Ileana's Story

Ileana is a beautiful warm and friendly lady aged 70 who lives in a ground floor room of a large building in Arad.   She is one of 39 elderly people being supported by the Widows Mite Project.  She was born in Hungary and had one brother who died when he was 5. Her parents moved to Romania during the second world war.  She married at age 19 but sadly it lasted only 3 months because her husband drank a lot and was cruel to her.  She returned home but her mother died when she was 22 and her father was killed in a car accident in 1974.  She formed another relationship lasting  20 years but he too died.  She has distant family in Hungary but never sees them.

Ileana has severe health problems - a weak heart, bronchitis and respiratory problems.

Wayne and I first met her 6 years ago shortly after she had been added to the programme..  At that time she was living in a tiny damp rat infested basement room.  She was in a desperate state - I will never forget the expression on her face when she opened the door to us.  She had trapped a rat in her minature oven.  She had previously lived in an upstairs room but the owner sold the building.  The lawyer who bought it made her leave and put her in the basement.


When we spoke to her in 2009 there was light at the end of the tunnel because she was shortly to be offered a small state apartment in the San Nicolau Mic area where she lived for 2 years.  However, with a pension of just 63 pounds per month she could not afford the rent and utilities.    Her monthly essential medication  costs 6 pounds and she can't always afford the rest. 4 years ago she returned to live in the city after being offered a room rent free.  However, her only heating is an old electric fire which is expensive.  Yesterday when we called the fire was turned off and the room was cold.

She is always grateful to receive a monthly food parcel.  She got excited when she saw the slippers and the Christmas Box.  She has also received a winter allowance towards heating from the Project which like the food is only a supplement.

As I came away I thought that perhaps a thermostatically controlled oil filled radiator may be cheaper to run.  This could possibly ease her financial burden and provide her with a little money for her additional medication.  I will investigate the cost on Monday.   If there is anyone out there who would like to make a donation towards the cost then please contact me.

Vinga Children's Programme - what a blessing

After the Youth Programme (12 year olds plus) led by Bogdan, we were back out in Vinga this morning for the Children's Programme.  There are so many children that they are split into 2 classes (5-8 year olds and 8 - 11 year olds) led by Delia (Bogdans' Mother), Pastor Vlad and his lovely wife, Alina.  We are thankful for 2 classrooms and also for an incredible team who work so well together bringing honour and glory to His Name.

 First they sang carols and this was followed by the Nativity Programme - the costumes were wonderful and the children were so proud and performed so well.  Then there was much excitement in the house as Father Christmas and all the presents arrived.  Jackie & I had transported them all from the Shoe Box Operation Room at her home.   Thanks to Adina who took her to hospital in Timisoara Little Tabita seen here with Father Christmas is receiving growth hormone treatment.  Please pray that it be successful.   She is a real delight.

The Team

After saying our goodbye's we returned to Arad to collect the Vinga Widows Mite food parcels which we will deliver tomorrow after church together with their Christmas gifts.  Jackie kindly took me out for a meal before we returned to the San Nicolau Mic Kids Club to collect Sarah and Elizabeth plus their friend, Bianca.  It has been a blessed day and would you believe it I was home by 5.30 pm so I have been able to make a start on this blog earlier.   I also have some emails and accounts to catch up on.

I have much to do before leaving but God is making a way.

A mixed day of helping those in need followed by the Vinga Youth Party

Adina and I were out and about early today but the roads are still treacherous.  Adina had told me about a family in desperate need and I decided we must help so our first stop was the Profi Supermarket to buy a food parcel.    Their story is heart wrenching.  They Are a Christian  family of 5 - dad and mum in their 30's and 3 young children, the youngest of which is 6.  However, 2 years ago their world was turned upside down when dad was diagnosed with throat cancer.  Everything possible was done to find a cure - much prayer went up and they even  travelled to Italy for medical treatment  Financial support was given by their local Baptist church and other sister churches but the treatment was so expensive that they had to borrow money to try and find a cure. At one point, during her husband's illness the mother was forced to go to France to work for 3 months to start clearing the debt.   Sadly the illness was progressive and he suffered  much pain leading up to his death 4 weeks ago.She said it was so hard seeing him suffer so much with the children present.  There was such a sadness in her eyes but she is having to keep going for the sake of her children.  She said the neighbours have been very kind and we give thanks that she has the support of her church and caring people to comfort her.  She knows her husband is in a better place and she is holding on to God as her comforter.  She was so grateful to receive a food parcel and shoe box gifts for the children.  She said that she was not able to afford any presents for them so this was God's provision.  Although it was not possible for me to visit them last year I recall sending gifts over with Adina. The children were all at school and I was sorry to miss them.  Please pray for this family. 

