Weekly update 32/23

In the previous blog I mentioned that another trip to Romania was planned. Together with Gerrit Beetsma and Gerard Smit we left on Tuesday August 8th and we were back home Saturday August 12th.

Wednesday and Thursday we were at the farm to discuss current affairs with Attila and Ference. The bottom line is that thanks to the good growing season and Attila's craftsmanship, excellent yields in kilos are achieved. As I wrote before, it is difficult to sell these products at a good price, mainly due to the consequences of the war in the Ukraine.

Here's the link to some photos.

It is going to change again, so we must keep our eye on the future. Attila and his team will do this and are already busy with preparations for next year's crops. Frans Boom and his team from www.iq-group.nl , were working on the installation of solar panels on the roof of the barn in the context of this future-oriented thinking. This went really fast, Attila expressed his surprise several times.

A few videos of how this went.

Friday we visited Viorel and Elena Deaj from Breaza. There was a whole batch of bread ready to be distributed in Haranglab for the benefit of the gypsy quarter there. In the blog 13/23 I wrote about an earlier visit to this district. The policeman who often helps Viorel with this was already present, in order to ensure that the distribution proceeded in an orderly manner. On the way we were stopped by two other agents, when Viorel told us what the intention was, they decided to come along too. In retrospect, it was a pity that this turned out this way, unlike the one who always helps Viorel, the older of the two was a real old-fashioned bully who treated people very unfriendly.

People flocked to the distribution point to pick up the loaves. When you see this procession pass by so close, it really comes to mind, what an impossible life these people have there. Shortage of but also often wrong food, bad hygiene, bad teeth, bad education of children and so on. I really hope that we will be able to mean even more to the people there in the future. Viorel wants to continue building a house and we have some ideas.

Here's the link to some photos.

Then we visited Marin in Band, also busy building houses and caring for people around him. We had an interesting conversation about how everything works in such a neighborhood. We also saw the grave of the worker who drowned in a river in Austria. His wife and children now live with his parents and are struggling. Often working abroad for these people, thanks to shady employment agencies, is a form of modern slavery.

Then visited Henk Muller, he lives in a very nice place with nice people who take good care of him. He is not the old one yet, he had just been to Tirgu Mures with Marin for a blood test, the hope is that something will come out of this. Good thing we talked to him.

Here is the link to a few photos from these visits.

In Urmenis we visited the social worker of this village, the well-known Elena. She now lives permanently in her new house, a very nice place with a beautiful garden. The basis of the house are the two office containers that we received a long time ago from the Food Bank Amsterdam. It all took a while but is now finished and it has become a beautiful home. We enjoyed the delicious meal on the terrace, we could share all kinds of experiences, it was cozy.

We brought the professional tools that we received from Jan Gardien from De Lier to the construction team of Toth Attila from Peris, his brother. Nice and hardworking people who have helped us with construction projects before, of course they were very happy with it.

Here is the link to a few photos from these visits.

Saturday was a travel day to get home and we succeeded. They are and remain impressive journeys.

Some of our contacts have shared photos etc., I'll include them next time.

Next Wednesday we will load for Marghita and Botosani.