Lupeni lies in the Valley called "Valea Jiului" in the district of Hunedoara. It is surrounded by mountains. In the heart of these mountains, people have been digging for more than a century. They dig and dig again for the ore called coal.

For many people, this was their work and their grave. It was the place where they "lost" an arm or a leg or a little bit of happiness. Many widows led their husbands on their last day and many children long for this word - daddy.

But times are changing. Now the time is coming when there is no need for coal. The mines are closing one by one and those dangerous and hard workplaces have become what people are longing for. It seems that the hell has become heaven. It is hard for the miners to look down and see no coal or look to the left and right and see neither wheat fields nor vegetables growing nor orchards with fruit trees.

The politicians keep on telling them to do something to manage in one way or another, but the trouble is they don't know where to go. Those who have somewhere to go, they leave, but the others remain. There are many who go to places they don't know, leaving their children on stairs of a block or with a grandparent who can just survive by themselves.

In those six towns of this Valley, there are now almost 17,000 unemployed.

Lupeni is a town with 31,199 inhabitants and more than 4,000 people lost their job the last year alone. There are about 8,000 unemployed in the town (55% of the people able to do work). Day by day, the social help decreases and is ending and there are more and more people. In this situation, children suffer the most. Some of them can't go to school, they don't have their daily bread, no clothes, no heat.

This is the social situation of Lupeni and the Valley where The Humanitarian Association "Children's Home" Lupeni together with you try to bring sunshine on the faces of the most innocent persons - children.

Visit our Photo Gallery for pictures from our recent trip.

Explanation of Operating Expenses

Orphanage
$2,470 per month for 19 children
Expenses per month/child - $130

The Social Canteen
$580 per month for 45 people

Assistance of the Children in their Families
$888 per month for 40 children

Foster Care Project
$1,100 per month for 8 children