San Francisco Chronicle - The Voice of the West, 901 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94119 - WEDNESDAY December 19, 1990 Edition: FINAL Section: NEWS Page: A18 Word Count: 449
Ron Sonenshine, Chronicle Correspondent

With help from volunteers, Brother Toby McCarroll plans to build group homes in the seaport city of Constanta that would eventually care for 70 to 100 Romanian babies who have acquired immune deficiency syndrome or HIV, the AIDS virus.

The first group of volunteers -- teachers, bankers, carpenters and others from throughout the United States -- are expected to leave for Constanta on Saturday to begin construction of what McCarroll calls Casa Speranta, the House of Hope. McCarroll plans to join the group in January.

Western relief workers who came to Romania after the downfall of Nicolae Ceausescu discovered a virtual AIDS epidemic among babies there.

McCarroll, who visited Romania last summer, said the ailing babies are kept with other sick children in poorly staffed, ill-equipped government institutions that are "hellholes." The babies "live in cribs or cages until they die," he said. "It's truly the dark ages there."

McCarroll operates the Starcross Monastery in rural Sonoma County and Morning Glory House in Santa Rosa.

Starcross Monastery, which has run a foster home for children since 1976, made national headlines three years ago when it opened its doors to babies with AIDS. Morning Glory House opened last year. Five babies now live in the foster homes with staff members who provide care in a family-like atmosphere.

McCarroll's goal is to provide a model program in Constanta that the Romanian government eventually will adopt and replicate elsewhere in the country.

"We hope our presence there will have an impact not only on the kids but on changing the method of treatment," he said.

Doctors in Constanta, a city of about 300,000 on the Black Sea, estimate that 2,000 to 4,000 babies and children in the area have AIDS or HIV.

In a prepared statement, the Romanian ambassador to the United States, Virgil Constantinescu, said that AIDS is "a serious problem for Romania."

The Romanian government has agreed to provide land and building supplies to McCarroll and his volunteers for at least three years.

Seija Nordling Burke of Darien, Conn., will be among the volunteers leaving for Romania in January and plans to stay for about eight months.

The 42-year-old mother of four young adults said she saw ABC News coverage of McCarroll's visit to Constanta last summer, contacted McCarroll and offered to help.

"How could I not go?" said Burke, a former banker. "My children do not need me; these children do."

CAPTION: PHOTO

Brother Toby McCarroll operates the Starcross Monastery in rural Sonoma County/BY VINCE MAGGIORA/THE CHRONICLE

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