If you’re ever in Bucharest, Romania, I recommend visiting The People's Palace. The People's Palace is the second largest building in the world (points if you know what the largest building in the world is) and crafted with the finest materials you can come by. And if you do visit the grandiose Palace, then you must also pay a visit to the sewer kids who live mere blocks away.  

There are a handful of situations and things seen from my travels abroad that continue to haunt me. With my time in Romania, it’s the sewer kids. 

I was with a handful of people who were being shown around by the Teen Challenge Bucharest division. The site we walked upon to meet the kids was nothing like I had imagined. I had pictured a secluded area that was removed from city life. I was wrong. We were on a main street with heavy rush hour traffic flying by. We stood on the side of the busy street just above a main sewer line where hundreds of children were living.

Above the ground was a make shift tent where a 17 year old Gypsy girl lived with her newborn. A Teen Challenger worker from Spain brought her milk for the baby. Along a nearby chain linked fence I saw a manhole leading to the sewer world below. A guy in his early 20’s came up first. You could tell the sunlight hurt his eyes as he winced in a bit of pain. He made his way towards us and I noticed immediately his arm was bleeding. He had shot up just before coming up to the light.

Through a translator, this young man began to tell us he was ashamed of his habit but saw no other way.  Unfortunately he was singing the tune of so many of this sewer generation. Glue is the drug of choice for these kids simply because it’s easily accessible. With a trash bag and some glue, these kids sniff away their unfortunate reality. The glue suppresses their appetites and keeps them awake for days. If they want food they have to steal it. If they want sleep, they risk the possibility someone around them may steal the only possession they have; most likely something they’ve found on the street or stolen themselves.  The kids we met that day were so high it was impossible to carry on a conversation with them. They looked at us with glossy eyes as if they were staring at a brick wall. The children as old as 15 and 16 looked 10 due to malnutrition and chronic drug use.

The plan that day was to go down into the sewers to spend some time with the children who were down there. We never got that time. After the first guy came up after having shot up, the Teen Challenge leader we were with decided it wasn’t safe at that time for us to go down. I have to admit I was both relieved and ashamed.

I was very angry at the end of this day with the sewer kids. I was angry at the injustice these kids were being served upon a platter of filth. I was angry at The Palace for existing and for what it represented. I was angry that one man, Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his coward followers could cause so much destruction for so many. I was angry at the Romanian working class whose bus stopped in plain view of the sewer kids every day and who ignored them and the problem. Two and a half years after my time in Bucharest, I am still angry in many ways.

I had another experience with the sewer kids a few days after this first one. On this occasion, the group I was with traveled to a little room that we helped turn into a safe haven for any and all street kids who would come. Teen Challenge hosts a coffee house gathering (I never saw any coffee by the by) for these kids one afternoon a week. About 30 kids, mostly age 8-20 came that afternoon we were there. A few round tables were set up with comic book style literature on them along with pencils and blank paper. A few of the Teen Challenge volunteers used the literature to teach the kids how to read. Others used it to teach them how to trace the images with the pencils and blank paper. As old as they are, many lack motor skills and have a difficult time focusing on one thing. Some were learning how to spell their names.

Some songs were also sung that day. This is when the kids began to fall asleep. Once the speakers were through sharing about God’s undying love for them, the majority of the children were sleeping. I expected the education, the songs and the good news I heard that day. I did not expect to see most of the children sleeping through every minute of it. One of the leaders saw the confusion on my face and leaned in to tell me this one hour is typically the only hour of restful sleep they receive all week. We gently woke them, gave each of them some bread and water and just as quickly as they came, they left, only to return to the hell holes they came from. They would wait another week before they felt safe enough to sleep again.

The sewer kids left an impression on me. I sometimes feel overwhelmed by their state of existence. I have to pray and ramble my thoughts and feelings to Jesus. I believe he lays down besides them in the sewers filth. I believe he hears their cries for help and cares. I believe he is angry at the cruel punishment these children are enduring. I believe he desires to give them all rest and safety. My hope is that God will continue to use people like the Teen Challenge crew to jump down into the sewers with the purpose of bringing restoration to broken lives.

*Teen Challenge Romania
*Video of Teen Challenge Romania Director Catalin