Afilipoaie Family Update

The article was published in ProSport on February 19th. I never had time to translate it until now, which should explain the delay in posting the update.

According to an eye witness who saw Carmen & Monica Afilipoaie’s mother commit suicide by jumping in front of a train, “[she] sat on her knees next to the tracks. But she had gotten up twice before. It was almost like she wasn’t sure about what she wanted to do. It never entered my mind she wanted to commit suicide. When the train appeared, I thought she had gotten up, but…” All this happened on the evening of December 19th, 2001.

"We would come from school in the evening and she didn’t have food for us"

The woman’s name was Emilia Afilipoaie. She was 42 years old when she decide to take her own life. She left behind four loved ones who still miss her. She is survived by her husband Victor (47 years old), and daughters Monica (17), Carmen (19), and Alina (22). Monica and Carmen are competitive gymnasts, national champions in rhythmic gymnastics. “The poverty we lived in pushed our mother to do this. She was hurt when we came home from school in the evening and she didn’t have any food for us,” recalls Monica. Several months after the tragedy, the girls have run out of tears. "Our mother dreamt about going to a foreign country, where we could make a decent living. We had an opportunity to stay in France. We were there for a series of meets, but we never found the strength to separate from our parents,” adds Monica’s older sister, Carmen.

$20/month survivor allowance

The fourth-floor apartment owned by the Afilipoaie family is spotlessly clean, lighted by a low-wattage light bulb, installed specifically to reduce the use of electricity. “For half a year, we've had to pay 80 million lei for our utilities bill. We went without using a heater in the winter. Our mother would get desperate every time she looked at the electric meter,” explain the girls. Both of them are cleanly dressed and articulate, with a clear idea of what they want out of life. “We don’t want to be beaten down by poverty and pain. We’ll go to school, so we can both be teach physical education, or coach rhythmic gymnastics. It’s our dream." They’re having a hard time realizing that dream. Their father works as a tin worker and gets paid very little, and the survivor allowance they get is only $20/month -not enough to make ends meet. ‘”Just like we grew up on bors [traditional legume soup] and margarine until now, we’ll keep on going from now on, too. We’re bound to get a sign things will improve in our life. I dreamt about my mother a few days ago. She was crying and asking for our forgiveness. She said ‘Please forgive me. I thought this was the best I could do to help,’” said a tearful Carmen.

Something good did happen to the Afilipoaie family. One of ProSport’s readers, who currently lives in Canada read about the family’s plight and decided to help the family. "I was shocked by the story in ProSport, especially by the fact something like this could happen in 21st century Romania. I immediately started thinking about a way I could help the family and I hope my small contribution will make their life a little easier," said the benefactor, who asked that his donation remain anonymous because “I’m not in the midst of campaigning.” [at the time, the Presidential elections in Romania just ended and several candidates were publicizing their contributions to local charities]. The family received $1,300. "With this money we’ll buy our apartment and pay off our bills with what is left. We want to thank the person who read the article and decided to send us the money. In my dream, my mother said she was sacrificing herself for us. But not even millions of dollars could heal the pain we have to live with. It would have been a lot easier to be poor and have her among us. We miss her. Now, our mom is our guardian angel.”

School and training

Monica and Carmen Afilipoaie started gymnastics at the age of 6. “We both dreamt of being like Nadia. After staying in Onesti for a while, our parents could no longer afford to pay for us, and we had to return home,” they recall. Monica is a student at Anghel Saligni high School in Iasi. She is also training alongside her older sister at the Corrado rhythmic gymnastics club. Both of them are national champions.

Family album

Emilia Afilipoaie, the mother of the two gymnasts, worked in a textile factory in Iasi and had a salary of $35/month. “I remember she would come from work later than usual. She would stay and work after hours. She would write down the extra hours she worked, hoping her boss would give her more money for her salary. Whenever she would pick up her paycheck, she would notice she actually kept getting less money,” said Carmen Afilipoaie. Both Carmen and Monica spent several evenings looking at photo albums. They start crying whenever they see their mother. "I can’t believe my mother has left. It seems like she’s gone way to visit someone and she should be back any day now. I keep waiting for her to ring the doorbell, so I can go open the door for her,” said Monica.

The Afilipoaie family has unpaid debts of almost 80 million lei ($2,700) and at one point there was talk of evicting the family from their apartment. “The mayor’s office was understanding, and gave us more time. We decided to buy the apartment with the money we received from ProSport, since we have around $1,000 left to pay. Then we plan on selling the apartment and moving into a house, where life would be easier for us,” said Victor Afilipoaie, the gymnasts’ father. Monica and Carmen said they’ve never seen so much money in their entire life as the generous reader in Canada sent them.

In a related story, gymnast Bogdan Cretu from Brasov fell on his head during one practice session and was left paralyzed from the neck down. After several articles published in ProSport, the 18-year old has received a computer and $200 in donations. Starting in November 2001, Bogdan was scheduled to receive $100/month from the newspaper. He now enjoys spending time on his computer and has reganied partial use of his arms.
For more on Bogdan's story, you can read a previous article about him.

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