Friday 15th January

Today we went out to visit a family in a village about 45 minutes drive away from Dorohoi. In December an electrical fault started a fire and their house was destroyed-all except the mud brick walls. Neighbours helped to put water on the blazing house, it took the fire engine from Dorohoi an hour to get to the fire. The man is working hard to try and rebuild the house and borrowed money to start repairs. His first job was a new roof which will protect the walls from further damage. His wife and 3 children have had to move to relatives in Botosani city,while he repairs the house. Their 6 year old girl was badly burnt by a previous fire when she was a baby and had to have her right hand and forearm amputed, she also has many scars on her face and body. Their baby was born over Christmas and as they are now living out of the village where they are registered the mother is having difficulty accessing a Dr who is willing to give the baby its vaccinations etc. We are liasing with other charities to help this family get the medical care they need and repair the home so they can all be back together. On our way back we passed an elderly lady that we know walking through the snow, aided by her daughter, to get a bus to go to the post office for her pension. She had a stroke a few years ago and walks with difficulty, they were very pleased to see us and we were able to give them a lift.

We then spent a few hours visiting the families at Cobila, running children to school, fetching gas bottle refills, giving people lifts into town and generally just being there. Chris is now at his desk working on a stabilty book and having brought the accounts up to date I am going to tackle the ironing.