Meet Maria Prichici

Maria is aged 64 and lives in the remote village of Varadia in the Judet of Caras Severin near the Serbian Border in the South West of the country.  The village is in open countryside and is approached by bumpy roads full of potholes.    She is 64 years old and originates from the very poor area of Moldova in the north east of Romania.  She and her husband moved to the area for employment reasons, had 3 children but her husband died 21 years ago.

She became homeless after her 3 children sold her house and took the money.  Sadly there are many children in Romania who do not care for their parents.  This is a legacy of communism where they did not have to take any responsibility.  You will recall that the dictator, Ceaucescu built up an empire of people believing that a high population meant power.  He wanted more workers so that he could export more materials out of the country resulting in an extreme shortage of food.  .  Birth control was illegal and workers were penalised with higher taxes if they had less than 4 children.  He wanted everyone working and assured families that the state would take care of their children and parents.  This resulted in  huge orphanages being built throughout the country and the old people were placed in similar type state establishments.  I am sure I do not need to remind anyone of what was found in Romania in 1989 post communism - establishments full of hundreds of starving children left in their cots.  What the world did not see was the institutions of old people in a similar plight.

We don't know the full circumstances - perhaps her children were poor themselves but nothing condones throwing their mother out onto the street which is what they did.   The pain that she was feeling was evident as she sobbed her heart out to Christine, Peter and myself.   Her children must be in a very sad place - all we can do is pray that their hearts will be changed and they will come to a point of repentance. Maria is a committed Christian and attends the Baptist Church in the village which is where she met Pastor Vlad who runs the Widow's Mite programme in her area.  

After she lost her home, the Mayor's office gave her a small house in the village but later required it for a family so they have now given her a room in the Town Hall.  In return she has to look after the building but also has to pay rent and the utilities.  She gets a pension of the equivalent of 70 euros per month and showed per payment ticket.  She has a furnished comfortable room but the ceilings are high and her gas and electricity bills come to equivalent of 67 euros per month leaving her with just 3 euros to live on.  She suffers with rheumatism, heart problems and has an ulcerated leg but no money to pay for medication.  We left her a monetary donation towards food, which is very expensive in the village shop.  Even though she gets a monthly food basket from the project, which is a supplement  we have decided that when we next visit we will purchase a further supply of non perishable  foods.   Maria was overjoyed with her Christmas shoe box gift, her crocheted blanket and new slippers.  

Her accommodation may be in the town hall but she has to carry water from a well in the street and she has an earth toilet which is common.  She has a wood fueled range in her room to cook on.  She has few visitors and says that God is her strength and provision.

We are giving thanks that Pastor Vlad has found a Christian doctor from the city of Timisoara where he lives who has agreed to provide free medical checks for the widows in that area.  Our charity has been blessed with a supply of medication which has been split between this project and  a Baptist Clinic in Arad.  So tomorrow Pastor Vlad and the doctor will visit the 5 widows in Varadia to give them medical examinations and where possible to assist with free medication.  They will be using Maria's room as their consultation base.
 
Sadly this is not an isolated case and so if you would like to help finance this project (which is grossly underfunded) then please contact me (Irene).  An individual donation would help but a monthly donation of as little as 5 pounds per month from several people could make such a difference to the daily lives of people such as Maria.  My contact details are on the website.