Brasov, by Stephen Maughan

The trip from Bucharest airport to Brasov is only 160 km, but given the first snow falls, the dire state of the roads, the twisting taxi ride through the mountains, the journey takes us 3 hours.  It is late in the evening when we arrive, and our driver practically bows to us as we leave him with a certain  twinkling in his eye. “Goodbye for now” he merrily says,  stuffing the handful of money we gave him into his pocket without even counting. Bribery is a way of life here, and I can only hope we gave him a good enough tip to secure his services in a week's time. 

For there is one thing that is vital knowledge for those visiting this country, and that is tipping and straight  up bribing is common practice. It is often joked that Romania is the only country in the world where you tip the waiter when you first arrive at a restaurant, in order to achieve a good service, and a tasty meal. I'm reliably informed that in every aspect of life you are expected to tip, and this goes far beyond the customary service charges we are all use to for restaurants, hotel porters, taxi drivers, and so on. The tipping culture in Romania extends to social services, and even medical staff. Indeed, there was a recent scandal in Romania where a man died in the waiting room of a hospital, where he had been waiting for hours on end because, according to the local nurse, he “He looked too poor to be able to offer a bribe to be seen.”

The New York Times ran a story in 2009 about the ongoing problem with pregnant women offering  bribes “to ensure a healthy pregnancy,” and included a tale of one young lady being left alone for 12 hours before a doctor finally saw her, by which time the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's head, and he was born with severe brain damage, something she is convinced would have been avoided if she had offered the gynaecologist more than their original bribe of €200. All the locals I meet acknowledge that bribery goes on, but nobody seems to be in a real shock, or feel any great urgency to change the system, after all they have grown up in this culture under both communism and after the revolution in 1989. Still, the EU certainly doesn't approve, and it has been particularly critical of the bribery culture in Romania. The German MEP, Ingeborg Grassle said last year “ The situation is worrying because it is getting worse. The government needs to step up the reforms...we will keep the pressure on them.”

I am in Brasov as a volunteer for a few charities, and the city is quite breathtaking.  On my first evening I take a stroll through the quiet streets. The oldest and the most spectacular building is the haunting  Romanesque St. Bartolomeu church, which dates from 1223, and  can be viewed from my apartment along with the  awe inspiring black church, which got it's name after the great fire of 1689 destroyed the roof, and blackened its walls. The fire went on to  destroy half the city and killed 3,000 people. It is all fascinating taking all this in, but suddenly the deserted streets are full – a political rally is erupting in the city, seemingly coming out of nowhere, and hundreds of people peacefully but urgently march towards me. They are all identically dressed in the colours of the political right, chanting “ Basescu! Basecu!” as a megaphone erupts with another political sermon. A leaflet is thrown in front of me, baring a picture of Basecu staring defiantly. I wonder if  all these people were  bribed to attend the rally, or if they tend to be more motivated by elections that I am use to,  either way I decide to make my way back to my rented apartment. 

I play around with the radio, which blasts out a odd mixture of Romanian folk songs, and what seems like political sermons. I remind myself it is now twenty years since the fall of communism as I stare outside the window at a huge billboard showing a politicians stern face. It is election time soon, and Brasov's most beautiful architecture is plastered with the face of one man, the current president Traian Basescu, who went on to win the election which took place in December 2009.  Romanian newspapers put his victory down to not only his publicity campaign, and the typical accusations of fraud and bribery, but in what seems a almost laughable idea for those of us not use to the suspicious culture of Romania, the efforts of a so-called “energy doctor”. Basescu allegedly hired a parapsychologist to cast a spell of “negative energy” on his opponents. His main rival,  Mircea Geoana, went so far as to claim that it was this negative energy which caused his defeat, and not that of his actual policies. Geoana's wife, Mihaela Geoana, agreed, and told tv stations her husband “was very badly attacked, he couldn't concentrate.” A string of photographs followed, showing Romanian parapsychologist Aliodor Manolea standing with the president during the election campaign. Mr. Manolea specialises in mind control, clairvoyance and hypnotic trance. All this in a country, where according to the English language newspaper nine o'clock, it is not uncommon even today to find locals living in the depths of Transylvania to hang garlic on their front door,  in the belief it will protect them from vampires. 

