The Children to Love International is an organization that goes to Bucharest, Romania, to help out severely underprivileged orphans.
DeAnne Sampley, a sign language professor at Bakersfield College, helped to get CTL abroad. In 1991, Sampley and 25 other educators were invited by the government to do a workshop in Romania to educate the instructors on the proper way to teach the deaf and blind.
While Sampley’s group was there, they were assigned to an orphanage for the deaf and blind. There she met a 6-year-old deaf boy, Mathew, and she later adopted him. From the experience and thrill she got from being able to guide these orphaned children, she decided to keep CTL International growing. In 1993, CTL made it a part of the agenda to go back every year and to help more orphans.
Sampley assisted the children with their health, vitamins, food and exercise. She also wanted to work on them spiritually by starting Bible classes. She built play equipment for them.
Sampley later decided to get more involved with CTL by getting students from BC interested. Every summer, teens go to Bucharest to work with kids for 10-15 days. There are teens from different churches and clubs that go to Romania.
The boys are taken to a sports camp, and they are given information on hygiene and moral issues. The girls are allowed workshops about cooking and sewing. The teens also get the chance to go to a rehab hospital for the severely disabled and abandoned children.
“It’s not easy for a person to see children who are not getting the right healthcare and attention in the one of the most poverty-stricken places,” said Sampley.
Monica Walls, a 23-year-old Romanian student, is a product of the care these individuals have shown to these orphans. Monica was an orphan in Romania at an orphanage named Casa de Copii #7 house for children.
Monica remembers what life was like in Romania as if it was yesterday. In fact, it was 12 years ago. Monica remembers when Sampley came to her orphanage; she remembers what was learned from these visits.
“DeAnne has really inspired me not to take life for granted,” said Monica.
Sampley helped Monica get to America by convincing two of her good friends, Karen and Jeff Wall, to take a business trip to Bucharest, and they immediately became attached once they met. The thing that Monica wants to give back to Romania is the message of hope and love.
BC student James Hancock is going to Bucharest this summer. He became involved with CTL because he was adopted himself. He knew the loneliness and fear of being alone in an orphanage, and he wanted the chance to show these children that there is someone out there in the world who cares about them.
The students will be leaving June 27.