2nd stop was Jackie's house to box up loads of shoe boxes for other projects.  Talk about loaves and fishes provision after we completed our task for today we still have over 100 boxes left in the store room - which is roughly the required number of 2 other ministries who need our help.

3rd stop was to a house which accommodated 3 sisters and their families plus the grandparents.  Conditions are poor and each family occupies a separate room.  The children of all 3 families had chicken pox and were covered in calamine lotion.  Adina became involved with this family through her work at the hospital and has been supporting little  Natalia who is one of the 10 children of one family. .  She is 7 years old but the size of a 2 year old.  As a qualified social worker Adina talked to a doctor at Timisoara and persuaded her to give free tests, diagnosis and treatment.  Adina even stayed over at the hospital with Natalia who is now on daily injections of hormones to help her to grow.  The doctor is confident that the treatment will work but it has to be administered carefully so Adina has trained the one aunt on how to do the daily jections.  All the children were excited to receive gifts and we also gave them a blanket each.

We then delivered a few  Widows Mite food parcels around the city together with Christmas gifts. We will get the rest done in the next few days.  I will write more on the widows later.

Last stop of the day was the Vinga Youth Group Christmas Party - again it was risky out on the roads..  They had a Bible Study tonight  with Bogdan and we arrived later with boxed gifts, drinks, cakes, biscuits and sweets.  We even brought along Peter as Father Christmas which they enjoyed.  This group is growing  and they are putting their faith into practice with deeds.  Jackie too took some of them on a mission trip to Bulgaria last year to help build an orphanage.  They have also been working in the community and supported some of the elderly on the Widows Mite Project.

I am really tired tonight and have to get to bed now.  We have a very full day tomorrow.

Delivering aid, blankets and yummy lollipops

People wonder what happens to the items they donate to us. I will let the pictures tell the story.  The aid that is being distributed by Adina is from America.

Adina has been distributing aid from America

These lollipops are yummy!!!

Thank you for our blankets from Wales

Collecting plastics to sell to provide food

I love the lollipop but I need some socks

We love because He first loved us

As I stated previously a lot of people in the west do not believe that poverty exists in Romania since they joined the EU. The reality is that the rich have become richer and the poor have become poorer. Others are prejudiced because of the publicity about a rich gypsy family who came to Britain and defrauded the benefits system of a large some of money.   I have been challenged on that one.  My answer to that one is that sadly here are dishonest and evil people in every society. Do we consider every German to be evil because of the actions of Adolf Hitler?  The Word of God says that we should not judge.  Here are pictures of homes in some of the poorer areas of Arad

Feeding the homeless

Tonight we visited an adipost (homeless shelter) on the outskirts of the city. Our team consisted of Jackie, myself, Adina, musicians Marius the leader of the SNM Kids Club, Sarah and Elizabeth (Jackie's grandaughters) and Bianca, one of their friends.

Tonight there are 50 people in the night shelter (a larger proportion of men to women).  It is normally open from 8 pm until 8am.  However in the winter months the ladies are allowed to stay in during the day.  Tonight we took them pizza, pop, hats, socks, paper hankies, tea shirts, toothpaste, toothbrushes, toiletries and crosses.  Adina, I and Jackie served the food and gave out the gifts whilst Marius and Elizabeth led the carols with guitars.  We had plenty of pizza - many came back for 3 helpings.   The tears were not confined to the homeless.  It was truly a touching evening - thank you Lord for using us to bring in a little joy to their lives.. I just wish we could do more.   Some of the stories were so incredible sad.

Bless them, they all had a story to tell, but one dear lady called Olga stood out in the crowd. She looked like an ordinary grandmother and had a face so full of love but with a sadness that touched my soul..  When she saw us coming with the love of Jesus, food, gifts and carols she started to cry.  My heart just bled for her when we asked about how she ended up on the streets. Her husband had died 28 years ago.  She had incurred some debts and sadly borrowed  money from a loan shark.When she could not manage the repayments he simply took her home and put her out on the street with her son.  She and her son have been  sleeping at the adipost for 4 years and sadly last week he died.  We did not have the heart to ask what happened to him.  She was in total grief.  She told us she had a pension equivalent to 100 pounds a month so she must have previously had a job..  However there is no way that she can rent a tiny apartment or even a room for that and pay utilities and medical expenses.   We would be in a position to help with food through the Widows Mite Project.  Please please join us in prayer that God will provide for her needs.
 