The following morning the sun is shining, and it gives me a chance to enjoy the beauty of the setting. The location of Brasov is  breathtaking, nestled as it is in the Southern Carpathian mountains. It has a population of close to 30 0000 inhabitants, who struck me as quiet folk, busy with their daily life (aside from when attending political rallies). You won't find many American stores in the city, although there is a little McDonald's. Even this, I'm informed, is seen as more of a treat for a well-off family than a hotspot to tackle hunger and fast food. For the locals tend to head to local small but popular Romanian fast food restaurants, where you can get a good cheap meal. 

It’s difficult, though, to enjoy the beautiful city and architecture, knowing the immense poverty. Romania is still one of the poorest countries in Europe, and in January 2010 the Romanian Times published the latest Eurostat survey, which put Romania second in the “at risk” category of poverty, at an alarming 23 percent. Top of the table was Latvia with 26 percent. At the top of the table for danger of child poverty is Romania with a 33 percent risk, and  50 percent of the population were struggling to pay for basic heating in their homes. Aside from this, the Eruostat survey, adds for many Romanians life seems a long way off from what many in the US take for granted, such as being able to afford  a car and take a one week holiday in the year, is simply not possible for most Romanians.  

I spent a day working with an American couple from the charity Firm Foundations who work in a local children's hospital. They quickly instruct me on a few basic Romanian words – very few locals speak English – and soon I'm in supposedly one of the best hospitals in the country. Throughout the day I keep asking myself if this is the best, what on earth is the worst like?

From what I could observe, the doctors and nurses I met all seemed kind, caring and predictably professional. The fact the hospital is underfunded meant that often basic care was lacking. An anonymous American donor supplies the hospital with nappies for the babies, and if it wasn't for the volunteer charity workers who work daily at the hospital the babies and toddlers would be left for the most part unattended during their stay. Walking around the rooms, I'm struck by how the majority of children are not only bored and desperate for interaction, but very few actually appear sick. Charity workers and hospital staff tell me it is not uncommon for children to “live” at the hospital for months on end, while overworked parents take a break from their responsibilities, or simply do not have the money to feed their child. A charity worker tells me how only last week a mother who visited her child for the first time in two months who had come to pick her child up was crying, overwhelmed by the responsibility, and in the end left the child at the hospital, and nobody knows when or even if she will be back. Such stories are not uncommon, and Romanian law allows hospitals to officially put up babies for adoption if no parent has collected their child after six months, yet many parents suffering financial hardship choose to pick up their children before the six months cut off point, but within a few weeks are back at the hospital for another long stay. A nurse explains to me that the winter months are particularly busy for the hospital, where many families choose to use the hospital as a form of child care, this is particularly common among some Roma communities who don't have heating at home, and believe the hospital can offer better their child better care.

The child poverty aspect in Romania is often talked about in rather broad aspects, and particular reference is still shown to the number of children in institutions and childcare homes (as shown on a recent BBC television report in December 2009.  At the end of the week I am taken to one of the numerous Roma gypsy villages scatted outside Brasov, and as our Jeep bumps along the small track I feel like I'm in another country as we approach Budila, a Roma village with scenes that seem to have been taken right out of a newspaper article describing some slum in the third world. It is true some Roma people happen to be rich, but the vast majority are shockingly poor, and I find I have to pinch myself as I look around the village, and remind myself we are not in India, but in an EU country which has children chasing after our Jeep, barefooted and dirty, and others gazing suspiciously at us. Budila has approximately 800 families, most of whom bring up 5 or 6 children. The vast majority of them live together in tiny wooden shacks, some without windows and roofs. Lack of education, clean running water, and electricity are the very basic problems for a community that seems completely out of touch with the modern world. A world where the horse and cart still rule, and outsiders treat you with contempt at the very best, and downright racism at the worst. There is little acceptance of the Roma community within Romania, where they are looked upon as dishonest, dirty, and vile. The social services and health care professionals do treat and help these individuals, although often only with a bribe far more substantial than other Romanians would pay. Back home I contacted six larger charities to see their position, and half of them assured me they never bribed doctors and social services, yet the other half concluded that it was often the only way to help the Roma people. Even Madonna had a tough time at a concert in Bucharest in 2009 where her decision to stand up for the Roma people was met with a cold, and at times hostile, reception from both the crowd and the local media.  

