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The Charles Colson of Romania
Constantin Asavoaie's background of poverty and prison prepared him for his ultimate role as the founder of PF Romania. He went from hardship and despair to what he calls "the best blessings" of his life.
When he was just six years old, Constantin Asavoaie noticed a disparity among the children who lived in his small village in Romania. He was keenly aware that some children had fathers who loved them and provided for their needs, while others, like him, lived without their fathers‘ love or protection.
Constantin learned this harsh fact of life the hard way, through his own experience with a violent, alcoholic father, who eventually died from his addiction, leaving the family penniless and the then seven-year-old Constantin as the “man of the family.” He still tears up now, more than 40 years later, when he recalls how he would tend to his family‘s cow and plead with it to provide enough milk for his mother and sisters.
Today, thanks to Constantin‘s perseverance as a child and diligence as an adult, there is hope for children facing neglect and hardships similar to those he suffered. As founder of Prison Fellowship Romania, Constantin has led the ministry in establishing four special homes that provide a loving and supportive environment for children in need. The Christian Centre for Street Children provides homeless street children with medical, social, educational and spiritual care in a warm, family-like atmosphere. Similarly, the Christian Centre for Children Exposed to Crime offers care for the children of prisoners in a safe and loving Christian environment. In addition to these homes, Constantin has also been instrumental in founding PF‘s Day Centre for juvenile delinquents, a Christian Centre for Mothers and Infants and a shelter for homeless adults.
But Constantin‘s compassion for needy and neglected children took some time to manifest, as did his Christian faith. As a young man he became involved in politics, convinced that Communism was best for his country. Yet he was plagued by severe depression that led him to attempt suicide by taking 300 sleeping pills and opening a gas line in his room. Much to the amazement of doctors he miraculously survived, despite ingesting enough medication to kill 20 people. Coming to a realization that God had spared his life, Constantin decided to adopt his wife‘s Christian faith and began attending an underground church that was part of the “The Lord‘s Army,” a Christian fellowship within the Romanian Orthodox church. His involvement in the church and refusal to renounce God resulted in him being expelled from the Communist Party and sent to prison on exaggerated charges related to an accounting error in his office.
While imprisoned, Constantin became increasingly passionate about his faith and gave himself to studying the Bible, fasting and prayer. “I felt the strong work of the Holy Spirit within my heart,” Constantin recalls. “It was the time when I got the calling for prisoners, homeless and poor people, delinquents and prisoners‘ children.”
Calling his prison experience “a Bible study academy,” Constantin also read Charles Colson‘s book, Born Again, which he eventually translated into Romanian for publication. The book inspired him and he determined to become the “Charles Colson of Romania.”
Since establishing Prison Fellowship Romania in 1993, Constantin has indeed become the “Charles Colson of Romania.” As focused as he is on the prison ministry and caring for poor and homeless children, Constantin has also become an outspoken advocate for truth and justice in public life. In February, he was recognized for his outstanding leadership when he received the William Wilberforce Award which is granted annually by Prison Fellowship USA to an individual who exemplifies the life and witness of Wilberforce. Just as Wilberforce worked to end the slave trade and improve public morality during the eighteenth century. “Constantin Asavoiae is a great social reformer acting against the inertia of the old communist mentality gripping his country as it emerges from the past,” commented Charles Colson. Calling the award a great honour, Constantin acknowledges that PF Romania‘s staff and volunteers, numbering more than 4,000, are all equally deserving of such recognition, as it is their dedication that really makes the difference in the face of human need and misery. When asked to run for public office Constantin refuses. “I think the best blessings of my life come from investing in the lives of other people,” he says.
