Widows Mite Project in Dude

Lena in her yard

Meet 2 of the elderly people we support on the above project from Dude, which is a remote village about an hours run from Arad along bumpy roads - difficult to get to in the winter!!  The street are dirt tracks and life in this rural area is hard.  The village has an Orthodox Church, s school and a shop but little else.  The nearest doctor is in another village several miles away called Tirnova but the surgery and pharmacy are not always open. There are wells in the garden or in the street, people grow their own vegetables (some of which they preserve for the winter) and they usually have fruit  and almond trees in their courtyard. They also make jam for the winter.  Most people have chickens and the younger country folk usually keep pigs for slaughter.  Its normal to see ducks, horses or cows in the street.  It really is a beautiful part of the world.

George struggling to survive following
the death of his entire family

Above is Lena - who is in her 80's and has had a very hard life.  Although in poor health she still works occasionally in the fields to obtain some extra money to live.  She lives on a very small pension which does not cover her prescription medicines.  These are obtained from the Baptist Clinic in Arad (which we supply) and are collected by Adina for delivery with her monthly food parcel.  She is also grateful for her winter wood.

There has been a lot of heartache in Lena's world.  She lost her husband at a young age and then tragically her only child died suddenly from a heart attack leaving her all alone.  She told me that without her God she does not know how she would have coped when her son died.  We give thanks that she had friends and neighbours  who supported her when she fell and broke her leg last year.  Sadly it was not set properly and she still has problems.  At the time she almost gave up all will to live until a zimmer frame arrived from Wales.  Whenever we visit Lena we usually have eggs or walnuts to come home with.  I can recall one occasion when I was living in Romania when she gave Jackie and I a rooster who was not behaving!!!

George's lunch

Also above is George who lives in the same street who is in his early 70's but looks much older..  George's has also had a tragic life in that his late wife was an epileptic.  They had 2 beautiful children but sadly they too suffered with the mother's condition.  Being unable to access adequate medical care sadly he lost all 3.  You can see the pain and sorrow  in his eyes when he talks about them.  He has health problems too and struggles so much to care for himself and to survive financially.  The monthly food parcels help.

We are desperate for funding for this essential project which supports elderly people who have no family support.   The cost of providing monthly food, medication and wood for the winter works out at around 40 pounds per person per month and there are currently 39 people on the project.   If you feel it on your heart to help then you can either give a donation (cheques payable to "Reaching Romania") or contact me and become a monthly sponsor .  Several people donating just 5 pounds per month would make a huge difference to the lives of these poor and helpless people struggling to survive.