Foundation Promotie / Aid Transports to Romania

The importance of the work we can do within the possibilities of Foundation Promotie is only increasing. As I wrote last time, together with former colleagues Nico Groot and Gerrit Beetsma, we made a short visit to Romania and experienced the situation there up close. The poverty in which many people live is widespread and is increasing rather than decreasing. On top of the very serious consequences of the enormous Covid-19 outbreak in Romania, it is difficult to comprehend the miserable situations in which many people end up as a result. Every three minutes someone dies in Romania because of the virus. No one knows how this should continue, the hospitals are totally overloaded and can't handle it by a long way. The vaccination rate is very low and the stories about why people don't get vaccinated are mostly based on fake news and yet the reason for this dangerous choice. The people who try to convince others to get vaccinated do not have an easy task. Paul the pastor in the ch...

Last Monday hospital beds came in again, in the past week a total of five loads, luckily "emergency shelter" was found for them. There are more to come, just at a time when the demand for these from Romania has never been so high, this is a good thing. The first 27 beds have already been shipped. In Weesp we were able to pick up a large batch of incontinence material and other hygiene products that same Monday. A nice batch of food was loaded in Amsterdam on Tuesday. Wednesday, October 20, a trailer was loaded for Viorel and his team in Deaj, half of a trailer, this time with quite a bit of food. Henk Muller had received a batch of figs from a wholesaler from Rotterdam on Tuesday afternoon. Early Wednesday morning a volunteer drove to Rotterdam to pick them up and the same day they were loaded into the Romanian truck in Broek op Langedijk. For Breaza we mainly loaded hospital beds, Imola was even asked for beds from a hospital in Bucharest. Monday morning 25 October will be ...

It is actually a pity that after all these years that we have been organizing aid transports, we cannot say that it is no longer necessary in a country like Romania. Over the years, there has been increasing prosperity in that country and many people are financially better off than, say, 25 years ago. However, very large groups are still having a hard time and live in very poor conditions. So we will continue to redistribute our wealth for a while. A truck was unloaded in Breaza on Monday and the distribution started immediately. I wrote earlier that Romanian companies are increasingly giving away their surpluses to charities. Cristi in Botosani sees this happening more and more and can make many people happy with it. Also in Breaza, surpluses from Romanian companies are increasingly arriving, especially dairy products, which are eagerly sought after. Here is the link to photos. There is a new post on Imola's blog, this is the link. Wednesday 13 October a truck was loaded for the 4...

The original plan was to load two trucks with relief supplies on Wednesday, October 6, ’21. On Monday, however, the request came to load the 1st truck that could already be in Broek op Langedijk on Tuesday morning. Rob's motorcycle and mine were also in this truck. We managed to load the trailer with a small group on Tuesday afternoon, the destination was Botosani. Here the link to pictures of the loading. On Friday he arrived in Botosani and unloaded there immediately. Cristi was busy again, because a huge batch of stones also came in for the new building. These are donated by the supplier, a considerable cost saving. Next week a group of masons will arrive, but the insulation is still lacking, not for sale in the area. Perhaps he will succeed in getting a party from Ukraine. Cristi is clearly concerned about the high energy prices, and he wants to have the new building fitted with solar panels. The rise in the prices of foodstuffs in combination with the enormous rise in the pric...

Despite the absence of the motorcyclists, the work of the foundation has not stopped. A lot of work has been done, especially with all kinds of pick-up jobs, the storage is again quite full. That is why we will be loading two trucks on Wednesday 6 October. The truck that comes back with our motorcycles goes to Botosani and the second to Breaza. Our motorcycle trip went well, we had a great time together. The home base was the important distribution point for us in Breaza. Csaba and Imola do a very good job there with their childcare, assistance to the elderly in the village and the distribution of the relief goods between other local organizations, etc., etc. At times it seems like the social service itself, in case of a problem asking Csaba and Imola for help often works better than the "real" social service of the municipality of Breaza itself. The corona restrictions are not really bothersome for those who are vaccinated. However, just when we went back to the Netherlands...

As so often the week flew by, Monday there were clean up jobs and we could make preparations for loading the trailer the next day. The car that we were able to purchase for Reghina from Ticau was brought by Abe. A great car, Sven Wittebrood has checked all technical matters. He came straight from work and still had to be cleaned, this also worked, great car. Early Tuesday morning 17 September we started loading two motorcycles. A small group is going to make a nice trip through the south of Romania and a part of Bulgaria, I myself belong to this group. The loading of the relief supplies went smoothly and we were also able to load the car for Reghina well and safely. A bit of a special load, but a very nice one. Here the link to pictures of the loading In the meantime, many messages came from Romania with thanks regarding. delivering the frozen food. It has become a huge success and we have been able to make a lot of people happy with it. The people who made this special transport poss...