Our weekly update 42/ October 2020

Monday October 5th we started the week with loading a trailer with destination Botosani, we were not with a very large group but it went smoothly. There was still quite a bit of food, clothing, furniture and medical supplies. It has again become a nice load of useful goods.

Here the link to pictures of the loading.

On Wednesday, October 7, the second truck arrived to load it with the destination Marghita and Ticau, unfortunately it did not arrive until 11 am. We could first fill the time with tidying up and sorting. In the end, loading went smoothly and at three o'clock the truck left for Romania. On Saturday 10 October we unloaded in Marghita and loaded potatoes and vegetables. Unloading will take place in Ticau on Monday 12 October.

Here the link to photos.

On Thursday, October 8, they could unload the truck in Botosani, at two different locations. The things we have brought are quickly going in all directions, contact persons from the villages come to collect it this time. Monday, October 12, Cristi himself will once again visit his “regular customers” in surrounding villages. That Monday it could be “empty”, there is so much demand for help.

Here the link to photos.

Cristi has a new contact person in a village not very far from Botosani, just like everywhere in Romania there are often Roma people living there on the outskirts of villages and towns. With a woman from this “neighborhood” as contact person, Cristi can now also offer help there. Cristi's network continues to grow, it is quite a lot that he knows how to manage and manage. It is very pleasant for us to work with him and to know that our help is in the right place. Especially thanks to Cristi's organizational talent and inventiveness.

Many people live in the villages from the produce of their garden, potatoes and corn are important products for them. Unfortunately, due to the extreme drought this summer, there is a bad harvest there. In addition to the problems with Covid-19 and the “normal” problems to make ends meet, also a bad yield from the garden. The small farmers there probably also have many additional problems because of this.

Thanks to a generous donation from a church community in Denmark, Cristi will soon be able to resume the construction of the new boarding school. Great news of course.

In Breaza the beds went to an old people's home in a village not far from there. Toth Attila has received most of the furniture and toys, pictures of which will follow. The opening of the children's home in Peris is getting closer.

Toth Attila sent some pictures of his farm in Glodeni where he has built a small house for the man who will take care of everything there with the pigs. They are a special kind of pigs that can live outside well.

Here the link to photos.

Reghina from Ticau sent some more pictures of her work there.

Here the link to photos.

Henk Muller, who has now returned to the Netherlands, also sent pictures. Roof plates and windows that we brought there were used to build a house.

Here the link to photos.

To get an impression of what the life of Roma can be like, you can watch a video on YouTube, it was made in 2011 but still current. It is near the notorious rubbish tip of Cluj Napoca and a school in Tinca. The video was made by the ProRomi foundation, this is the link to their website. https://proromi.nl/nl

Here the link to the video

Last Saturday's Volkskrant published an article about what difference it makes where you were born, let me add it to you, draw your conclusions.

Here the link to this article

Wednesday, October 14, we will load the last hospital beds that we still have in stock with destination Breaza.