A Meaningful Christmas

One night a couple of weeks ago, we were at home just finishing dinner, when we heard some beautiful singing.  We peeked out the door to find where it was coming from and listened to gorgeous harmonies of a tradional Romanian carol. The voices were coming from 2 stories above us. When they finished the song, we applauded.  We heard a voice say "multumim" and they started singing again, walking down the stairs towards our door. We were transfixed!  At that moment, the drab concrete walls of our apartment bloc could have been a cathedral. These young men in rich tenor, baritone and bass, favored us with more wonderful music.  We quickly pulled some money out of our wallet, thinking they might be collecting for some cause, but they said no. So we gave them each a candy cane and wished them a happy Christmas as they carried on down to the lower floors, singing as they went.

In the spirit of sharing that these young men demonstrated, we send our best wishes to you from a place that is teaching us that when you are serving others as He would do, you feel God's love and peace the most.

May God bless you with hearts full of His peace and love.

Kate and Ken's Secret Garden

In the heart of downtown Arad is hidden a "Secret Garden".

This is where Katy and Kenneth Cloke have opened a drop in centre where they welcome poor and needy families. They can use the laundry facilities, receive basic education, counselling, friendship and support. Katy showed us around the centre where they have plans to expand on what they can provide.

Neighborhood bunicas (grandmothers) volunteer at the centre helping the children with activities.

Children receive help with their homework.

Everyday there is a hot meal provided for whoever comes. Today's menu is soup and a massive pot of mamaliga (a kind of cornmeal porridge - a traditional dish in Romania).

While getting a tour of the facility, we noticed this man eating his meal outside because he cannot access the building. Hmmmm....

We contacted our friends, Motivation Romania who not only wholeheartedly agreed to build a ramp, they donated their labor and transportation costs. Katy and Kenneth put the workers up in their own home. The Church provided the funds for the materials.

The ramp was completed before the weather turned cold. A wonderful example of what can happen when three organizations dedicated to helping others work together.  Now the disabled can have access to the warmth, acceptance and support to be found in The Secret Garden in Arad. 

"Kidding" Around in Constanta

Paul Davies (left) is a big-hearted fellow. Welsh-born, he is now devoting his life to helping 50 poor families in the Constanta area.  Each of these families has a son or daughter with AIDS. Cosmin (right) works for him and is equally dedicated to helping the less fortunate. Over 2 full days, these two took us to meet a few of the families they are working with. We were deeply touched by the determination and resourcefulness these families showed in trying to make a go of things under such difficult circumstances.  One problem the families face is providing a healthy diet for the family member with AIDS so that they are physically strong enough to withstand the side effects of their Anti RetroViral medication.  Paul proposed a plan to provide goats and chickens to some of these families.  They would be able to get eggs, milk, and make cheese.  We loved it; got approval for the project and are happy to report that this month...

Costel's family received 3 goats.  Costel's dad has very little education and gets work wherever he can. But he knows how to care for these animals. 

In the Andrei family there is a single mom, and four boys - 1 healthy (shown above), one with learning disabilities, 1 with AIDS and an adopted boy with physical and learning disabilities and AIDS. They now have  received 3 goats.

Here is Nina. We didn't meet this family, but their story is the similar to the others. Paul sent us this picture the day they delivered her goats.

Mr. David has heart problems and has been ordered not to work.  But he does everything he can for his family.  He showed us his greenhouse where they grew tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables this year. He told us that having the greenhouse to work in saved his sanity, not to mention providing fresh vegetables for the family (without using chemicals, he added proudly).  They plan to add another greenhouse in time for Spring in hopes that they can produce enough to sell. They also will receive 3 goats. 

Additionally, all the families will receive 15 chickens in the Spring, thanks to our project. We are grateful to participate in a project that promises to bring health and hope to some very deserving families. 

No Rain on this Parade

The sun shone bright and clear on December 1st - Romania's National Day. A great day for a parade! 

Apparently a lot of other people thought so too!

The parade is to your left in this photo. The children sitting on their father's shoulders were about 3 rows back.  This wasn't looking too hopeful for us!

Folks resorted to perching in trees to get a view.

We liked the patriotic scarf on this guy.

This appeared to be as close as we would get, so we settled in and took pictures by standing on tip toe and holding the camera above our head.

Police were well represented.

Pompier (Fire Service) and the different divisons: Structural, Wildland firefighters, Search and Rescue and First Responder. In Romania the fire department is a division of the military.

The military was by far the most prominent part of the parade.  No marching bands or majorettes though. If there were politicians and government leaders, we missed them.

 We saw tanks...

Rocket Launchers.....

and heavy tanks. This fellow was among the many crowd control guys who manned the parade route.

There were assault vehicles....

motorcycle police....

security police....

and border patrol.

Just like at home, the fire equipment was near the end of the parade. These guys and the mounted police below were the only ones who received applause from the crowd.

The obligatory street sweepers followed close behind.

Sitting up smartly in very formal uniforms. The parade lasted about 45 minutes.  It included fly-overs by helicopters, MIG's and bombers.

This clever busker took advantage of the event to try to make a little money. He added a little percussion with the tamborine under his foot.

This was the scene at the Metro station after the parade. Randy figures there were half a million people at this event. Don't you wish you could have been here with us?