the charity Asociatia Semn de Viata (Sign of Life) and is the Director of a Maternal Centre in Bucharest, presenteded next.  Emanuela gave a very moving presentation about her work with abandoned babies in maternity hospitals and the foster families caring for these babies, as well as the Maternal Centre, where vulnerable mothers are able to live whilst pregnant and until their baby is 7 months old.  The work she does is not state supported financially and they rely entirely on donations.  It started as a result of the increasing number of abandoned babies, who were left in hospitals, with minimal human contact and just fed with a bottle propped on a towel to hold it in their mouths and taken away after 10 minutes.  Babies were usually 3 in a bed and as it is illegal to live in a maternity hospital, they had to keep moving them from hospital to hospital.  The only other hope was to find foster families, but this was not successful.  It was decided to set up a programme to take care of pregnant mums in a special centre, where they can receive counselling, learn to be a mum and after the baby is born, help them to find a home and  a job, so that they can support themselves and their baby.  This has helped to reduce the number of abandoned babies.  We saw some very moving video footage of the hospitals as well as the Maternal Centre, which showed just how valuable the work is, that Emanuela and her colleagues are doing, and what a difference it is making to the lives of the young mums and their babies.  I have to confess, it did move me to tears and I am sure I was not the only one!

Most of the young mums have never experienced positive touch and have often been abused by their family or father.  They have no trust in their own ability, their future or other people and self esteem is very low.  As a result the same mistakes keep being repeated with each generation, but the Maternal Centre is helping to prevent this by building up self esteem.  Infant massage plays a big part in this, by helping mums to bond with their babies in a way that they never did with their own parents.  They see this as a miracle, as it is not a normal part of Romanian life, where unwanted babies are hated and seen as a barrier to life.  Their anxiety can be passed on to their babies, but infant massage helps them to relax and feel empowered that they are doing something for themselves.  There are also older children in the house who can be disruptive, but massage has helped to calm them down.  Massage day is the calmest day in the house, where once a week, mums also massage each other.

If anyone feels that they could help to support this amazing project, the Guild is able to give information on how to make donations.