Weekly update 13/23

This blog starts with the report of the fascinating journey that Nico, Henk and myself made to Romania.

Tuesday March 28 was a travel day and we arrived late in the evening at the farm in Marghita, together with Csaba Fazakas from Breaza. Csaba had picked us up in Cluj and helps with translation if necessary, he was also an important support for us now. On Wednesday we looked around the farm there and had conversations with the Attila and his team. Attila runs a wonderful company with lots of possibilities. Farmers in Romania are struggling to keep their heads above water. Dumping grain from the Ukraine for very low prices on the Romanian market and those other surrounding countries makes the cultivation of grain loss-making for them. This problem has also been on the agenda in Brussels since last week and farmers in Romania are getting ready to protest against this dumping.

Part of the vegetables and potatoes from the farm goes to refugee camps in the Ukraine and to poor people in Romania. People from the gypsy community in Getz also work on the farm. It is not easy for these people to find work, so the social side of the farm is given a nice interpretation.

We also visited the building in Getz with the after-school care, nice to see how this has come to mean so much to the children from this village over the years. The children from the local gypsy community in particular have therefore been given a better chance of a bright future. We met a family traveling with horse and carriage in Getz, they were selling brooms and came from the area of Zalau (100 km from Getz!) I understood. During such a trip they live with five of their ten children in this car (!). The horses' horseshoes were completely worn out, we made it financially possible to renew them. Paul sees to it that this happens, they regularly visit Getz.

Here is the link to photos.

Thursday was a travel day to Breaza, our station for the last two days. We first visited a number of interesting places in Oradea, a city that is growing fast. We entered Hungary to take a look at the new border crossing there, after 100 meters we went back. Everything looks good, the line of trucks waiting to enter Romania was again impressive. After a short stretch of highway you will return to the well-known local roads, but they are working on a new ring road. We visited the wholesale market where mainly agricultural products are sold from abroad, but also from Romania itself. To be well prepared for the muddy conditions that awaited us the next day, we bought a pair of boots in a huge hardware store. Then to Breaza where a delicious meal awaited us, there was no lack of conversation material, we made it a beautiful evening. Nico and I slept in the canteen we used in Heerhugowaard, Csaba transformed it into a beautiful chalet.

On Friday we first visited Henk Muller and Marin in Band, weekly I post Henk's messages and photos on this blog. Seeing the poverty with your own eyes makes it all tangible. Especially in the rain and mud when we were there. People like Henk and Marin mean a lot to the people who live there, it's great that they do this. You have to be strong in your shoes to keep this up, we are therefore grateful that we can support them in our way with this. It is very difficult for people to get work because they often have not successfully completed the compulsory eight years of primary school. Not getting a legal job is then not possible, then your fate is day laborer and work for very little money, if there is work at all. Many of them try abroad, often they are also exploited there.

Here is the link to photos.

After this we went to Joszi's soup kitchen for children in Tirgu Mures. It is hard to imagine how this all goes and how important this is for these children. The accompanying photos speak for themselves. These children also take turns showering and washing their clothes, five days a week. Joszi talked about his dream, a building to house all these activities, together with day and night care for children.

Here is the link to photos.

We canceled our plan for lunch due to lack of time, we went to Elena and Viorel in Deaj. First we went with them to the building where children receive after-school care and lessons from the Bible. A few years ago we were able to help with the construction of this, thanks in part to the Kook foundation from Alkmaar. The singing of the children was exuberant, one girl flawlessly read a story from a children's Bible and another girl a poem. There was a pan of food and bread ready, we could help distribute, a nice job between these cheerful happy children. Education and education a little reasonable house and a normal home situation it all sounds simple. Unfortunately, for many of these children, this is not the reality.

Then we went to the nearby village of Haranglab, the road to it ends there. It is a beautiful area to see with some small scale farming. The gypsy quarter in this village has a reputation that the people who live there are not very easy to get along with. It is not a very large community and you can immediately see from the houses that there is poverty. They know Viorel well and they know that he and Elena help them. This time there was also a huge pan of food on the bus and many loaves of bread they had baked. It took quite a bit of effort to get to a clean dry place to hand it out. With springy forces she pushed the bus through the mud and it could begin. An incredible scene then unfolds before your very eyes. A crowd of women, men and children rushes over with pans and buckets, Viorel stands in front of it and tells something and what the intention is.

An assistant of Viorel is a policeman, he lives in the village, even without wearing his uniform he has a lot of authority in a friendly way. Csaba from Breaza helped Elena with the distribution of the food and bread in the pans and buckets. Csaba had never encountered such a policeman, he said later. He treated people who came with the utmost kindness and respect, which was nice to be with.

With Viorel and the rest of our group we went further into the neighborhood, under what conditions these people live varies from bad, very bad and super bad. This compared to similar communities, there is a lot to do there.

Here is the link to photos.

We were all impressed by what we had seen that day, after the delicious meal in Breaza we didn't go to bed very late. The return journey went smoothly and on Saturday at the end of the afternoon we were back home after an impressive journey

Cristi from Botosani sent pictures and a message about the activities there, he is happy with the packages. The new Casa Ioana has been put into use, the aid to Ukraine continues and he receives many visitors.

Here is the link to photos.

Reghina from Ticau sent pictures of the distribution of the packages and goods.

Here is the link to photos.

Toth Attila sent pictures of distributing the packs and also processing some of his wool pigs that have been slaughtered.

Here is the link to photos.

Henk Muller and his partner Marin have been busy, something we have experienced ourselves.

Here is the link to photos.

Viorel and Elena also sent their weekly report that this is all a lot of work, so we were able to experience it up close.

Here is the link to photos.

In Broek op Langedijk, the storage is already quite full, I expect given the collection jobs that were planned. I don't know (yet) to what extent this has all been successful.

The coming week we will load a truck with a small team on Tuesday, which will first go to Marghita to unload a part. After loading with vegetables, potatoes and flour, this goes to Breaza together with the remaining cargo. The truck owner really wanted to load on Tuesday because of the busy schedule. a public holiday in Hungary and the corresponding driving ban for trucks on that day.

Normal activities will resume on Wednesday.