The group that has been supporting BENITA's work in Romania has recently changed its name to "Speranta4Romania". This is the report of their latest trip:

  Three of our group went to Romania for the period 11 to 15 June 2007. During the visit we saw three potential new projects, reviewed five existing projects and had positive meetings with local church to establish a new partnership.

Existing Projects

1 Bistrita – renovation of house for blind man and family

This project is on the outskirts of Bistrita and was to weatherproof the existing building as the weather (snow and rain) got into the one room house and caused medical problems for the two parents and their two children during the winters. As the father is blind he cannot work.

We decided to fund the completion of the roof by having the gable ends filled in, they are currently completely open. If we did not do this then the work carried out to date would be ruined and the family would be back to square one.

2 Chirales – renovation of house for three orphaned brothers

We visited this project as we were to see a potential new project in the same village and we were met by the same pastor when we originally went there two years ago.

The boys have kept the house in good condition and the middle brother arrived while we were there. He was driving a horse and cart as he was bringing some insulation to put into the house. So they are improving it themselves now.

Unfortunately the well we paid for has collapsed and the pump has broken. However this does not seem to be a problem and the boys get water from neighbours.

There was no need for any further funding of this project.

3 Dumbrava – 2 houses started in 2006

These houses were to provide a new house for a family who lived in one with no walls on three sides for the “kitchen” and for another family living in a flat with other relations.

The two houses are at different stages of completion and we have provided all the money we have been asked to in order to build them.

4 Jelna – new built house for single man

As usual the man living there was out but this time it was due to him having some work to go to. He has also rented out most of his land to someone growing sweet corn.

He is much happier now that he has a weatherproof home and a working well on his property to provide fresh water. We left him some bread as it is the tradition to take small gifts when visiting.

We did notice that there were strange looking hinges on the door to the loft area. It turns out that the hinges were made from the sole of a shoe – you nail one end to the frame and the other to the door; Romanian ingenuity!

There is no more to fund on this project.

5 Viisoara – new house for family being evicted.

This is another project started two years ago and is where a family of eight children lived with their parents in one room in a building in the village of Viisoara but the family was under threat of eviction. They had land at the edge of the village but could not afford to build on it.

When we visited this project we found that it is at the end of a long grass track which runs roughly at 90 degrees to the main road through Viisoara and so could not be much further out. The views were very nice out there and the family are very grateful for what we have done for them.

The mother was very happy to see us and showed us around. The foundations were constructed by the family and others they knew and are not to western standards as they bend towards the down hill side of the building and proved an interesting problem for the person employed to put the block walls up.

But everyone is very happy with the results.

New Projects

1 Chirales – rebuilding of “Number 5” as a pair of semi-detached houses

This is in the same village as the three brothers house and so we were accompanied by the same local pastor.

What we saw was a complex of ramshackle buildings that house six family units and their animals. We were being asked to build another building that would be a pair of semi detached houses of a single room each about three by three metres.

One of the semis would be for a single man of about 30 who is diabetic and has to inject himself each day. Currently he has not place for his syringes and the children of the other family units play with them. This is by no means ideal.

The other semi would be for a family of two parents and two children. This family current move around the other buildings on the site and so do not even have a permanent place to stay.

Most of the people on the site are ones that the main couple have “fostered” over the years. This couple have taken in a number of children they found at the railway station and the mother has also brought together two people who did not know they had siblings as they were separated when very young.

We have not been asked to fund any improvements to the existing buildings as the people remaining in them would benefit from the reduction in over crowding. We also asked if they would feel any jealousy to those in the new building and we were told that there would be none.

The existing buildings look unfit for people to live in with one room being open to the side (as there is no wall) and which can sleep five people at times.

This project would actually be to re-construct the house that is officially there and designated as Number 5. One of the existing buildings is Number 6 while the others are officially agricultural buildings.

The cost of this project is about £3,500 and we gave the go ahead for this one to be completed prior to this winter.

2 Dumbrava – new build house for widow and three children

Dumbrava is a village that Ceausescu (Romania’s communist dictator who was deposed and executed in 1989) announced he was going to visit and so they started to build a two lane proper road to it. He then decided not to visit the village and so they stopped constructing the road – only one lane is built and then not all the way.

This project is to build a one room house for a widow and her two children in the grounds of her parents existing house in this rural community. The house would also have a small corridor/room to act as the entrance and somewhere to wash.

The family to live here used to live in Tirgu Mures and the woman worked as a maid. In February this year her husband died and she could not afford to continue to live where they were and so had to move back to her parent’s house.

This existing house is not very large and in a bad state of repair. There are 12 people sleeping in one room in winter – in summer some can sleep in an outer room but this does not have complete walls and ceiling.

The cost of this project is about £2,700 and we gave the go ahead to complete this before the winter.

3 Saratel – new room in existing shell for woman and six children

This project is to build another room within the relatively new house that was being constructed.

Currently a woman, whose husband has left her, is living in one relatively large and one small room with her six children (three boys and three girls). The rooms that are used are the best kept rooms we saw in any of the houses. Unfortunately we did not get to meet the woman as she was out in the fields working. We met her mother who lives opposite and saw the poor house that a blind and deaf uncle (of the husband who has left her) lives in and for whom she provides some care.

The house has been built to have one or two more rooms and already has the walls for them and a roof over the whole construction but most of it is not habitable.

The total estimated cost for this project would be about £2,000 to provide two extra rooms and so complete the roof.

After a lot of discussion we felt that, due only to a lack of funds this year, that we could not fund this project this year. But we said we would do so next year.

Partners with Romanian Churches

We attended a mid-week service at a church in Beclean, about 30 miles form Bistrita, as the group has had contact with the senior pastor for many years. This proved a good opportunity to put into practice an idea from Benita.

The idea is that our group could, perhaps, work with local Romanian churches of different denominations as this may be easier to achieve than for such churches to work together.

During the service the people from Benita were invited to explain about the work they do and also about the meeting of pastors they arranged earlier this year with support from Grassroots.

At another part of the service Benita also explained about our projects and also explained how we raise money.

The result was that senior pastor then asked if money could be raised by the congregation to help fund these building projects. The children said they could raise some money and another pastor said, half jokingly, that they could build a whole street of houses.

In all a very positive response from the church.

After the service this church in Beclean agreed to be our first partner in Romania. This will initially take the form of providing wood, and possibly other materials, for the buildings as well as providing some free labour for the less skilled requirements.

This would allow more projects to go ahead for the same money we raise.

General

It was a very interesting visit with old projects visited and agreement as to how to finish them; new projects authorised, and new partnerships being forged.

A new partnership with a church in Beclean that should be able to help in practical and financial ways on these projects.

Finally, a clear need to raise more money in the immediate future. Any amounts are really appreciated and will make a real difference.