After decades of trying to return to Romania, the last four of which he spent homeless in Arlington, a 77-year-old man is finally going home.
Ion Chilom arrived in the United States 44 years ago, fleeing a communist dictatorship in Romania. Since then, he has made several attempts to return home, but political conditions and financial insecurity dashed those hopes until a neighbor set up a GoFundMe campaign last month.
Having raised $6,229 to cover food and travel costs with the help of his friend, Mark Mooney, Chilom will finally return to his family on Monday. He told ARLnow that the homecoming, made possible through the generosity of his neighbors, has left him speechless.
“I am born in Romania. My country is Romania and the United States. So, right now, it’s too much for me to say,” Chilom said.
Chilom’s story
Chilom left Romania in 1981, fleeing the regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu.
Chilom was a Romanian army veteran, as well as a competitive soccer goalie, but he needed money. He left his family at home, planning to earn some cash and then return home.
In addition to himself, Chilom said he helped five others leave and find work, in an undertaking that involved swimming across the Danube River twice.
After arriving in Vernon, Texas in 1982, Chilom worked as an electrician before making his first attempt to return home in 1987.
“There was a revolution in Romania, and I [said], ‘I want to go home where I come from,'” Chilom said. “I went and talked to my consulate, and my consulate told me I cannot go right now because of the revolution.”
Chilom moved to Arlington in the early 1990s. He continued to work as an electrician until around 2011, when an older Arlington man hired Chilom to be his caretaker.
“He needed a driver, mostly,” Chilom said. “He had a car, but he couldn’t drive. I [had] to take him anywhere he wanted in Arlington, to see his friends, to eat out, or anything.”
Mooney told ARLnow that he confirmed Chilom worked for a man who lived on Kenmore Street for about 10 years. In return, the man allowed Chilom to live in his house until he died around four years ago — leaving Chilom without a home and without a job.
Since then, Chilom has spent winters at the PathForward Homeless Services Center, near Courthouse, and summers on his own.
A neighbor steps in to help
Mooney met Chilom a little over a year ago, and the two have since become friends.
Without a cell phone, Chilom has been unable to contact his family for years. Mooney managed to reach them — and learned that they had believed Chilom was dead.
Chilom is a U.S. citizen, and Mooney helped him renew his passport and driver’s license this year. His citizenship status in Romania is more complicated, but Mooney is confident that Chilom will be welcomed back, based on his research.
He said Romanians he’s spoken to have told him there is a lot of sympathy for people who fled around the same time as Chilom.
Last month, Mooney said he was inspired to launch a GoFundMe.
“I just felt compelled,” Mooney said. “He had a full life there with kids, and he’s just been trying to make it home. It just came over me mid-June, and I put the campaign up a couple days later.”
On Monday, Chilom will board a flight at Dulles Airport, and after a short layover in Turkey, he will meet his family the following day. He’ll be there in time for his 78th birthday on August 17.
Mooney says he expects to remain in contact with his friend, and Chilom has already invited him to come visit Transylvania.
“You try to do your little part in the world,” Mooney said. “I’m from a small town, where you can have an impact, and it’s harder in a place like this. It means a lot to me.”
