Once again, we, David, Kath & Mandy,  were on our way back to Romania to encourage the families we support before the hard winter weather sets in. We were also on ‘a mission’ to buy Christmas presents for the children and couldn’t wait to see the joy this would bring. We didn’t need to wait long as none of the children were prepared to wait until Christmas to open their bags; we witnessed small gifts bringing so much pleasure!

You may remember, we met Daniel Stefanica in May who promised us accommodation and transport when we were there, he kept his word and was amazing. His whole life is dedicated to helping young people, he’s a good man!

     We had a full itinerary set before we went and it got even fuller once we were there. Daniel invited us into his and his colleagues school to visit the children and staff and to share about GNfR and also to talk about how things are in England and to help them with their spoken English. He also invited us to talk to groups of parents, it was good to tell them that we are sharing the love of friends in England and also sharing the love Jesus to those families who are worse off than we are. We were conscious that the majority of these children, parents and staff aren’t aware of the poverty in their town. Daniel is very involved with Scouts of Art which is interesting, different to our scouts but again, he is very keen to encourage the young people to care about others. He is also heavily involved with Ukranian families and we had the joy of meeting some families who Daniel is helping through his project of providing accommodation/food/schooling//outings etc for them. It certainly brought the war in Ukraine home to us seeing these families taken away from their homeland. The children all seemed happy, they have schooling in Romania but also have online schooling with Ukraine, wonderful!

     Oana Zanet was great; she came shopping with us to buy the children’s gifts and food for the families. We bought each child lots of little gifts but the spectacles saying ‘merry Christmas’ turned out to be their favourite present! GNfR paid Oana to crochet smiley faces which also went in their bags, they were lovely and will hopefully keep the children smiling! Oana continues to struggle with stomach issues, we were able to pay for her tests which have shown up a couple of problems, we wait to hear what happens next. Maria her Mum, still hardly goes out so sadly we didn’t see her again.

     Oana Stancu, Oana looked much better than she did in May thanks to medical treatment she has been receiving. She has found a job as a security guard, looking at the computer watching for anyone stealing from the store. It’s not what she wants long term but it’s a job, there are fast rising costs as there are here so this helps her and Florin. Oana works 217 hours a month, she has 2 days off a month and earns the equivalent of around £1.40 an hour! While we were there, Oana had to take an exam to keep her job and we were delighted when she let us know that she had passed, she did well! We visited her and Florins house where she prepared us a meal, we met Florins Mum again who was grateful for some financial help and we saw Florins brother Adrian. We couldn’t believe the difference in him since May. He is suffering from severe depression but doesn’t see the need to see the doctor. Apparently he doesn’t have many friends and those he has have been leading him down the drinking route/ridiculing him etc. We were able to spend time chatting to Florin about depression/drugs aren’t addictive etc and we pray that Adrian can get the help he desperately needs.

     Rosca family  We were made very welcome at the Rosca home again. Dad is now growing some vegtables, he has some pigs, they continue to take pride in their new kitchen and Tiberiu & Sebastian continue going to school. Mum still has hospital appointments for her burns but she is healing as well as can be expected. We found out there is no insulation in the roof of the kitchen so we would like to try and do that asap, they have very hard winters. Their garden fence is also falling down….we were asked if we could help with this, we will have to see!

     Dana Diaconu  It was really good to visit Dana’s house and see the transformation. During August, GNfR was able to pay Florin to plaster the inside of her house which was just mud walls internally. It was a drab, unhealthy place to live but now, it’s amazing! Thank you to anyone who provided finances to do this. Andreea and Beatrice were so happy and they also were thrilled with their Christmas gifts. Dana just needs a heater now for one room, hope we can buy that soon.

     Mirela Munteanu  Mirela kept messaging me asking when we were visiting as everyone was so excited to see us again. We didn’t see Crina as she was visiting her older brother but all the other children stood anxiously waiting for us at the gate. They loved their gifts and posed happily for photos wearing their Christmas spectacles. We picked up that Crina who is nearly 15, could be starting with ‘teenage problems,’ Mirela looked a little worried about her, we pray she will be ok. Stefania is continuing her treatment for epilepsy and after a blip a few weeks ago, she seems ok again. We hope she will grow out of this health issue.

