Monday, February 13, 2012

In the Bleak Midwinter

Winter took its time getting here, but when it arrived it came with a vengence! Now, Romania is experiencing one of the coldest winters on record. We are fine here in Bucharest. The branches of these ice-coated trees in front of our apartment hang almost to the sidewalk. We have seen some interesting sights as we watch people cope:

The snow ploughs show no mercy to the parked cars.

A large pile of snow makes a perfect display for shovels and sleds.

Gathering firewood urban style.

Gathering firewood rural style. Whether in town or in the country, you need a license to cut trees, so most people scrounge for fallen branches.

Black Sea coast at Constanta. The port was closed for a week due to frozen conditions, but when the sun shines, folks come out to see the unusual winter scenes.

From our window we see the snow has almost buried these cars across the street.

Many people in the rural parts of the country are not so fortunate. Authorities including the military and Red Cross are working to clear roads and deliver emergency food to towns and villages in eastern Romania who have been stranded by blocked roads and blizzard conditions.  According to reports, some people had to cut tunnels through 15 feet of snow to get out of their homes.

We have been in contact with the Red Cross and have offered to help with supplies. They tell us that they have enough supplies for now. Their greatest need is heavy vehicles and helicopters etc. to deliver to the supplies to the people. They are grateful for our offer and will call us when they need our help. There is no sign of a break in the weather, so we might have an opportunity to be of assistance.

Doin' What We Can in the Cold

Sisters in the District Relief Society tied some children's quilts one afternoon and 5 more were anonymously donated to us. So we found a children's shelter for abandoned and/or abused kids and let each of the kids choose the quilt they wanted. 
For their protection, we can't show you the children, but we can report that they were very excited to have a beautiful quilt of their very own to keep.
Left to right: Ana Maria Doru, District Relief Society Presidency; Sora Wahlquist, senior missionary who headed up the quilting project and also knitted wool caps for all the kids; Gianina, the director of the shelter; and Vicky - the happy facilitator.

Last fall, Nicoleta Oancea, the Director of Social Services in Braila (centre)), along with a member of the city council over Roma (gypsy) people (left), and Tena, our translator gave us a tour of an after-school centre for poor, orphaned and otherwise disadvantaged Roma children.

We were charmed by the bright-eyed children and impressed with their dedicated teachers who help them keep up with their school work, so they will stay in school.

Besides tutoring, these children receive food, clothing and counselling support.

On our tour we found a nice, new, bright and clean facility.

But we also found where we could be of help.

Before the children returned to school after Christmas, we brought them 3 computers. One of Braila's IT specialists, one of the teachers, and Tena help us get everything installed and ready to surprise the kids.

From the looks of things...


they are a hit with both the kids and their instructors...


 opening a whole new range of possibilities for these children.






Taking the Chill Off with Service

After a week of delay at the port of Constanta, a container-load of wheelchairs - a donation from the church, arrive at Motivation Romania's site and needs to be unloaded.

It is cold, but sunny and the 8 missionaries we brought with us are up to the task.

An assembly line is set up for the first group of boxes - seat cushions for the wheelchairs.

This cheerful missionary from Nevada doesn't let the Romanian cold slow her down.

There's more than one way to skin a cat (or carry a wheelchair)!

Many of the staff at Motivation Romania are wheelchair-bound. They are grateful for this little army of helpers.

Look Ma! One hand!

When we're helping we're happy! Job well done!