ARCHWAY Romania Who We Help · Archway Romania | Archway, Inc. | Please donate to help the abandoned children of Romania

This is a tribute for Radu Grafian Nicu, one of the children helped by Archway Romania. I remember, on one of my first visits to Bucharest, sitting in a small park watching this scrawny little kid jumping in and out of a fountain to escape the heat. At first I thought he was just having fun but then I realized he was trying to get clean from all the dirt and grime of living in the streets. He did not have other clothes or a bar of soap or a towel but he was intent on getting a little cleaner and cooling off. Out of the corner of my eye I saw two security guards running toward him so I jumped up and motioned to him to get out of the fountain (which he did) and run away. That was my first introduction to Radu Nicu Grafian – one of the abandoned children who lived in the streets and tunnels of the capital city.

A woman and a young man posing for the camera.

I had seen a program on TV and decided to go to Romania to further investigate the children who had been put into state institutions by their parents when the Berlin Wall fell (in 1989) and the stark reality that occurred to an already impoverished citizenry that they could no longer feed the children they had because the government subsidies had ended and birth control was still illegal. Of course, no one in Romania was about to reveal the government’s dirty little secrets so I was never given any information about the kids I kept tripping over on the stairs going down to the subway or hunkering down in the parks. When I finally, in desperation, went to the American Embassy to find out who they were, where they lived, and to whom they belonged, I was told by an embassy guard that I shouldn’t worry about them because they would be dead soon anyway. My Radu, the scrawny little kid I watched playing in the fountain, was one of those kids. He never knew his father but he lived with his mother until she got a new boyfriend who did not want Radu around so she put him out to fend for himself. It took us years to learn his name and for the longest time we just assumed he didn’t know what his last name was. That was until he surprised Gica and me years later by writing in perfect cursive Radu Nicu Grafian.

A man and woman standing next to each other.

Radu became an important part of every visit I made to Bucharest. I used to get on the subway at night and walk around on the streets of downtown looking for him. Or Gica and I would get into the van and go searching for him. One day we were searching for him and he was being harassed by three thugs who were following him down the street making fun of him. I jumped out of the van and got between Radu and the three thugs and started screaming and carrying-on like a crazy woman. I don’t know if these three creeps thought I was crazy or whether they were afraid of getting into trouble for harassing an American but, either way, they turned around and ran in the opposite direction.

Two people sitting on a couch with one holding a cell phone.

Â Radu never asked for anything. He was very proud of the fact that he did not beg and he never stole anything. The only thing he ever wanted that we could tell was a little transistor radio that anyone could buy in any store in the area. He liked to listen to the music when he was falling asleep at night. I must have bought dozens of those things over the years because they would break or he would lose them or give them to anyone who would ask him for them. He also liked to go to McDonald’s for the Happy Meal. He liked the little toys that came with the meals. When we couldn’t find him I used to go and sit in the McDonald’s Restaurant at Universitate because that was one of the first places we found him after a long absence. On several occasions I didn’t see him at all because he would stow away on a train and go to the Black Sea where he said he was vacationing. At Christmas time we would press Radu into service as an elf (which was a role he cherished). Gica who would supply him with toys and food for children Archway had not discovered yet and POOF, Radu became Santa’s Little emissary. Everything we gave him to deliver went directly to the children for whom they were meant. He never took anything that was not intended for him and he was adamant that every child got something for Christmas. We had lean years but somehow, Gica and Radu made sure every child got something soft and warm Christmas morning.

A man and woman sitting next to each other.

Several years ago I got an e-mail from Gica telling me that Radu had died. He had fallen asleep outside on the street by himself and when his friend went looking for him he was gone. I don’t know the reason (it was cold and I don’t know if he froze – or his heart simply gave out). Gica claimed his ashes and he found him a little plot in a nearby cemetery. Of course, me being a garish American had to get him a headstone like none of the rest of the markers in the part of the cemetery for the homeless. But we go there every time I go to Romania and we pay our respects and leave our love. I am so grateful to Gica and all our Archway friends for the kindness and compassion shown to Radu Nicu Grafian. The inscription on Radu’s headstone reads:

Life is merely froth and bubble,

Two things stand like stone,

Kindness in another’s trouble,

Courage in your own.

Adam Lindsay Gordon

Rest in peace, my child and never forget you were loved.

