May 2009: Newsletter

Hello to all our friends and supporters!

It's time once again to update you on what has been happening at Hands of Hope!

Sarah recently visited Jibou over the Easter holidays. Sarah went to Romania with a friend from university, Debra, who was keen to see what activities Hands of Hope are involved with.

Debra's trip started eventfully as she lost her suitcase on arriving at Budapest airport, but thankfully quickly recovered it again!

Sarah and Debra were involved in a variety of activities while they were in Jibou besides the usual activities undertaken. They organised a trip to Jibou's Botanical Gardens for a group of children from the Roma community, where they looked around the gardens and played games. Afterwards the girls, including Rodica, took them for a juice in the local cafe. A rare chance for a treat! On another occasion they distributed juice and sandwiches (8 loaves, 12 salami and a lot of sandwiches) to any child in the Roma community who wanted them. This resulted in several kids having a sandwich (and some adults) and then five minutes later coming back round again for another one. It's hard for us to imagine, here in the UK, that for many children we are working with in the Roma community in Jibou they live on a daily basis with hunger and deprivation of every kind.

While they were in Jibou, Sarah and Debra as two student social workers seized the opportunity to catch up with one of the local social workers in Jibou. We have always had a positive working relationship with the council in Jibou despite having some differences of opinion on some matters. We do collaborate with the authorities there both in general and on some specific cases in order to try and improve matters for children and families. There is a difficult balancing act to be had in relation to wanting to support families and child safeguarding issues. Not dissimilar from issues social workers face here in the UK.

Debra had been given some books from a Children's Centre in Bolton; the books can be used for writing and colouring, then can be wiped off. Debra gave the books to Rodica to use in the school where she can use them with the children there.

Solomon, Rodica and family are all well. David is growing and is now into everything!

Sarah and Debra were also able to catch up with Lacry while they were in Jibou. She has been supporting us now in Jibou for a number of years and continues to distribute food parcels to a number of families and pays the bills for the Hands of Hope flat.

Overall Sarah and Debra had a great trip. There are always opportunities for any brave souls to visit Jibou if you would like to see at first hand the work of Hands of Hope. Karen and Sarah are planning to visit at the end of July and then Sarah will be staying for a few weeks during her summer break from university.

So what news here in the UK? Even though it’s only May, plans are underway with regard to the Christmas shoeboxes. Jean continues to coordinate our efforts and is busy collecting items. We want to send over 500 this year so if you have connections with suppliers who could offer donations or offer any other help, please get in touch. Besides any donations we receive, there are considerable costs attached to providing and sending the Christmas shoeboxes. We do need more funds to come in to carry on our current activities and hopefully expand them, and undertake special operations like the Christmas shoeboxes. So, to all you energetic individuals out there we are holding our own 'Walk Of Hope - Lancashire Four Peaks Challenge' on the 5th September. (In case you're wondering, the peaks are Billinge Hill, the Beacon, Parbold Hill and Harrock Hill.) It should be about 25 miles. Get your walking shoes out now to start your training!

We have a request – if anyone in the Skelmersdale or Ormskirk area has some storage they would be happy for us to use, that would be extremely helpful. We need somewhere to store items we are given that will be sent out to Romania, and also goods for the shoeboxes. At the moment we are paying out for a garage for storage – the money would be better spent directly in Jibou. Thank you.

If you would like to know more about our work you can contact us at the above address. Our website is due to be updated shortly so you should soon be able to read all about us on the net.

Thank you for all your continued support and encouragement for Hands of Hope.

The Hands of Hope Romania Team.

Comments