We are aiming to drive back to the UK at the end of the week, and the forecast is.. snow and...
:-)

Saturday Night
Clear. Low: -27 °C . Wind light.

Sunday
Clear. High: -14 °C . Wind light.

Sunday Night
Clear. Low: -25 °C . Wind light. Windchill: -31 °C .

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.

10 days and counting

It always seems that on every visit time creeps up on us and all of a sudden it is 10 days until we head back to the Isle of Man. we have a list of things to do before we leave and trying to plan here is not always easy!. today we went to the town hall in the village to complete some paperwork. we were there for around 2 hours and will have to go back again as the procedure has changed and we need to get other papers prepared before we can finish the paperwork which we thought would have taken only a few minutes!
This evening we had our Romanian home group here, it was good to have time & fellowship together and we watched an inspiring DVD about the work of Jackie Pullinger. I think her work and achievements put our day of minor frustrations in perspective.

back in Dorohoi

It was great to have a couple of days off and we are now back in Dorohoi. This evening there were 10 of us for dinner (our Romanian Home group & others), we had a great time & are all getting ready to be back at work on Monday.
Annette, great to see you listed as follower to this Blog:), Marcia, David & Ian too.
Is anyone else following, if so I would be interested to know

La Multi Ani

La Multi Ani- the greeting to say Happy New Year in Romanian.
We are enjoying a couple of days off, staying with our friends Ian & Sue at Volovat near Radauti.

Christmas decorations

This makes a really special decoration in our Dorohoi home. The heart frame I bought with birthday gift money from Chris's parents. The decorations are hand crafted by Chris's mother (except the Hope & Peace words" & the pink cross which a gift from another friend. The centre piece is a beautiful piece of Handanger embroidery which was our christmas card from Mum & Dad for this year. It is all much too pretty to put away when the rest of the decorations come down

Christmas Holidays

We have had a great few days over Christmas, attended Church services at Varfu & Dorohoi, meals out at various friends, watched some of our Christmas gift DVD's and visited many of the families we help. Chris has been back at work yesterday & today compiling a stability book for a pilot vessel. Another work day tomorrow hitching up the trailer and off to buy some firewood.

It is still a real struggle for many families here, social support is almost non existant, and even those with casual labouring jobs are laid off for 2-3 weeks over Christmas. It is normal for us to visit families with little or no food in the house & meagre supplies of wood to burn. We have had a good few inches of snow, the main roads are kept clear but most of the side roads and lanes are packed ice.