Weekly update 29/22

Just a short report of the trip that Nico and I are making to Romania, which started on Monday 18 July with a flight from Eindhoven to Debrecen. At the time of writing this it is Sunday July 24th and we are at Csaba and Imola in Breaza.

Tuesday 19 July we had good conversations with Attila the manager of the farm in Marghita, we stayed there in the beautiful guest house. The farmers in Romania are having a hard time, the price of diesel oil, fertilizer and labor costs are skyrocketing. The persistent hot and dry weather causes many crops to fail. In any case, thanks to Attila's craftsmanship, the harvest of wheat and rapeseed was successful. The wheat even very well 1.025 tons set a new record. The rest of the crops have to wait. Vegetables and potatoes are reasonably successful thanks to the irrigation system with water from the lake. Without this possibility, vegetable cultivation is impossible.

Here is the link to photos

We had a good time there again. Wednesday 20 July we went to Breaza with Csaba and had a delicious meal there and made it a pleasant evening.

Thursday July 21, Nico and I went with the Dacia to Botosani where we were warmly welcomed by Cristi and Aline and the 20 children who are staying in Casa Ioana. The new building, hit by fire, has been waterproofed and the inside has been cleaned as much as possible. Over the course of next week, whoever has done most of the work on the building will assess what further steps are needed. It looks like at least the ceilings need to be removed and the roof insulation redone. Very unfortunate everyone, it gives Cristi a lot of extra worries. Fortunately, he can count on the support of the people around him. Fortunately, financial aid comes from various sources to pay the costs of the damage.

 Cristi has become an important partner in the aid to refugees since the outbreak of the war. To see something of this with our own eyes, we could visit a shelter in Suceava or a shelter in the Ukraine itself. We decided to go to Chernivtsi the next day, in this city about 2,000 refugees live in emergency shelters from the area where the war and bombing takes place. Through Cristi, the Promotion Foundation has become an important supplier of the soup kitchen on which these people depend for their meals.

So on Friday 22 July we left with a fully loaded bus with food to Chernivtsi. Near the Romanian city of Siret we crossed the border, it was not very busy, it took a total of two hours to enter the Ukraine. We saw many trucks lined up with commercial goods, including emergency goods trucks, many tankers and trucks to transport grain. Just in front of us were three vans with relief supplies from Germany.

Igor was waiting for us at a gas station on the outskirts of town. He is the pastor of the local Pentecostal church and contact person for Cristi. Actually he had other obligations but he wanted to meet us. Meanwhile, we were amazed in Chernivtsi. It is a city with more than 200,000 inhabitants and it is very busy. It is a beautiful city with many historic buildings but also ugly apartment buildings. Upon arrival at the place where a tent has been set up in which a soup kitchen has been made, the gate immediately opened to unload our bus with relief supplies at the nearby storage.

We received a warm welcome, there was even applause from the long line waiting for a meal from the soup kitchen. After a lot of handshaking and greetings by all kinds of people and aid workers, we were able to help hand out. What impressed me the most were the older women who stood in line there with all kinds of old-age ailments. Some burst into tears expressing all kinds of thanks for the help we can give to these people. It's just pathetic that these people have been ripped away from their normal family circumstances and are now living almost a thousand miles away under these conditions.

Also received a lot of respect for the young women, refugees themselves, who did the work. Just get on with making a simple but nutritious meal every day and handing it out in a tent in a square with very simple tools. The meal supply on that day was already coming to an end and we discovered that there were also homeless people from the city. It's a pity that there is a language barrier. Hearing their life story has always interested me. We did talk for a while with someone who came from Kiev and had a company there in special kind of lighting. He was now helping with the soup kitchen technique.

It was special that we were able to distribute the two boxes of relief goods made by a twelve-year-old girl for these people, the recipients were very happy with them.

After this unforgettable event, we accepted Igor's invitation to have lunch together in a restaurant and talk about his experience. Driven by his urge to thank us, we were able to enjoy a delicious lunch. In the meantime, he told stories about the places in the war zone where, among other things, relief supplies go through his brother, with the support of photos and videos. All together an experience not to be soon forgotten.

Together with Cristi we visited the historic center of the city and had a drink on a terrace. There was nothing to conclude there that the country is at war with Russia.

On the return trip we recorded how long the queue of waiting trucks was that had to go into Romania, 21 kilometers about 800 trucks. According to our estimate, it takes them two days to cross the border. It is incomprehensible to us that the EU is doing nothing about this.

Aline and Cristi treated us to a delicious meal and of course had a lot to tell.

Saturday 23 July we said goodbye. We agreed that this had been a useful visit. Cristi was also happy that we could talk to each other in this way and that he could share with us what he is doing. Personally I have a lot of respect for it and I expect many others with me.

Here is the link to photos.

The trip to Breaza went well, a bit warm but the landscape remains beautiful and time flies by. We spent the evening on the terrace in the garden at Csaba and Imola.

Today we take it easy tomorrow we visit a number of people and on Tuesday we fly home again.