Meeting Four Families

Today, Taylor, 2 Peter, Annie (the interim director at Point of Hope), and myself visited with four families who have children attending our school.  The purpose of the visits was to videotape an interview with the mom’s about their daily activities, and how Point of Hope has impacted their children.

The first family we visited was the Vrabie’s.  There are 10 children, ranging in age from 1-14 – 6 boys and 4 girls.  This is a very loving family who have no income now.  The father was working at a factory for 6 months and was never paid for his work.  He quit there and went to work for a larger company, but was “fired” after 4 months, again with no payment for any of his efforts.  He was “fired” because the company couldn’t pay him.  On March 13^th, he found another job.  But before he could begin, he had a stroke on the 14^th that left him partially paralyzed.  Along with the stroke, he had some other medical issues that put him in the hospital for many days.  After a few weeks, he was released to recuperate at home.  He continues his physical therapy and is progressing, but he’ll never be able to work again.  This put a tremendous financial strain on the family.  The mother shared with us that there are many days when there is no bread for them to eat.  She looks forward to school starting because at least some of her children will get food to eat.

Michael, Adelina and Alex

Seven of the children

The 2nd oldest daughter with the youngest

Annie (interim director) standing in one room

One of 3 sofas for sleeping, plus a crib

Pantry area (most of the things on the shelf are empty)

Kitchen

I was amazed at the strength of this woman as she sat next to her husband.  She talked with great pride of him, and her love beamed through her smile.  Several times her hand would pat his leg and caress his hair, showing him how important he was to her.  But as she shared with us, her strength grows dim on many days.  The youngest child (1 ½ yrs old) is very much a daddy’s boy, but doesn’t understand why daddy can’t hold him or play with him.  Tears welled in her eyes as she shared this with us.   But despite all the problems that they are facing, she is positive in her attitude and knows that God will take care of them.

So what has Point of Hope meant to her and her children?  Four of her children who are in the public school, placed in the top 3 of their classes (grade) last year!!!  I’m not talking about in the gypsy school, but in the Romanian school.  She is VERY proud of their education and sees hope for their future!

After saying our goodbyes, we walked across the street to another apartment building to visit our next 2 families.  This building is where most of the children who attend Point of Hope live.  There is no running water in the building – a pump is located just outside, where the children will gather water in buckets to take inside for cooking.  I have seen many children and adults bathing outside at the water pump.  Inside, the concrete blocks and brick are crumbling; the steps are treacherous.  The railing on the stairwell would definitely not pass safety standards in the US.  The hallways are very dark and narrow (about 4’).  Most apartments have their doors open for air flow; a few just have sheets hanging for doors.  Children were running everywhere.  One mom was sitting in her doorway peeling potatoes.  You could feel the heat from a stove burning.  Outside, a young boy was using a pick ax to chop pieces of lumber he’s found.  As we prepared to enter the 1^st home, many of the neighbors came out to see who we were and why we were there.

steps in the apartment building

this boy was using a pick ax to cut up wood

The 2^nd family we visited had 7 children – 2 who are married, one who is autistic, 2 in school, 2 in preschool and 1 at home (home – a 8’x12’ room with one window, padded front door, 2 sofas, a very small table, one wardrobe and a small heating element). The father is working out of town and comes home for a couple of days each month.  The greatest difficulty for this mom is being alone – she misses her husband tremendously, but at least he’s working.  It is also difficult because of her autistic son – he must have constant supervision, which means mom.  I asked if she had any help so that she could leave for a while, and she said that her 18 yr old daughter would come stay with him.

this is their heating element and cook stove

What does Point of Hope mean to her?  Her children are learning – able to recite poems, count, share, and demonstrate manners.  It is also a place where she, and the other women, can go for special activities just for them.  She was excited about the week with the mission team, and is looking forward to the next gathering.

The 3^rd family was just across the hallway.  The home was exactly the same size and shape, although this home had more furnishings.  The father doesn’t work, and the mother will sometimes go to the factor looking for metal.  There are 2 children, both who attend Point of Hope.  When asked what the most difficult aspect of their living conditions, it was the lack of bani (money).  She, too, expressed the need for working factories so that the people could have jobs.

This mom was very proud of what her children have learned at PoH – numbers, colors, writing, manners, poems, etc.  Her greatest pride is that they both say prayers before they eat and at bedtime!

 Our 4^th family lived in another apartment building down the street from the school.  It, too, is a dilapidated building – the hallways are dark, and the smell of raw sewage was everywhere.  This family lives in a 2 room apartment.  The furnishings are minimal, but the house is “clean”.  There are 4 children in this family – 1 in school, 2 in preschool and a 2 yr old.  The father is working out of town, but money is little.  They’ve had their electricity turned off because they couldn’t pay the bill.  This makes it difficult to feed the children since their only source of cooking is a 2 burner hot plate – there is no heating element.  Another difficulty that this mom has is the bathroom wall (this was the 1^st apartment with a bathroom).  The wall has a gaping hole in the bottom (which mom covered with some plastic to keep the little one from crawling through), and has separated from the ceiling.  You can actually push the concrete wall in and out.  She is afraid that the wall will fall on one of the children.  The apartment owners will not fix it, and the city doesn’t have money to move them.

the large grey pipe along the wall is for sewage

this is their living room/kitchen

this is the bathroom wall that has separated at the ceiling

where the mom has covered the hole in the bottom of the bathroom wall

I noticed that the front door held several craft projects that the children have done during Vacation Bible School with the mission teams.  Mom is proud of what her children have learned, and thankful that Point of Hope provides lunches.  She hopes that her children will continue to be successful in school and will have the opportunity for good jobs.

