Child with a child learns to become a mother
Rodica comes from a poor and broken home. Her parents divorced when she was just three years old and since then she has lived with her grandmother, on her father’s side of the family. Her 64-year-old grandmother, Maria, is a widow with frail health that has struggled to raise her granddaughter the best way possible.
A grade nine student at a high school in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, Rodica has always achieved high grades – and still does today, even though now she has a two-month-old baby to care for.
Rodica’s grandmother cares for baby Valentin while she attends school during the day. When Rodica returns home, she lovingly teaches her granddaughter how to be a mother.
“Now I have two children to take care of: Rodica and her baby, Valentin.” says Maria.
Like other girls her age, Rodica probably dreamt of being a mother one day – but not at age 15. That choice was taken out of her hands however when she was raped by a 38-year-old neighbour – a father of two of her friends aged 14 and 15.
I was too ashamed to tell my grandmother I was raped. I was afraid to talk about it because I was threatened with death if I said anything to anyone On the 1st of January 2009 Rodica gave birth to the first child of the year. She turned 15 four days later.
Rodica went to visit her two friends next door but found their father home alone. The man invited her in the house and he started to threaten her and to hit her. He then raped her.
Traumatised and in shock, Rodica went home crying but she couldn’t share what had happened with her worried grandmother. “I was too ashamed to tell my grandmother I was raped. I was afraid to talk about it because I was threatened with death if I said anything to anyone.” says Rodica with a shallow voice and tears in her eyes.
She wrings her hands and looks down constantly. Rodica is a shy girl and she barely talks about the trauma she suffered. The rape affected her physically, mentally and socially.
Her grandmother realised she was pregnant when she took her to the doctor. At that time, Rodica was 16 weeks pregnant and her emotional condition was tenuous. “I did not know what to do then and I felt so guilty.” she says.
Maria explains, “I reported the rape immediately to the authorities and we are going through the legal process now with the rapist.”
Shame and poverty caused Maria to think that the only solution in her granddaughter’s situation was to leave the baby in the maternity hospital right after birth. She even told the local Child Protection Department about her granddaughter’s case.
World Vision learned about Rodica’s situation and through the ‘Empowered Mothers Keep Their Children’ project, staff intervened with counselling to prevent Rodica or Maria from abandoning the child and to support the family to care for the baby at home.
When the baby was born, neither Rodica nor Maria could abandon him in the maternity hospital. “My mother decided to take Valentin home. If it were not for her support and for World Vision, I probably would have left him at the hospital regretting this all my life. I did not know what to do then,” says Rodica.
My mother decided to take Valentin home. If it were not for her support and for World Vision, I probably would have left him at the hospital regretting this all my life
World Vision included the family in a six- month programme of material and social support, providing Ionela and her son with diapers, clothes for the family and for Valentin and vouchers (equivalent to 25 Euro/month).
“World Vision helps us more than anyone! Our monthly income consisting of my pension and Rodica’s allowance is 400 Lei (approximately 100 Euros). Valentin also receives the state allowance of 200 Lei (approximately 50 Euros) until the age of two. It is very hard to raise a child with this little income,” says Maria.
This grandmother wants the best for Rodica and her child. She teaches her granddaughter everything she knows about raising a child and she encourages her to spend time with her baby, to hold him and to talk to him.
Rodica would tell her grandmother, “I don’t know how to sing to Valentin the way you do”, but Maria would comfort her saying, “You will learn, my child.”
A World Vision social worker also visited them and talked to Rodica about opening up to her baby and giving him love and attention. Step by step, Rodica is learning the many aspects of being a mother – about the need to take her baby to the family doctor for immunisations, about the right temperature of the bath water and the concentration of the powdered milk.
Rodica is still going to the same school where nobody knows what happened to her in the last year. She hid her growing belly for nine months out of fear of being judged and rejected by her teachers and colleagues.
