Updates–2024

Link to the Day Centre 2024 gallery here

July 2024 – All our children passed their school year with our help. Darius' mother came to the Centre to give hugs and say how surprised and happy she was that her son passed grade 4. The childrens' parents can't help them at all with their schoolwork so they value everything that is done for them at the Centre.
It is wonderful to see children succeed after years of taking care of them. Carina and Izabela each have a year to go with their vocational school programs in the city, and then they'll have salaries. We are breaking the cycle of poverty.
The children we were helping in grade 8 all passed and are registered for high school in the city, Razvan to be an auto mechanic, Sabrina to be a cook and Renata is going into hairstyling.
Oana, our social worker, was telling me about 13 year old Casiana, a very good girl whose father spends more time in prison than at home. She wants to learn and wants to go to high school. She stays close to Oana and goes to her to talk about her problems.
Sisters Denisa and Gabriela have done very well at school with our staff's close attention, and Denisa won a first place award. Oana and Marius had talked many times with their parents, trying to help the father overcome his alcohol abuse, and are so happy that the father has had almost a year now of sobriety and there is peace in the family. There is also money now for their daily needs.
The animals at our farm are healthy. We have 3 cows, 4 calves, 4 pigs with 13 piglets, 10 sheep, 6 goats and 30 chickens. The children really enjoy being with them and know they are an important source of food. Like every year, the children keep going to the Centre all summer to be fed, helped with summer homework and have activities, so the parents can get seasonal jobs knowing their children are being taken care of.

May 2024 – Our Centre is a reprieve from poverty where some children say they want to stay until night, to go home only to sleep. Each child in our hands has a sad story at home, and now having learned to value education, they are trying their best to move forward to a better life. They're talking about all the things they want to become – doctors, firemen, drivers, cooks, hairdressers, farmers.
Almost all the children have a desperate need of love, attention and hugs. As well as helping them with daily homework, our staff spends time talking with them and guiding them, and playing with them. The parents in their poverty don't seem to be able to do these things with them. The parents are grateful for us, as they have learned to value education too, wanting the best for their children who are improving in many ways. A little girl told Oana that she wants her to go to the school when the parent is called, because the child can see how calmly and respectfully our staff talk at the Centre, whereas her mother only yells and embarasses her.
The bonds between our social workers and the community are deep. They help disadvantaged people get disability and medical pensions. A grandmother of one of our children recently went to Oana for help, having spent all her money on medicine and not having any left for food.
The children had a day of cleaning up in the community and had fun making Mother's Day cards for their moms which is celebrated on International Women's Day. Please see the photo gallery. There are pictures as well of the children's egg painting. They celebrated Easter on May 5 (Julian calendar). The last photo with "Va multumim" is "we thank you"!

January 2024 – The children and their families had a good Christmas because Oana our social worker, got businesses to give food, clothing and toys to our children and those on the outskirts of town.
It was the first time that nine year old Bogdan had ever received a present. He came to the village with his family after several years of begging. He had never been to school. The family had heard that we help disadvantaged children and went to Oana to get him registered at school. When he received his Christmas present he didn't know how to react, but afterwards he was so happy! He's the little boy in blue in the Photo Gallery.
Madalin is also 9 and his greatest joy is receiving love, affection and attention, which he gets at our Centre. He has mental challenges and it's hard for him to write and make sentences but praise and encouragement fuel his ambition and he's making progress each day. He has no joy at home, so goes every day to Oana for hugs. The Centre is a place for him where problems don't exist, and where he is accepted, loved and understood.
Eight year old Ianis suffered a lot when his father left the family, and he was violent and sad. He used to hide and cry at anything but now he smiles and plays with the children. These years of love have changed Ianis' behaviour and his life. Now he's on the path of a proper childhood. Please look at the Photo Gallery to see the peace in his face, he's wearing the Batman pajamas. It makes our staff so happy when these children smile, children who have known hardship far too early. Ianis and his brother are 2 of our many children being healed.