DIARY 10 Monday Dec 19th 2011 and Reflections
on the trip
The
best laid plans! Alex planned that after a brief visit to the notary to do some
paperwork which required my signature and then for me to quickly do some
shopping and visit Kathy Langston and then 2 other visits to beneficiaries ... after that on the way to Budapest by 11
am or noon at the latest!
But
the paperwork proved a major headache with about 5 visits to the notary but
eventually all was sorted some time well after 4 pm. By then Alex was struggling
with timing for an evening commitment and so I persuaded him to arrange for his
taxi driver friend Mircea to take me to the airport
(a 3-4 hour drive). On the way to the airport we went through patches of snow,
hail, sleet.
Fortunately
Mircea speaks Hungarian or I suspect we could still be looking
for the hotel where I was staying as neither Alex’s directions nor his GPS seemed
100% accurate – the GPS took us 10 kilometers in the
wrong direction!!
REFLECTIONS from Rose
I have come back
quite encouraged, positively delighted about some things but deeply concerned
about others:
The good things:
·
The group from
Beaulieu Convent School were a real asset and I believe this trip has opened
their eyes to the ongoing need. For me personally it was such a pleasure to
have them there and I know the Romanians so appreciated their help, interest
and commitment.
·
Funds raised by
Beaulieu purchased over 100 food parcels for the needy and funds remain to send
more money over for the remainder of the winter. Beneficiaries include
pensioners, homeless, repatriated victims of people trafficking and poor
families.
·
Funds raised by
Victoria College will provide a safe home for a vulnerable child, a holiday
camp for needy gypsy children in the summer and hopefully food for needy
children attending a youth club (details of the last are not yet worked out –
but I know what I have in mind!) So wonderful to have that money available just
when it was needed.
·
The whole “feel” and
love at Casa Mabel – it is a lovely crowd of ladies there and the staff are so
caring also. (For me personally this being the first aid trip since Phil’s
death I really found a huge amount of help from love I received especially from
some of the residents at Casa Mabel).
·
The shoebox
distributions went well especially at Mustard Seed Romania’s own kindergarten,
where the Beaulieu team commented on the sense of love there.
·
The time spent with
other charities was very positive and encouraging – with the Beaulieu team the
time with Fundatia Increderea
on the Saturday was excellent, also my time afterwards with Fundatia
Vineyard and Agape.
·
The way the timing
worked out on a number of occasions so that we were in the right placed at the
right time with the resources needed to provide what was needed. As always it
seems God had gone before.
BUT I have come back
really concerned at what I have observed of the increasing and deepening
poverty. Obviously the time spent distributing to the homeless living by the
hot heating pipes on the streets was very challenging, as I have never been
there before, but it was not that that most disturbed me. Based on what I have
seen over the years two things especially have contributed to this general
sense of concern at the way things are going in Romania:
·
Increase in obvious
prostitution – I have not seen so many women openly available before. When I
went walking along a new part of a road in what would be called a “good” area,
I was surprised at the number of cars that flashed their head-lights at me! It
was only when Alex returned and I told him where I had walked that he explained
his wife and daughter never walk on that road for that reason, as it is a known
place for prostitutes to be there by the roadside. Having had my eyes opened, I
became aware that there are many other women hanging out on the sides of a
number of the main roads approaching the city. That indicates that with
increase in food prices, rent, utilities, etc and factories closing or reducing
their hours, many more need money to survive and feel this is the solution.
·
More people going
through the garbage bins searching for food or saleable items. Although I have
seen this many times before, I saw it in more places, places where I have not
seen this before, quite openly in the daytime.