HEAL Romania Newsletter March 2008
I am pleased to report that the team of 9 from Charlton Kings Baptist Church had a very successful week in Romania. We visited most of the families and children that HEAL Romania is currently helping. We took food, clothes, toiletries and toys with us to give out. We also made ourselves busy painting and redecorating in the house of one of our families. We want to thank the team for all of their hard work and dedication. We really appreciate all that you have done for our cases during this week. You have made some desperate people very happy.
The Craciun Family 
You may remember that in February 2006, Ana Doina found three children from the same family begging on the street. They told her that their family had eleven children and their father was too ill to work, so they were starving. HEAL Romania was able to find them a house and successfully applied for the family to receive one free meal a day from a government scheme. This case is now closed as we feel that we have given them enough to enable them to support themselves from now on.
Catalin and Ion
This is where Catalin and Ion live. Catalin is 14 and has lived on the street for three years since his mother died. Ion is 20 and he also lives on the street. He takes care of Catalin. Ana gave them some clothes and food and arranged to meet them again. When she went to visit them again, only Ion was staying there. Since then Catalin has been found and we have managed to find someone to let him stay in her spare room. He is deciding whether he wants to go to a foundation that provides overnight care. We also found him a job working at a firm that also provides lunch for him. Ana is now in the process of getting him an ID card. Ion is more difficult to solve because he doesn't remember who his parents are or even his date of birth. In March Ana will take him to his home town to try to help him remember something about his life. Until then he comes to the Muraldio foundation for food and then returns to the derelict building at night.
Mariana
Mariana lives with her husband and three children in a wooden shack hidden in a field. The house has little heating and no running water. The field is full of wild dogs that are extremely dangerous. The team from CKBC went to visit the house and we were shocked by what we saw. The dogs surround the house looking for food while Mariana's young children play inside. Next month the house will be knocked down by the government because it is built illegally. We hope to be able to find temporary emergency accommodation for the family and also buy them a small piece of land. Mariana's husband is a builder and has the skills to build his own house, but no means to purchase the land.
Sluser Family
There are 7 members in the Sluser family and they all live in one room. Five children sleep in one bed and the mother and father sleep in the other bed right next to the cooker. There is one wardrobe and that is all of their possessions. The team visited the Sluser family and delivered food, clothes, toys and toiletries. We also bought them cement and bricks so that the husband can build and extra room onto the side of the room they have.
Circiumaru Family
This family consists of a mother and three children. They live in a house made of mud which has no foundations. The roof is about to cave in. The youngest daughter is disabled and the mother has to care for her full time, even staying at school with her so that she can take her to the toilet and feed her. We are helping this family to buy construction materials to make their house more stable. We are also helping the mother to apply to be her daughter's full time carer and receive government allowance for this.
Cadar Family
This family are very poor and their house was in dire need of renovation. The team from CKBC were able to help start the renovations and leave the necessary materials for the family to finish the job.
Costin
Costin is 12 and was found on the street by Ana last year. Ana took him to the Robin Hood emergency shelter while she found his family. When she found his father, he told her that Costin keeps running away because he doesn't like his father's girlfriend. Ana assigned a volunteer psychologist from the university to his case. She spent a lot of time working with Costin and even took him on holiday to the seaside in the summer. Costin is now much happier. He lives with his father again and has stopped running away. He is back at school and doing well.
Jan
Jan's mother came to find Ana because of her good reputation in Bucharest. She was worried about her son who had run away from home and was living on the street. He had made friends with street children and preferred to stay with them. He had stopped going to school because the other children teased him. Ana arranged for Jan to move to another school and to come to the Muraldio foundation after school to get a free lunch, to make new friends and catch up on his school work. Jan is now doing much better. Since we took his case on he has never run away from home and has made new friends that keep him away from the street.
Parada Foundation
HEAL Romania sometimes teams up together with the Parada foundation. This was set up by a French man who decided to train homeless people to become clowns so that they could earn a living. Here we met many people who are being helped by this foundation. They receive food, a bath, education and also learn circus skills. Unfortunately Parada has no overnight facilities and so all of the people that we met, such as Alexandria, seem fine during the day, but sleep on the street at night.
After 3 years of hard work, Ana Doina has finally been successful in receiving funding from Holland to begin a project called Steps to Freedom. This project aims to help children who are currently living in orphanages or foundations to become independent once they become adults and have to leave. She has a team of 24 volunteers that will work one to one with 24 children that are currently involved at Parada or another foundation called Concordia. This project aims to prevent children living in orphanages becoming homeless adults. Ana will continue to work for HEAL Romania and will ensure that our cases if necessary will benefit from the Steps to Freedom project.
We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that has already supported us and who continue to support us. Your help really does make a huge impact on the lives of those in Romania.