The bright eyed 25 year old does admit that sometimes she feels the need to pinch herself. � �I remember after finishing class eight I said �oh, if I make it through high school I will be the best� and she laughs. �and I finished! After that I said, okay I will try to go further.�
�We are extremely proud of her,� say Matie Plesu from Concordia where Ramona got her first start, �but its not enough there are still thousands more children still on the street.� Approximately 4000 by the latest estimates.
Though the numbers have significantly dropped since Ramona�s day they have become more organized. The older generation have graduated to adulthood. They know the affairs of the street and how to manipulate it better than anyone and have organized underground communes and from where they command bands of child beggars, thieves and prostitutes.
Ramona�s story begins east of Bucharest in a small village, under the roof of an alcoholic father and an apathetic mother. She was just five years old when her older brother, by two years, took her by the hand and led her to the streets and its everyday uncertainties which were still better than the certain abuse they found at home. For eight years they scrounged for food and lodging, sniffed glue, fought other gangs, and avoided the cops until 1992 when at age thirteen she was picked up by Catholic Charity organization Concordia and persuaded to give their shelter a try.
�At the beginning she was a real difficult girl,� remembers Cristina Rusu who worked at Saint John�s house where Ramona first began her turn around. �But she had good people around her which made all the difference.�
�I was very, very glad,� Ramona remembers, �but at first I admit it was very hard for me because I was used to coming and going as I pleased. It felt more like a jail than a home. But once I started going to school then things really began to change for me.�
In 1999 when she entered the university the media quickly picked up her story as poster child for the hope of these lost children. Her story shocked a nation which just couldn�t believe it possible that one of those lawless, drug sniffing street children could turn around and not only graduate high school but also have the grades to enter university.
A glimpse back at those she grew up with shows just how spectacular her achievements really are. Though she has fallen out of touch with the all girl gang that she used to run with on the street she notes recently seeing one of her old friends mopping public toilets and another has since moved back home to the alcoholic father who she went to the streets to escape. Her brother, who had always looked out for her, never could shed the crutches of street life and like so many before and after him began the rotating cycle between prison and street.
At the moment he is back in prison serving his third offence and is not expected to be released anytime too soon.
She is aware of the stigma. After all she knows that while her classmates were waking up to a hot breakfast and then running off to learn their ABC she was being kicked awake off doormats in apartment building hallways where she would lay down to get off the cold streets
That was one way of keeping warm. Another trick was hopping an evening train and riding it till its morning destination. She giggles. �Sometimes friends say to me �I�ve never been to Timisoara or Constanta (Romanian Cities) and at that moment I think to myself �I was in all the country when I was so little�. But I wasn�t traveling because I wanted to see the sites. I traveled because I wanted to sleep.�
What did you eat?��If you leave this here,� she says pointing to an unfinished salad on the restaurant table, �I would eat it.�
Though she laughs through the hard times she admits she still suffers from nightmares. Speaking as the psychologist that she is studying to become she adds, �I had a lot of trauma and a lot of dramatic moments as a child � enough for a lifetime. But I was stronger back then. I am very different now. I think about how I would be if I was back in the same situation. I would be terrified. I am not so strong anymore.�
Life is very different now. She has a secure home, steady boyfriend and a diploma that enables her to find a decent job � perhaps even teaching. She even has a background scene as a juggler in a Hollywood film, �Life Of Magliodni� staring Andy Garcia. Juggling and walking on stilts is yet another something she learned while at Concordia�s homes for former street children.
It has been an amazing climb from the gutter to ascending the stage wearing the gown and tasseled cap. Even so she is still reaching higher. She wants to pursue her education towards a masters which will allow her to practice psychology and help children avoid falling through some of the same cracks that swallowed her up. �It used to be about how willing and able I was but now it�s about the money.� She is a complicated girl though sees solution quite simply. � If I can get the funds than I will do it.� -THE END