Psychologist Iana Matei didn't set out to be a hero. Helping to free hundreds of girls forced into prostitution in her native Romania was, from her standpoint, just the right thing to do. She ignores threats from organized crime and walks a financial tightrope to operate a facility where the roof is leaking, the water pump often malfunctions, and neighbors routinely break in to steal supplies. But it's only the girls who live there that she focuses on.
Matei herself knows how it feels to want freedom. She was born and raised in Communist Romania, escaping in 1989 when there was a warrant out for her arrest. Matei and her 10-year-old son emigrated to Australia, and then in the almost 10 years they were there, Romania's Communist regime fell.
With the idea that her son should see the beauties of his homeland, Matei decided they should visit Romania. Once there, however, what drew her attention wasn't medieval churches and castles but thousands of children struggling for survival on the streets of Bucharest. Matei had been doing volunteer work with street children in Australia, but the children of Romania were numerous as the cobblestones and desperate in a way that shocked her. Matei says that she was called to work with these children.
She returned to Romania to live once again and, having been trained as a psychologist, she began to work with children who had been abandoned to the streets. One day, the local police called to say they'd picked up three whores on the street and to ask Matei if she'd come and get them.
When she saw these "whores," Matei was stunned: they were young teens. Freezing with cold, poorly dressed, and starving, the girls shared their stories of being sold and sexually abused. Matei told the police that the girls weren't criminals; they were the victims of a crime: human trafficking.
She arranged for the girls to get clothing and to spend that night in a hospital. Then she sat up late into the night in her own tiny apartment, thinking through what she could do to help them. The seed for Reaching Out Romania was sown, in Matei's words, "out of fury against the traffickers and the society that tolerates this."
Reaching Out Romania was founded in 1998, and its residential facility, the House of Treasure, was built in 2003. It is the only private shelter for the victims of human trafficking in all of Romania, which is one of the hubs of activity for international prostitution, an illicit endeavor second only to drugs in its scope.
The House of Treasure is more than just a haven for the rescued kids; it's a home, and Matei lives there, as mother, along with two of the four social workers the organization employs. The young people may stay there for a full year as they heal from the trauma to which they've been subjected and start building new lives. They're given medical help, legal aid, and the opportunity to complete their education. Once they've finished the program, the organization acts as a mediator for them while they seek employment.
Iana Matei wants the world to know that, "It is a crime against humanity to sell and buy life."