#concordiastories: The Story of Dana
Dana came home and found her mother lying on the floor covered in blood.
*In order to protect personal rights, the names of the persons have been changed.
No child should have the traumatic experience of their mother being stabbed by their father. But Dana is one of those children. At only 12 years old, she has experienced only poverty and constant abuse in her family.
Her mother is a simple woman, her father is an alcoholic who abused his wife almost daily in front of the children. Dana lives with her mother, her younger brother and her two-year-old nephew - the son of her 16-year-old sister, who has left home and left her child in her mother's care. The family of four lives on child benefit, which amounts to 152 euros a month.
A few months ago, Dana came home and found her mother on the floor, stabbed in the back and covered in blood. The father had just left her lying there. Dana immediately ran and called an ambulance, which took her mother to the hospital. After her mother recovered, they left her father's house and moved into a house with no heating and only one bed. The rent is 25 € per month plus utilities.
Dana and her family receive help from CONCORDIA Social Projects. At the Casa Cristina day centre in Ploiești, they are supported with education, food, clothes and shoes. Dana has been coming to Casa Cristina since she was 9 years old. For her, it is the only place where she forgets her hard and bitter life at home.
She remembers her first day at Casa Cristina: she felt like she was entering a new world. Everything was very clean and organised. Many children were playing and learning, playing the piano, drumming, dancing. She got a new pair of shoes then and a school bag full of school supplies. Nine-year-old Dana met dedicated teachers who were friendly and helpful to her.
Dana also wants to become a teacher or a doctor. She wants to leave the misery, help her mother and siblings. She is only in grade 5, but she studies hard and ambitiously. According to her teachers, since the family has been separated from her violent father, Dana is calmer and smiles more often.
Dana is the first of her five siblings to make it to high school. Her mother hopes that she will continue to go to school and one day have a good job to escape this world of poverty and pain.
