Dear Friends,

Visit to Romania 17th-25th August 2017.

Our journey to Romania went well and on August 17th, Mandy Pateman, David and myself arrived in Barlad. Oana Zanet had been in contact with me and asked us to visit her asap on arrival in Barlad, so this was our first stop. Oana messaged to say we must not go to her apartment alone as it was too dangerous (lots of unpleasant gypsies live in the area) so we were happy when she came to meet us down the road. Oana didn’t look too well but Mum Maria looked better than last year although she isn’t a well lady either. Oana has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar, depression and ‘other illnesses.’ She lacks self-confidence and self-worth but finds her regular chats online with me really helpful. We have been able to purchase braces for her very prominent teeth in the hope that this will help her, please keep her in your prayers, life is hard! Maria got upset and asked us if, ‘when she dies, will we keep in touch with Oana and help her as they have little family and no one will acknowledge that Oana has any problems. Oana has started volunteering in a foster home teaching English to six 20- 31 year olds with special needs which is amazing, we are really happy about this! Before we left the UK, Claudiu had explained that he was hopefully going to get time off to go on camp but would not be allowed to have time off when we were there, or for his silver wedding anniversary. His boss told him, “the only way you will have time off is to die or leave the company” so we had a wonderful answer to prayer when he called us to say there were some Holy days when we were there and because his work is on a new huge cathedral in Bucharest, the job would be closed…thank God for these Holy days! CAMP The first topic of conversation when we arrived at Claudiu’s was “how was camp?” The answer was it was fantastic! There were more younger children on camp this year but everything was good and they all had a wonderful time. Again, it was a time for the children to relax, have fun, listen to bible stories, sing and very importantly, have the opportunity to chat about any worries they have etc. Claudiu said Tiberiu & Sebastian just smiled the whole time, their lives are very difficult. There were lots of sad faces when it was time to go home but everyone says a big THANK YOU for making the holiday possible. Bookings are already made for next year! We bought a new 6 berth tent this year thanks to a generous donation and another is needed for next year. ROMICA PANTEA Many of you will remember Romica and the difficult life he has endured growing up. Last year, he went off to Italy close to his Mum and found work on a building site. Unfortunately, his Mum stole his money so he decided to move on again and is now working in Spain. What a resourceful young man he is! He called Ada about 3 weeks before we arrived and text when we were there to pass his love on to us, very touching for us. He really appreciates all the help and encouragement he received from GNfR. We wish him every blessing as life has certainly been tough for him. ROSCA FAMILY This is by far our most worrying family. Claudiu explained to us that Dad (& Mum) has stopped drinking, praise God. Dad has been told by his doctor that he had to stop drinking or he would die. He now has cirrhosis of the liver, lesions on his brain, low vitamin B and other issues as a direct result of drinking. Arriving at their home was quite different, there are still major issues, (the house is sliding down the hill for one thing) but seeing Dad sober and extremely happy to see us was lovely. He dashed into the house and brought out a framed photo of me & Oana which I had sent Oana when she was very ill with Tuberculosis Meningitis, he was so proud to show us that they still had it. The boys were thrilled to see us all and when we mentioned Tabara (camp), their faces lit up. GNfR was able to pay for Dads medication and have committed to ensuring he has the meds so long as he continues to stay away from the drink. We didn’t see Oana as she was at her sister Dana’s house but did visit her the next day. She is now 18 and has decided to stand up to her parents but there are concerns about her as she is currently seeing a much older man. Oana really enjoyed camp but had what we think was impetigo around her mouth, Ada sorted out medication for her and when we saw her, all the infection had cleared. She looked healthy and was really happy to see us, we continue to pray for her protection. Her sister Dana didn’t look so healthy, she has 2 children and her husband works away, her marriage doesn’t appear to be a happy one. PETCU FAMILY We had a good chat with Claudiu & Ada about the Petcu children. The 2 younger Petcu boys still live with their father but sadly couldn’t go on camp this year. Liliana had a baby girl a few months ago and Cristina has a baby due in November, Stela is 16 and is now Mum to 5 month old Andrei. Stela’s father won’t have anything to do with her or Andrei so she lives with her Dads brother and his wife. Because she is a minor, she has to have a guardian so her Aunt and Uncle are busy applying to court for that. Hopefully this will come through and then Stela can receive ‘child benefit’ for Andrei as she has had nothing so far, thus making life very hard. She is a good Mum but sadly Andrei’s father is fighting her to have him live with his family. This seems very odd as he has never made any effort to see Andrei and in fact tries hard to intimidate Stela. It is a worry for Stela but she is strong and stands up to him, we just pray this will all be sorted soon so she can concentrate on being a good Mum to Andrei. We were able to buy nappies for Andrei and leave some money to help. She asked if she and Andrei can possibly go on camp next year, she really missed it this year; the answer of course was “yes!” LUNCA FAMILY Milena has done well at college this year and is currently in Constanta in the south of the country working as a waitress, this will help her with her college course and also gives her some money to help for the coming year at college. It was sad not to see her and she was sorry she missed camp but hopes she can go next year too. We did see her Mum Doina and her 2 younger brothers Daniel (10) & Marian (6). One of the most memorable things was when I gave the boys a bag of sweets from England, Daniels eye immediately filled with tears and both he and Marian ran to hug me with eyes full of tears….something so small brought such joy! We were pleased to hear that Milena’s sister Nicoleta is very happy living close to Bucharest and is expecting a baby boy in September. She is a lovely girl and it gave us great joy to know she is content. Barlad Barlad MUNTEANU FAMILY It was really nice to visit this lovely family again. Dad Mihai is a hard worker, he is a market gardener but because he couldn’t make enough money this year, he has to go away to work in Brussels. He is finding this a testing time and hopes he can cope being away from his wife and 5 children until Christmas. He needs 500 euros a month to live on so ideally wants to earn enough money to last the winter so that he can stay home after Christmas. Oana is a good Mum, her children Timotei, Raysa, Salome, Amina and Elisei are beautiful. Again, a memorable moment was when we gave Amina (4) a Peppa Pig rucksack. She instantly burst into tears and hugged the bag, totally overcome with emotion, she ran off to her bed, hugging the rucksack and wouldn’t leave her bed, apparently she spent the night sleeping with the bag and won’t let it go…once again we witnessed a child totally overjoyed at receiving such a small gift. SUNDAY PICNIC We asked Claudiu if we could take some children on a picnic which caused great excitement. Tiberiu, Sebastian, Mara (12) & Elena Onofrei(8)and their Mum Nicole, Cristian, Alex, Mum & Dad Rosca & Bianca all wanted to come. For Oana’s parents this was a first. They have no friends, they don’t go anywhere and certainly having a BBQ in beautiful forest surroundings was a real treat, they actually smiled which we’ve never seen before!. We all had a great time and took the children on the lake on pedaloes, Sebstian was in awe of the bubbles coming out of the back of the pedaloe, yet again, we were able to witness small pleasures bringing so much happiness, a great time was had by everyone. One of the games we took on the picnic was archery which had been bought for camp, Tiberiu has a real talent and just loved playing with it. We chatted with Claudiu and agreed we would give Tiberiu & Sebastian this as they have very little to play with at home, we left money for another one to be bought for camp next year as all the children loved it too. The boys very happy indeed when they realised they could have this archery set at home but we explained to them that they must take care of it and bring it on camp next year, in the hopes that it doesn’t get sold! Hopefully it will bring them lots of pleasure. POSTOLACHE FAMILY. Daniel is doing much better after getting his medication for epilepsy sorted. A local Christian bakery has given him a job which is great news, we pray he continues to be healthy. Nicoleta has now passed her degree and is going to start her Masters degree in Clincial Bioengineering, she’s a very bright girl and hopefully we will be able to help her to continue her studies to give her a brighter future. Bianca is doing much better, she now rents a room and is earning some money as a beautician. Her children Biencuta & Alex are growing up fast and are lovely children. CRISTIAN & ROBERT GINGHINA Robert now works for a local plant hire company and Cristian is now working in IT. Great news! It was good to see these young men doing so well after a difficult start to their lives. GNfR was able to help to change their lives, thank you! ETIEN BUMBU GNfR continues to support Etien whilst he is at university, he is doing really well and again, is grateful for the support. GNfR MINIBUS We were pleased to see the minibus being used, especially for camp. It is used to take the children out occasionally which always cause excitement! We had a puncture on our first trip out so had to buy a new tyre as it wasn’t able to be repaired. We paid for repairs to get it through the MOT and paid the annual insurance etc, it is now safe for these precious children to travel in. SCHOOL BOOKS/EQUIPMENT We didn’t get chance to go shopping for these but left money for Ada & Bianca to go shopping for these so that the children can continue to attend school. Very important! The visit went very well but we have to admit, we do find it very tough seeing our really poor families continuing to struggle. The help from GNfR makes a huge difference but doesn’t provide for all their needs and of course, doesn’t help emotionally. It’s been good to see improvements in some of the children’s lives but there are still great needs. One of the most difficult things we struggled to accept was that we used to get culture shock on our return to the UK but we are now getting this in Romania! We spent time in Bucharest and visited a shopping mall which was mind blowing. The extreme wealth of some Romanian people was so apparent, we found that very difficult, especially thinking back to those we had left behind. We continue to pray that as Romania develops economically, that they will also develop in a way that brings care to the disadvantaged of their society. Our last day was spent celebrating David’s birthday and CLAUDIU & ADA’S SILVER WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. They asked us to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who sent cards/gifts/greetings, they were extremely touched. We want to say a huge thank you too, we really couldn’t do this work without your love, financial and prayer support, it is hard seeing such massive contrasts in the country. We saw on the news that a Mum threw herself and her 3 children in front of a train, there was a note in her pocket saying she couldn’t live with the poverty any more. Seeing we felt a bit low, Claudiu reminded us that over the past 12 years of working with Claudiu & Ada, over 100 children have been helped, we don’t know how many it is over the past 27 years but felt really encouraged. Thank you so much for YOUR help in helping us to help so many in need. Making one person smile maybe won’t change the whole world, but it does change their world! God bless you all.

Love David & Kath xx & Mandy xxx

Read the original, see the photos, and a handwritten letter from Claudiu