It was hard to come away.  The ladies all had beds in their dormitary but the men had mattresses on the floor.  The rooms had oil filled radiators in them but some were complaining they were cold in the night.  We will take along a supply of blankets and all the scarves we forgot to take along tonight.  We respect the policy of the adipost in not posting pictures of vulnerable adults on the internet.

Today's Widows Ministry

This morning Adina and I were out and about on the icy snowy roads shopping for the Widows Mite boxes for the Judet of Arad.  Today went  shopping for food and other items for 14 widows to make up their monthly food parcels.   First we needed to buy the food and then pack it  ready for distribution possibly tomorrow with the Christmas boxes, slippers and blankets.  Adina had a plan - her uncle has an unoccupied flat in the city. He rents out the bottom floor to a food wholesalers.  So we called in there to check the prices - they were good and Adina negotiated a discount on certain items.  Adina is incredible at stretching budgets  And the plus was the staff helpded us carry all the items upstairs so we could lay them all out and start packing.

There is  an enormous amount of manual handling with the food parcels (just like the shoe boxes both in Wales and here).  Usually the goods are purchased in large supermarkets and because Adina and Her parents, my hosts live in a second floor apartment and there is insufficient space to work there,   they have been transported to Jackie's house, 5 miles outside the city.  They were then unloaded, packed and reloaded before being distributed among the widows.  So to me this is an excellent plan.

Today's food parcel consists of:

2 bags per widow

Oil, flour, marmalega (maize), gris (like semolina). sugar, rice, soup noodles and 2 other kinds of pasta, 2 tins of meat and 3 tins of pate, 1 tin of sardines, 1 tin of sweetcorn, 1 tin of mushrooms, 1 tin of peas,  1 tin of pineapple,1 packet of tea, 1 packet of coffee,1 carton of stock powder, 1 packet of biscuits, bar of chocolate,  1 packet of sweets, 2 packets of desserts to mix with milk, 1 jar of jam, 1 jar of honey, 1 packet of washing powder, 2 toilet rolls, 2 bars of soap.

Other items that are supplied but not necessarily monthly are salt, other condiments, washing up liquid.  

This work gives me a lot of pleasure because of the desperate need of the widows who receive them.  They simply cannot live on their minimal pensions - 2 ladies have no pensions at all.  Taking into account the monthly food, the wood supply for the winter and the gas allowance for the few living in the city plus the cost of medication for some, it costs around 35 pounds per month to run this ministry - that is without the cost of fuel to deliver and the majority live in remote villages.  This is why Adina runs the Judet of Arad project  and Vlad does the Judet of Timisoara,   However the project does run out into 2 other bordering states.

There are currently 38 elderly people on the project.  Bearing in mind that we require  35 pounds per person per month, then the current cost is 1330 pounds per month = 15, 960 pounds per year.  RR receives 45 pounds per month designated for this project from regular sponsors (540 pounds per year) and we do have designated donations plus we arrange some fund raising events.  The majority of funding come in from the States but there is a huge shortfall which Pastor Jackie often makes up out of her own private funds.   When she sees a need she adds people in faith that the Lord will provide.

If there is anyone out there who has a heart for this ministry then please consider making a monthly donation by standing order.  Several people donating just 5 pounds per month could make a huge difference.  It is essential that we are able to maintain this essential ministry. Please contact me if you can help.  

With the food packing done, Adina and I then visited Ecaterina (one of our widows that I wrote about yesterday who lives in a 6th small apartment near here.)  She is in the city hospital on a ward on the 5th floor and feeling poorly. She was admitted last week with heart problems.  She says little has been done and she is being discharged this afternoon.  We took her along some bananas.  Please join us in pray for her - she is almost 79.

Please bear with me about the missing pictures - I am trying to resolve the problem.  It is now 7 pm.  I admit to feeling poorly this afternoon with sinus problems for which I am taking medication.  We are back out shortly to visit a Homeless Shelter on the outskirts of the city to give them a surprise treat which will be revealed later when I blog.