These are the factories that the people go into looking for metal to sell.  The people have been looting what they can find since the fall of communism and the collapse of their economy.  There's not much left of either the buildings or metal.  The integritry of the building is so that walls are starting to fall, and that puts all the people inside at risk of death.

A Walk Through the Village

Today we walked through the village behind the Point of Hope.  Taylor, 2 Peter (so named because there is a 1 Peter who is on the Board of Directors for Buckner Romania), and myself went out into the village where the children who attend PoH live.  Taylor was on assignment to do a video of the community and the people, so that foreigners can see the conditions that the Roma (gypsy) people live in.  Not that we as a foundation are trying to exploit the people, but to make others aware of the importance in educating these children.  If there is to be a break in the cycle of poverty, it must begin with the youngest generation now.

So what did we see?  To put it into one word – slums.  Many of the “houses” were nothing more than shanties.  There were a couple of nice looking houses, but most were barely hanging together.  Roofs sagged, had holes in them, and many were open at the eaves.

As we walked down the first street, there was an older man walking behind us talking.  Since Taylor and I aren’t fluent in Romanian, we had no idea what he was saying.  He passed as we stopped to look around the village.  Peter told us then that the man was complaining about the Americans coming over and taking their money.  Little did he know that we are trying to raise money for the school, so that he and his community may one day benefit from the children’s education (and the American money).  Oh well, disgruntled neighbor….move on down the road.  A few houses down, we met a couple sitting inside their fence.  As we said hello to them, they struck up a conversation.  They were very interested in why we were taking pictures.  When 2 Peter told them what we were doing, they were very excited and invited us into their home.  Wow!  Wasn’t expecting that.  We excepted their invitation and they were most gracious.  Their home was a small 2 room house with no kitchen or bathroom.  The front room was used mainly as a living area, but was also a bedroom at night.  The second room was a bedroom.  Their “kitchen” area was a small pass-thru between the two rooms.  There was a 2 burner hot plate and a couple of pots.  The bathroom was an outhouse across the road.  Water was brought in for cooking.  The inside was filled with pictures of their children and grandchildren, along with artificial flowers and lots of knick-knacks (probably all the valuables they owned).  The woman told us that her husband had worked in the factory for 25 years, but he was too young to get retirement.  As we talked, their grandson came into the house.  We was a very nice young man who will be in the 7^th grade, and is a mentor student of Peter’s.

couple who invited us into their home

Taylor (l) and Peter (r)

     

     

Met a few of their neighbors, who like the man walking behind us, didn’t want us in their area.  They didn’t have any children who attended our school, therefore, we had no business filming them.  Ok, so we left.  From there, we went behind the houses and up a hill to get a full view of the village.  I felt much like a mountain goat, as we headed up the steep hill and made our own trail.  I reached one point where climbing wasn’t going to happen, so I told the guys that I would wait for them there.  I sat down on the hillside and took in the view.  How sad that people are living like this, yet no one tries to get out of the situation.  Why?  Are they content to live in poverty, do they not want to live better, or have they just given up hope of any life other than the one they’re living?  I think most of them would like to work, however, there are no factories left to employ them.  If any of them do work, it’s usually at the abandoned factories – stripping the metal from the walls and floors to sell.  After filming the village from above, we walked across the creek to the other side of the village.  Again, we were met with disgruntled looks from many, but met an older lady walking with her infant granddaughter in her arms.  She, too, asked about the cameras, and Peter told her about our project.  She said she was a Christian and had remembered me at the gypsy church last summer.  We visited for quite a while with her as children began to “drop” by.  Our course they were very interested in having their picture taken, so I obliged.  This brought several parents out, wanting to know why we were taking pictures of the kids.  The woman explained to them that we were working with the school, and that seemed to ease their mind.   

As we returned to the Point of Hope, we met with some of the people sitting outside the fence.  One man told us of working all day in the factory and only got 20 lei for his efforts.  He also shared with us that the week before, a wall had fallen on one man and killed him – he had 4 children he was trying to support.  One young man showed us his shoes, which had the toes out, and was wanting new ones from the school.  We told him that new shoes should be arriving in October.  This young man was quite intrigued with Taylor’s toe shoes, even wanting to trade with him.  As we laughed together, more young men joined in our “conversation”.  It became apparent to the people that we were friends, and are very concerned about their situation.  Hopefully, we made a contact that will increase our ability to “go out among the people”.

     

This even took place on Tuesday, September 4

Gypsy village in Tarnaveni