In the village I am taken to meet a few selected families, with whom the charity has managed to build up a close relationship over the last few years. One family took it upon itself to build a new house, after the charity supplied wood, thinking it would be used to build a roof, which the family decided to build a house with instead. This in itself is surely enough proof that these people are not all lazy and unreliable. Still, getting that message across is extremely difficult when you are a facing what is basically a generational old-wives-tale that is part of the Romanian mindset. In fact the Romanian president Mr. Basescu was forced to apologise in 2007 after calling a journalist “a stinky gypsy”.   A UNICEF 2007 report claimed that 60-80% of the Roma population in Romania do not attend school, and highlighted the fact that many Roman children do not have birth certificates so miss out on basic state care including education and health care. Yet even if they do have this access there remains a high level of prejudice. One charity worked based in Bucharest,  told me that many schools refuse to accept Roma children, and even if they do many teachers refuse to involve them in class activities and discussions. I was then told  how a few months earlier a Roma child had to be removed from school after another boy tied a chain around his neck, and dragged him through the corridors yelling, “This is my dog!”

Given this example, and I'm sure there are countless more, perhaps it is no wonder many Roma communities do not see any purpose in sending their children to school. Charities have different ideas on the best way to help, some give out food only if the children attend school, while others feel this is unhelpful and donate directly to families in the villages, but as long as the prejudice and intolerance shown towards the Roma community exists within Romania, it is difficult to imagine any long term solution, despite the good intention of many, such as  Reinhart Schlagintweit, the head of UNICEF in Germany who claimed  that "Roma children should be given the chance to break up the vicious cycle of poverty, discrimination and prejudices.” 

All of this is going through my mind on my last evening in Brasov, as I take a late-night stroll  through the deserted romantic streets, admiring its beautiful medieval architecture (doing my best to ignore the political adverts plastered all over them), and wondering what the future holds. I'm suddenly approached by a rather frantic man, wrapped up in a long fur coat. He starts talking to me, and I helpfully shrug, and say “English” a few times to him, which seems to confuse him even more. I stand there a while and listen to him as he becomes more and more agitated, before he finally scatters off. I decide it's time to walk back to our apartment, but before I have taken a few steps the man has returned, this time with a young girl, who says “I am English.” I look at her in bewilderment, before quickly realizing she is actually Romanian who has come as this man's translator. She tells me the man, who turns out to be her father, wants to know if I will buy a painting of his, and she gives me a quite charming little water colour of the famous Brasov Ecaterina's gate, surrounded by the looming mountains. I give him 200 Lei (approximately $60), which he stuffs in his pocket before walking off, without another word. His daughter is quick to follow, but not without first uttering a quick “Good night,” and I ponder their fate as I watch them disappear through the city streets.  

Romania still has many problems to overcome, and although locals seem disgruntled with the slow pace of change, the EU should, eventually, give more opportunities to these people.  Charities here worry that new farming machinery from the EU will be the end of the Roma's traditional life. On top of that  the bribery issue is still prominent, child poverty is a real issue, and the antagonism  towards the Roma people continue. Political campaigns are engaging, if a little bizarre (It is hard to imagine Cameron hiring a “energy doctor” to attack his opponents) Still, I for one am convinced that if nothing else, the beauty and charm of Brasov will attract the tourist industry, which will, at least, serve people like my friend the artist and his daughter well.

Stephen Maughan is a freelance journalist based in Sussex. and has written numerous articles about Romania. Along with his wife he has just set up "open hands", a charity to help neglected Romanian children and the Roma community. His next trip to Romania will be in August.

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