Now, she is happy with her baby and she calls him “my soul”. She likes to make plans with him saying: “I cannot wait for Valentin to grow up so that we can go to the park together and play together.”
A grade nine student at a high school in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, Rodica has always achieved high grades – and still does today, even though now she has a two-month-old baby to care for.
Rodica’s grandmother cares for baby Valentin while she attends school during the day. When Rodica returns home, she lovingly teaches her granddaughter how to be a mother.
“Now I have two children to take care of: Rodica and her baby, Valentin.” says Maria.
Like other girls her age, Rodica probably dreamt of being a mother one day – but not at age 15. That choice was taken out of her hands however when she was raped by a 38-year-old neighbour – a father of two of her friends aged 14 and 15.
I was too ashamed to tell my grandmother I was raped. I was afraid to talk about it because I was threatened with death if I said anything to anyone On the 1st of January 2009 Rodica gave birth to the first child of the year. She turned 15 four days later.
Rodica went to visit her two friends next door but found their father home alone. The man invited her in the house and he started to threaten her and to hit her. He then raped her.
Traumatised and in shock, Rodica went home crying but she couldn’t share what had happened with her worried grandmother. “I was too ashamed to tell my grandmother I was raped. I was afraid to talk about it because I was threatened with death if I said anything to anyone.” says Rodica with a shallow voice and tears in her eyes.
She wrings her hands and looks down constantly. Rodica is a shy girl and she barely talks about the trauma she suffered. The rape affected her physically, mentally and socially.
Her grandmother realised she was pregnant when she took her to the doctor. At that time, Rodica was 16 weeks pregnant and her emotional condition was tenuous. “I did not know what to do then and I felt so guilty.” she says.
Maria explains, “I reported the rape immediately to the authorities and we are going through the legal process now with the rapist.”
Shame and poverty caused Maria to think that the only solution in her granddaughter’s situation was to leave the baby in the maternity hospital right after birth. She even told the local Child Protection Department about her granddaughter’s case.
World Vision learned about Rodica’s situation and through the ‘Empowered Mothers Keep Their Children’ project, staff intervened with counselling to prevent Rodica or Maria from abandoning the child and to support the family to care for the baby at home.
When the baby was born, neither Rodica nor Maria could abandon him in the maternity hospital. “My mother decided to take Valentin home. If it were not for her support and for World Vision, I probably would have left him at the hospital regretting this all my life. I did not know what to do then,” says Rodica.
My mother decided to take Valentin home. If it were not for her support and for World Vision, I probably would have left him at the hospital regretting this all my life
World Vision included the family in a six- month programme of material and social support, providing Ionela and her son with diapers, clothes for the family and for Valentin and vouchers (equivalent to 25 Euro/month).
“World Vision helps us more than anyone! Our monthly income consisting of my pension and Rodica’s allowance is 400 Lei (approximately 100 Euros). Valentin also receives the state allowance of 200 Lei (approximately 50 Euros) until the age of two. It is very hard to raise a child with this little income,” says Maria.
This grandmother wants the best for Rodica and her child. She teaches her granddaughter everything she knows about raising a child and she encourages her to spend time with her baby, to hold him and to talk to him.
Rodica would tell her grandmother, “I don’t know how to sing to Valentin the way you do”, but Maria would comfort her saying, “You will learn, my child.”
A World Vision social worker also visited them and talked to Rodica about opening up to her baby and giving him love and attention. Step by step, Rodica is learning the many aspects of being a mother – about the need to take her baby to the family doctor for immunisations, about the right temperature of the bath water and the concentration of the powdered milk.
Rodica is still going to the same school where nobody knows what happened to her in the last year. She hid her growing belly for nine months out of fear of being judged and rejected by her teachers and colleagues.
Now, she is happy with her baby and she calls him “my soul”. She likes to make plans with him saying: “I cannot wait for Valentin to grow up so that we can go to the park together and play together.”
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