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Award of Excellence
Jan Dago Jyllands-Posten/World Picture Network
Romania. Bucharest, Street children.
Bobo on the
left is just turning 18. He tells me that he has run away from home because
of a violent farther. The children pour toxic paint into plastic bags to
inhale the fumes this gives a quick high but the price is also severe brain
damage. This group of street children is living in the heating channels that
run under Bucharest. The heat down in the tunnels are intense and humid, the
smell of human waste makes the stomach turn when one enters. The children are
living down here because of the cold temperatures during winter in Rumania.
They also try to avoid the risk of getting beaten or abused sexually if they
try to sleep anywhere above the ground. They tell me that the police also
harass them, but that they have never seen any policemen who want to enter
the heating tunnels. They live from begging and from parking tips. . Precise
figures about how many street children there is in Romania is difficult to
obtain, the range is from some hundreds to 10.000. Romania and Bulgaria
became new members of the European union on the 1.1.07. The union now is
consisting of 27 members and 480 million people. The two new members have
been through turmoil during history. Romania is still marked by their
diseased dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his surreal leadership. Many
countries have also been affecting Romania and Bulgarias development and the
mindset of the population. The different involvement from other countries has
left the two countries and the populations in a state of divide about what
will happen to them when they enter the European union. Some fear that it
will be a repetition of history, others are hopeful that the wealth of the
other members will have a positive effect on the situation. Life is already
hard for the population in both countries. This makes it a nervous time of
mixed hopes and fears of what will come for the people of Romania and
Bulgaria.
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