      Marcela & Georgiana  Marcela is foster Mum to Georgiana and is wonderful. We were invited to their home twice, where the mandatory food was waiting. Marcela’s two grandsons were thrilled to see us again and also loved their gifts. Georgiana still goes to the Delia centre and is helped immensely by the staff there.

     Husi/foster children  Our dear friend David Conway, who would have loved to come with us on this trip but couldn’t because of an impending knee operation, asked us if we would visit Husi, about an hour away, to see some foster parents and children that he has known for a long time. He sent us money to buy food and gifts and it was lovely! We took them all to the cake shop and bought them juice and cake and they were very happy. These children had been in an orphanage in Barlad and went to foster parents about 5 years ago, they are now clearly loved and well cared for. What was interesting was that two of the girls, Alexandra and Ionela were so pleased to see us and explained to Oana Z, who had come with us to translate, that they remember us visiting them in the orphanage about 6 years ago (they would be around 4-5 years old) and giving them ‘wheat puffs!’ we were shocked that they remembered us and so lovely to see them living normal lives out of the state orphanage.

     Mihai (Micky) –Myosotis Charity  Again, through David C, we were made aware of this charity. We met Mihai in May and asked him if on our next visit, we could see the work he is involved with so first of all, we visited Casa Esme which is another day centre for disabled children. The children were having 1:1 assessments for the authorities when we were there, very interesting and another lovely place! We were delighted to hear that at last, children with special needs are starting to get the state educational help they need. For the past 5 years or so, the authorities have recognized that these children should be given the opportunity to go to state school with support. 5 years ago, in the county of Vaslui, there was only 1 special needs teacher so this was going to be a challenge. So because of the shortage of staff, at the minute, if a special needs child goes to main stream school, then a parent must go with them and they can go for around 2-3 hours a day. We chatted to the social worker at the centre and said it was clearly going to take time to which she agreed but said, “yes, but for these children, their time is NOW!”  This is so true, they need help now!

     We then went to House of Roses  We were blown away by this place. There were 5 young adults there, (in their 30’s), all with special needs. Briefly, they had grown up together in a state orphanage and were then separated from each other. Someone from the UK who knew them was upset seeing their atrocious living conditions and the fact that these friends were separated, that she spent her pension buying a house for them to live in together forever. There was lots of bureaucracy to deal with but eventually they were moved into this house and they are SO happy. We came away on a high, you certainly couldn’t feel sad around them.

     State Orphanage  Once again, we were invited into the orphanage to see Delia and the other children, all with special needs/disabilities. Delia was thrilled to see us again and it was good to see her. She’s doing well but sadly, all efforts by The Delia Foundation to get her living with a family broke down. After many visits, the family decided Delia was going to be too much hard work, how sad for Delia. She is incredible considering she has no limbs and certainly doesn’t want to be held back by her disability. I had been given the children’s names by Geta, the director before we went so I was able to get aprons made with their names on as a gift, they were happy. We left there feeling quite sad that there isn’t a lot of hope for these children, sadly orphanage life is likely to be their future, we just pray it’s as good as it can be.

     Delia Centre  Visitng the centre again was so lovely. We managed two visits and seeing the children happy, being fed a healthy diet and receiving good speech therapy, good teaching etc was encouraging. The staff are so patient and caring with all these children, such a blessing. Unfortunately Miruna isn’t going there any more as she became seriously anxious and difficult to handle. We just hope she can be stable in her foster home for the future.

     Concerns:  There are many changes now in Barlad, there’s lots of wealth with the poorer getting deeper into poverty. Going into 2 schools made us realize that there are lots of children living in much better homes than our children but sadly,  a lot of these children are left at home with siblings while their parents work and are watching so much TV, that they are learning English from the cartoon channels! Daniel encouraged us to share about the work of GNfR, focusing on the poorer in their society.  Daniel is very keen to teach the children to care about others and help those around them, we pray this will bring some much needed change in the future.

     Summary   This newsletter has been challenging to write as there’s so much to say! All we can say is that it was a busy, tiring, emotional, joyful, successful trip. David kept reasonably well so thank you all for praying!  Everyone we met was so grateful for the help they received, financially, food and gift wise and said it was so uplifting for them to know that people really do care! We don’t fully appreciate how much it really means! So, a huge THANK YOU to you all for continuing to be with us in this work. We wish you a very happy Christmas and every blessing for 2023.Love David, Kath & Mandy xxxx