In spite of all the pre-trip meetings and sharing of past stories, no one could have prepared us for how wide our eyes and hearts would be opened. As we sat waiting for our plane, everything seemed surreal. ROMANIA--a place only recently examined on a map.

Our first morning in Romania, we pulled up to a building surrounded by green gates. Passing a bright blue sign reading Fundatia Inocenti , we entered a glass door. A short old woman full of energy greeted us. She spoke no English and we spoke no Romanian, yet we were able to communicate. We smiled and obeyed her hand motions signaling us to wait for the workers. A few moments later two younger women full of life bounced down the stairs in their colorful scrubs. They introduced themselves as Iuli and Nicoleta, two workers from Romanian Children's Relief. We followed them up six flights of stairs to the third floor.

As we walked down the bare, white hallways we looked to the right and saw tiny white rooms filled with chipped metal cribs and two tiny cots. We saw some babies crying, some babies rocking themselves for comfort, and even some mothers curled up in the cots beside their children. As we walked past the windows, some mothers looked up to see if perhaps we were there to adopt. It is very hard to describe what it feels like to hold a baby and know that he will face unbelievable hardships, to hold a baby and know that he might not even make it. It is painful to realize just how lucky we all are and how unlucky others are. It almost makes one feel guilty.

As we reached the end of the hallway, we entered one of the two small playrooms. For five hours a day during the week, some of the babies come into the playrooms, but for the other nineteen hours they are lying in their cribs.  For the entire weekend, they are lying in their cribs.  Most have no family, so they lie with no visitors, no toys, and no stimulation.  In the playrooms there are toys, a few workers and sometimes volunteers.  The RCR playrooms provide the only entertainment, stimulation and physical love some of the babies receive.  The conditions that these babies experience in the hospital are heartbreaking.  Because of outdated practices and beliefs the hospital windows remain closed, and babies are always bundled up.  They are often wrapped in fleece outfits in a boiling hot room. Inside the playrooms we also found six of the most loving and generous people we had ever met. Like Iuli and Nicoleta, the RCR workers are extraordinary, educated women who bring care, love, joy and hope to the babies and toddlers in the playrooms as well as to those older children and teenagers in other hospital wards. It is only because of these women and their work that it is possible to leave Romania and return home without a shattered heart.

Before leaving for Romania, we gathered clothing, shoes, books, toys, medicine and art projects for all ages of infants and children.  One day when we showed the teenagers the art project we brought for them to do that day, a girl remarked, "It's like Christmas!"  The smallest gesture can become a lifelong memory for a Romanian child, and knowing we created that memory is the most rewarding feeling.

One of the hardest parts of the Romania experience is coming home and seeing babies and children who have parents who love them more than life and are able to feed, clothe, shelter and raise them. The sad truth is that there are hundreds of innocent, helpless children who are in desperate need of affection and protection. It is painful now at home to see a baby being lovingly held by his mother, and know that in Romania and other places in the world there is a baby who does not have anyone to hold him.

When you touch the realities of poverty it is impossible to not want to help. It creates an incredible inner motivation, a motivation that makes you want to change the world. It is important to see other parts of the world, to try one's best to help others, and to put oneself in unknown and maybe even uncomfortable positions. Romania allows you to do all three of these things. For each one of us, this trip to Romania was a unique and life-changing experience; one that is forever in our hearts.