In the 1st of June we wanted to organize a special meeting between women who are in prison and their children, with the help of Reintegration Department in Aiud Maximum Security Prison and Child Protection. The theme of the meeting was “Rehabilitation a problem that concerns the whole family”. For this meeting we prepared special presents for the children who have mothers in prison. Together with us we had a guest: Sanda Sofineti that talked about her personal experience as a child having her father in prison. We also had a reporter from “The Voice of Gospel “Radio with us. Sanda talked about what acceptance, understanding and forgiveness means, about the consequences she suffered as a child with a parent in prison, about how she managed to get over all the pain and difficulties through faith. God gave her the power to forgive and to find a meaning for her experiences- to be a support for people who are in the same situation.

It was a very emotional meeting. We had invited 33 children and almost everyone appeared. Their mother had prepared for them a small present: a candy, a wafer, a toy. My though in that moment was about how many things they had to give up in order to make the presents. Paulina, one of the mothers, asked her children to forgive her for the suffering she created in their lives and assured them of her love. Her greatest desire is that, with the help of God, to be again together with her family. Paulina advised her children to behave good, to learn from her mistakes and to forgive her. Mothers also thanked to the foster parents that they take care of their children while they are imprisoned, they also thanked to the Child Protection Direction.
What we could see was the attitude of mothers towards their children, some of them had real difficulties in approaching their children, some of them had the courage to express their feelings, and some of them were rejected by their children. Another interesting thing was the relationship between foster families and parents. Foster parents have a great responsibility towards the parents in detention. They are caught between the pain of the child to be separated from the family and their struggle to be good caregivers.

The thought we had when we left was how important is to be responsible for your children. Every small action has consequences for the children also.
Children enjoyed their sweets, toys, juice and clothing. Parents shared their joy. We thank Coca Cola Company for the juice and Feleacul Company for the sweets.

The second activity he had for Child’s day was a picnic for minor inmates outside of Aiud Prison. The purpose was to socialize with minor inmates and to spend this special day with them playing football, tennis, talking, together with Rescue’s volunteers and officers from the Reeducation Department. We made French fries, chicken grill; we enjoyed lunch together talking about ourselves, future plans, changing.

Minor inmate’s present for us was a poem written by one of them. The poem presents the difficulty of being a child and to be imprisoned, about the difficult life they had, their families and about the community that rejects them.

Inmates were sociable and we interacted with us, our only regret was not to have more time to spend with them to be able to get to know each other better and to start a trusting relationship with them. They all were waiting to be released, were making future plan, but the faith in their own capacity to live a better life was missing. They were negative oriented; they didn’t dare to dream of more.