December update

After a busy few weeks we are on our way back to the Isle of Man for Christmas with our family.

Last week we helped Simona, Marcel and their 3 children move into their new home. This home had been partly built using funds from the local authorities, but as it was unfinished they faced another winter in the old house (the one barely habitable room was the smokiest I have ever been into). We were so happy to be able to help by fitting a soba for them to cook on and heat 2 rooms in the new house also finish roof, ceilings, flooring and fit a new watertight front door. Marcel had worked enthusiastically alongside our workers and both he and Simona were so grateful for the help.

Simona Marcel and children move in to their new home

Carl Hunt and Ellie Davis were with us for 4 days and worked hard to help with all the shoe box deliveries to the schools and families. Ellie works for “Samaritans Purse “in Humberside and had had an exhausting 7 week campaign preparing boxes. The previous week Carl had helped with loading the lorry. They had heard that these boxes were destined for Botosani Romania and were thrilled when I was able to put them in contact with the distributer in Botosani and for us to visit the warehouse that was storing them. While Carl was with us we also met the Chief of Botosani Firefighters and Carl will be visiting again next year with more equipment.

going home from school with their boxes

Yesterday (Sunday) was our last full day. Church at Varfu in the morning (accompanied by one of the Cobila families). We then went to Botosani where we had been invited to have lunch with one of the families we help. It was a delicious meal of soup, sarmale and homemade biscuits.  We then went to visit a family delivering our last shoeboxes and also a computer for her 3 children. We got home about 7.30pm having been out for 10 hours. We had only been in for a few minutes when there was a knock at the door. It was late for anyone to be calling and we were not expecting anyone. It was carol singers, the families from the Hands of Hope homes at Cobila had come to give us a fantastic Christmas send off.

Carol singers-25 of the folk from Hands of Hope homes at Cobila

Now we are on the train (a 7 hour journey to Bucharest). It has been very dry here for the past 6 months and on a grey day the view is very monochrome. We travel through vast expanses of bare fields, passing occasional villages and old communist era buildings (many abandoned and in disrepair), the clumps of bare trees and the sporadic brightness of a green painted house, children walking home from school or a horse and cart ambling along a track.

Christmas is coming

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat

Please put a penny in the old man's hat

If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do

If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you!

The lyrics of the poem "Christmas is coming" associate the Christmas feast with geese which are eaten in traditional English Christmas feasts. The meaning that is conveyed to a child in "Christmas is coming" is that the festive period is where each should give to charity, according to their means... even if all they could give was their blessing (If you haven't got a penny...)

Vasy and Ruth and  shoe boxes

Thank you to everyone who has supported the charity over the past year. You may never come to Romania, but believe me you are helping to make a huge difference to the lives of many people.


Today we collected nearly 600 shoe boxes, which have come through the HCI assocation which is based here in Dorohoi. They are now stored in one of the containers ready for sorting and delivering.We will deliver around 300 boxes into 4 of the local schools and Kindergardens and with each visit will give a Christmas message and if time allows make balloon models for the children. We always receive a warm welcome and often are invited to stay and watch the children sing or recite poems.The other boxes will be taken to poor families which we visit in the area, I am also in the process of making up bags of clothes and shoes for these families. Its getting colder here and despite all my layers I can only cope with an hour or 2 of working in the container, such a change from the summer when it was too hot to work in the container for more than half and hour or so!
We are looking forward to our friend Carl Hunt and 2 friends coming next week. They will be staying with us for 5 days to help with the distribution of Christmas shoe boxes and family food parcels.

Unloading the soba bricks

All the regular work of the charity is happening as well as the Christmas preparations. We are helping a family to finish their home, the man labouring as we help to provide some of the materials. as Chris was away last week I had to hitch up the trailer and take the bricks for the soba to the site, somewhat nervewracking experience. i was very pleased to get them all on site intact and did not meet any other traffic on the rough and narrow lane which leads to the house. I dont think I will ever master the art of reversing a trailer! This week the soba has been finished and next week Chris will be supervising the insulation of the roof and finishing of the gable ends.
Mihae a 14 year old boy in a village near the Ukraine border needed to go to hospital to have a growth removed from his scalp, we helped with transport to the hospital 30 miles away. He had to stay in hospital for 3 days and our friend Cornelia visited with food. Today we went with his mother and took him home and will help with transport back to the hospital for his check up next week. 30 miles may not seem far to those of us with a car, but it would cost £12 return for mother and son to travel to Botosani.

Cobila Children's activity day

Cosmin is enjoying being home with his family and friends. It was lovely that he was well enough to join the childrens activity day which we arranged at Cobila. He is looking a lot better and will be returning to Iasi for his next set of chemotherapy next week.

Tomorrow we will be moving a new family into the vacant house on our Hands of Hope site at Cobila. The family (mother, father and 2 little boys), have been living on the old army barracks on the Ukraine border for the past 18 months, since their home was washed away in the floods of June 2010. They have been living in a tiny room, just big enough for a double bed, table and soba. There was less than 2 square metres of free space on the floor, the soba is very smokey and the high ceiling and single glazing made it hard to keep warm. We are looking forward to welcoming them to the Cobila community and pray they will settle well and soon make friends with the other 6 families there.