Weekly update 5/24

This week we were able to send another trailer with valuable relief supplies to Romania.

We also continued to replenish our stock so that we still don't have to say no to the people we care about in Romania. It is of course great that volunteers, sponsors, institutions and companies make this possible.

We have sometimes considered taking things a bit easier. In short, the responses from our contacts from Romania were: please don't do this. Your help is extremely important to many people.

What touches me are sometimes the relatively small things. Csaba from Breaza came to deliver a food package to Mr. Piu in Filpisu Mic and noticed that this old man was sitting in the cold. There was no more firewood and he couldn't arrange anything himself, he sat there like a pitiful pile of people in the cold. Csaba went back home and got some firewood with which he got the stove on fire again. The next day he came by again and told me: Maarten, what a difference it makes, a warm house. Mr. Piu was cheerful and busy cooking soup.

 People with a very low income receive (if they are lucky) vouchers worth € 280 through social services in the winter, which they can exchange for food, etc. wood briquettes. Not everyone understands how this works or cannot go into town to buy wood briquettes at a hardware store. In this case, Csaba has done that and Mr. Piu can fire again. You immediately wonder how many people would be left out in the cold with not enough food?

Fortunately, on Wednesday we were able to load a lot of food that was most needed. It all went very smoothly and shortly after lunch the truck with double crew was on its way to Marghita. They covered this distance of about 1,800 kilometers very quickly, on Thursday evening I received a message that they had crossed the border and were driving in Romania. On Friday morning they were able to unload at the farm in Marghita.

Here is the link to photos of the loading.

Here is the link to photos of the unloading.

Thanks to St. Emeth, Reghina from Ticau was able to buy and distribute food, something she likes to do a lot. It is help that reaches the people there. Potatoes, onions and flour will soon be shipped from the farm to Ticau. This is supplemented with cake from the Netherlands.

Here is the link to photos.

I received photos from Imola and Csaba from Breaza of the distribution of the last
load of relief goods in various places. It gives an idea of what is happening there, there is much more to say about it. We'll do that another time.

Here is the link to photos.

 

Many people were also in the cold in Band, Csaba was able to buy three pallets of wood briquettes relatively cheaply and brought them to Band. According to Marin, fourteen poor people can use this to heat the stove for a month, which is a great initiative. Marin and his family and acquaintances start making meals for 70 people twice a week, I'll be curious to see how this goes. Many relief supplies have also been distributed there, something that is very important now.

Here is the link to photos.

We were also able to contribute to the construction of a house for a 62-year-old lady and her daughter. Where they live now is very bad, a rotten roof and a huge hole in the wall with a curtain. The foundation was ready on Friday and they were working on the walls. She had been everywhere for help, including the municipality, but no one could/would help her. She could not fathom that people from a faraway country like the Netherlands would want to help her.

Here is the link to photos.

Viorel and Elena from Deaj have achieved another wonderful performance. Thanks to a sponsor, they now have the opportunity to do something extra in addition to their normal program during this cold period. 300 portions of food can be made twice a week for three months. The photo album below makes it clear how that went last week. The execution is not easy, but it is really great that they do this. The need there is extremely high.

Here is the link to photos.

Next week we will be loading a trailer for Ukraine on Tuesday or Wednesday in collaboration with Jan Pilkes from Caritas. Jan comes again with his own loading team.

A truck will be loading for Breaza next Wednesday or Thursday. Mission and Relief from Zevenhuizen is the forwarder this time. We will experience how the collaboration with them works, their expertise is important in connection with the changes at Romania's border.

Plenty to do, so it's nice to see that a group of mainly seniors can achieve this.