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Half of Romania's rural families would cancel winter holidays due to money shortage, while a parent in six does not even have 10 lei to buy a present for their child, reveal the results of a survey conducted by World Vision Romania, which introduces the campaign "I believe in you, Santa. Do you believe in me?"
Against the same grim background, the survey findings show that one third of the parents have less than 50 lei to buy a gift, and an equal share could not afford a Christmas tree in 2020, while over 50 percent of vulnerable families only had a poorly decorated Christmas tree. Only two out of ten families (20 percent) had the tree they wanted last year.
Also, more than half of the parents report that the Christmas period is stressful for them, as almost three quarters (74 percent) are worried about the lack of money. 30 percent of the respondents say they are stressed because they are ashamed that they cannot provide the family with what they need, 14 percent because they don't have the means to heat the house, 10 percent because they don't know if they will have money for food and 10 percent because they don't have winter clothes.
According to the cited source, around 70 percent of the respondents would choose a gift to meet a basic need (food, clothes, footwear), and less than 30 percent would choose a gift that would make the child happy, even if it's not a basic necessity.
World Vision Romania is an organization that carries out emergency humanitarian assistance, development and advocacy programs and which puts the welfare of the child at the center of its activity. The organization focuses on working with children, families and communities in order to overcome poverty and injustice.
It is a member of the World Vision International partnership which is present in almost 100 countries and in the past 30 years has helped over 500,000 children and adults from almost 500 communities in 18 counties.
