Exploring Romania 2012
Exploring Romania with Hans and Agneta.
Summer 2012: Exploring Romania: Oradea, Romosel, Sibiu, Sighisoara, Valchid.
Exploring Romania has made us see that poverty is not just a local issue, it’s spread throughout the country. Every city or village has its Roma ghetto. The number of families living in poverty is huge. It’s quite obvious we can’t provide in all those needs. So, how do you deal with this? We decided not to let this bring us down but to do what we can and that is to focus on one community or a couple of families. We’ll see what the future brings.
Travel report:
Together with our son, Bert, we explored Romania in a rental car. We headed off in Oradea where we stayed with Agneta’s mother together with Hans and Antony. We were able to visit a closed department of a local hospital where disabled children were staying, which is highly exceptional. Outcast by their families, because disability is seen as a punishment. After a couple of days we moved on to Romosel where we stayed with Dirk and Nicole Weyts. We enjoyed the beautiful Romanian scenery but it was also amazing to see what changes these people have already accomplished in the Roma community. This encourages us to keep helping.
We also visited a neighbouring village where Johan and Marijke have just started a goat farm. Then we travelled to Sighisoara via Sibiu because we were invited to Janne en Ligia’s wedding. Ligia is responsible for Metro Ministries. At the wedding we met some people from the Valchid village and they invited us to stay with them for a couple of days. Geert was invited to preach in several churches. For the first time we slaughtered and plumed chickens. Especially the feast afterwards was an unforgettable experience. The following day we visited the Roma community in Valchid. The house of a family had just collapsed. Because of these people’s urgent need we decided to finance a two-bedroom house. We didn’t have enough time to build the house ourselves but we drew the blueprints and had a local constructor do the work. (cf. Building project two-room house)