Newsletter March 2008

Visit January 2008 | Goal of this visit | Girls from Trias | Foundation Clinica Pro Vita

A Visit to Romania - 2 till 10 January 2008
The goal of the foundation is to offer mental and humanitarian aid to the Rumanians who in need. In the first place it started by offering help to families. In 2006, we stopped the help to the families who receive a food parcel every month, since it was clear that the families could provide themselves. In 2007, an orientational travel had been made to see how the families are doing and if they still can provide for themselves. Also we were looking for other projects to support.

Goal of this visit
Goal of this journey was to develop the contacts we had already made in the spring of 2007:

The hospital
Since 1999 there have been contacts with the Pentecostal Church in Brasov. One of the senior workers in this church put Wouko in contact with a hospital in the neighbourhood of Brasov for patients with sicknesses of the nerves and muscles.
Mainly musclesdystrofia patients are treated here. Because the founder of this hospital died, the flow of funds stopped. This doctor had some connections within de government, which resulted in enough financial means for the hospital. The salaries of staff are paid by the state. However, the state has no idea what is done in the hospital and what the importance of this particular hospital is. This hospital is the only hospital in Romania where musclesdystrofia patients are treated.

Three Years ago a fire have broken out on the top floor of the building. This has been repaired as much as possible with used vestiges and by delivered material of others and on own strength. The roof is impermeable but the top floor is not useful for the hospital. Before the fire 120 patients could be nursed here, after the fire still 81. Because of maintenance the pawn get leak on servile places. So the bathrooms and the toilets have particularly become unusable. One bathroom and a toilet have already been reniewed. The other bathroom and toilet can no longer be used. The resources are missing to finance the hospital itself.

The foundation has donated money in order to be able to start to make these spaces ready-for-use. We will try to make it able to finance the remaining part. The director has requested us not to make photographs and not to mention names for the protection of the patients and employees in this hospital.

Girls from Trias
Usu, a brother of one of the Rumanian members of our foundation, have told Wouko of his project. It concerns a group of 25 women and 8 children who live in a former office complex of the rail track in this area. These young women came from children's homes or directly from the streets. To survive they perform simple activities because of their damaged past and their low level. Because they have no identification document it is not possible to get a job for a long term.

Thanks to a gift of the free Baptists community ‘De Brug’ it has become possible to organise these identity papers and as a result these women can go legally to work. The women sleep in 2 large rooms separated by a small passage provided with a place to kook. Their possession exists from a bed, clothing, a poster on the wall and some have cellphones. In one room there are approximately 15 beds.

The rooms are heated by wooden stoves. In the small common space stands a table for playing tennis, so they can keep themselves warm by playing this game. When the weather is good the women play soccer outside to reach the same aim. The women do not have the possibility of streaming water inside the place. So they go to the surrounding rail track where the trains get cleaned. The wish of Usu is in spring, when the frost is out of the ground, to make a water pipeline for these women. The relation with these women has been deepened by interviewing four of these women. Because of this, we know some more about their backgrounds and their expectations for the future and what we can possibly do for them.

During our travel we made some shopping for the most needed thing for these women and children. The foundation has given Usu money to ensure wood in the cold winter. Usu will think about a better place for these women.

Foundation Clinica ProVita
The foundation ‘Friends for Romania’ brought people in the Netherlands in contact with the foundation ‘Clinica ProVita’. Iosif Belea and his wife work here and they serve as youth leaders of the Pentecostal church in Brasov.

Foundation Clinica pro Vita occupies itself with giving information to young people concerning anti conception, pregnancy and the unborn child. Also they try to carry out their belief. The foundation ‘Filemon’ in the Netherlands, has donated a amount of money to the foundation Clinica Pro Vita, which Wouko had been handing over.