Copyright © Archway Romania Foundation, All rights reserved

Donate Save a Child

56% funded

With the funds raised, Archway Romania will have resources to help children, especially those from vulnerable families, benefit from integrated community services: benefit from the treatments they need, grow up with their families, grow harmoniously without violence and enjoy childhood. According to Eurostat data in 2013, more than 40% of Romania’s population, or more than 49% of the Romanian children’s population, were at risk of living in poverty. Approximately 300,000 children in Romania are outside the education system, over 60,000 children are separated from their families, and about 10% of pregnancies are recorded in adolescents. The reasons are complex, interdependent and continue to be passed on from one generation to the next. Low access to health, social and education services, plus limited knowledge of rights and opportunities, lead to social exclusion of vulnerable families and their children. The economic crisis has affected vulnerable families through job losses and reduced incomes from work in the country or abroad. The crisis has also affected the capacity of social protection, health and education systems to meet the multiple needs of vulnerable children and families. The most vulnerable children are those in poor families, Roma communities, and children with disabilities.

General Fund

ARCHWAY Romania needs donations to keep our organization viable and to help these abandoned children of Romania, Rest in peace, Radu.

Every day, children of every age become orphaned or abandoned due to violence, natural disasters, poverty or disease. Without the support of a family, the outlook for these children is bleak.

Your gift to Archway Romania today provides children with:

Warm clean clothes;
Healthy meals and medical care
Identity Papers
Preschool, primary and secondary education counseling and training
School supplies
Emergency relief help in crisis situations

Established in 1999, Archway Romania is the one of the largest organization based in Bucharest devoted to the care of orphaned and abandoned children living on the streets of Bucharest.

Donate Help a Child to Go to School

100% funded

Archway Romania foundation provides the necessary material and financial support for the education of the children who come from poor families, disadvantaged families, foster care , with disabilities and difficult health problems who need a warm meal, a sandwich, an education and a help for their integration in school system.

In Romania, 1 in 5 children are facing major deficiencies, the parents of these children have lost their jobs( most of the time temporary or seasonal jobs), and who ended up in the situation of not having food, hygiene products, medicine, basic foodstuffs to survive, lack of a home and the discrimination due to poverty.

The pandemic has deeply affected the education and has worsened the existing social inequalities.

Any of your contribution will be invested for the benefit of street children, to prevent school leaving, discrimination and juvenile delinquency, together with you we can give necessary equipment to be able to carry out their online classes( tablets, internet access), educational materials( backpacks, notebooks, pens, markers, crayons, geometric kits, pencil cases , etc), clothes and shoes, food and personal hygiene products to help them not to drop out of school because of poverty and poor living conditions.

Thanks for your interest in this critical step forward for our kids.

Please Help Us to Replace the Old and Broken Car

14% funded

Please help us raise urgently the amount of 20.000$ in order to buy a new car to continue helping street children and disadvantaged families that we help together for 23 years .

Our car is old, it was manufactured in 2006.We fixed several defects that the car developed over time, and recently in order to be able to help children from the street, we had to repair the water pump for cooling the engine and the oil leaks that the car has, shortly after that we had to change the clutch kit with the pressure plate.

Another more expensive repair was the removal of the rust that appeared aggressively in the car body because the car is 16 years old since it was manufactured and we had to repair it in order to get a license from the Romanian Auto Registry to be able to continue to drive it safely on the streets.

Now we have very serious problems with the engine, the car starts very hard and it is possible that the car will stop working and we won’t be able to help street children, we will have to raise money together so we can buy a new car because it would be very expensive to repair the engine.

Please help us raise urgently the amount of 20.000$ in order to buy a new car to continue helping street children and disadvantaged families that we help together for 23 years .

It is necessary to buy another car to ensure the transport of food, clothing, thick blankets and medicine to poor and needy children who live on the streets, to be able to drive in all sectors of Bucharest where street children live in abandoned buildings, heating sewers or shacks made of cardboard or plastic material.

We can make this mission possible if we join forces to raise the necessary money to replace the old car in order to continue helping poor and needy children and to be able to ensure that they live in a cleaner and more decent life.

Together with you we can make this mission possible, to continue our tradition of 23 years and to help further poor children living on the street. God bless us all to overcome this problem too and to continue this mission together with you. Thank you very, very much for your help!!!