Mothers with babies crowding the waiting room at Offia Oji Health Center

Over the last 20 years, AMURT and AMURTEL have run two family-style children’s homes in Domnesti and Panatau that provided a loving and healthy alternative to the massive, overcrowded and neglectful communist institutions. Since the end of 2008 we have set up transitional apartments for the children, now grown up, so they can lead independent lives. AMURTEL still has a group of 7 smaller children that arrived in 2001 from the maternity ward where they had been abandoned at birth. The youngest is 11 years old, so AMURTEL will provide care for them for at least another 7 years.

AMURT: Transitional Program for Homeless Youth

In the meantime, building on the experience of transitioning young people towards social integration, AMURT opened a new project, in partnership with the local government, to address the needs of homeless youth. Very few NGOs have taken on this particularly challenging target group – and even fewer programs have been successful in helping them leave the streets and integrate into society. The young men, aged between 18 and 26 years, start learning basic life skills such as cooking, cleaning, and shopping while living together in AMURT’s residential center in Domnesti.

AMURT’s program offer disadvantaged youth career planning, employment, decision-making and study skills.