Romania August Trip

Marko and I from the UK and the team from Australia arrived a day earlier than the rest of the team and we were therefore able to pave the way in some of the preparations, in purchasing food,  in preparing family food packs as part of the planned work for the week that we were to engage in as well as purchasing some paint for the orphanage we would be staying in later in the week. The afternoon was spent putting the food packs together for 70 families that we would minister to during our time in Romania. That evening when the rest of the team  arrived,  we had a time getting to know one another and discussing the program for the next few days before going out for a team meal.

Our First visit was to Chiselet, like Manastirea, is a mainly Roma village with a large unemployment problem. FTH has a feeding program based at the Church which assists around 85 children.  Here we had the opportunity to take some of the food packs out to needy families in the area, One mother who had nine children thanked us for making the time to.  Through these encounters our partners were able to also monitor the condition of the children, and with the mothers consent took into care 4 of the children, as she was struggling to feed all of them. 


The children came up to the Bread of Life orphanage the following day with the pastor’s daughter and friend as company until they settled in to their new environment.( please note that this process had taken a period of a few weeks to discuss this thoroughly with the mother and social workers and setting out boundaries for visits and contact for the mother to be able to keep in touch with the children.)

From there, we then went to the church to help with the children’s lunch which they receive every day, from either the soup mix or pasta mix that Feed the Hungry supply, supplemented with beans and a hot drink made from dried fruit, also provided through FTH and accompanied by locally produced bread.

After the meal we then spent the afternoon with the kids playing with balloons, face painting and playing football, which the team enjoyed as much as the children.

From Chiselet we travelled back to the Hotel in Bucharest, for our long trip to Brosteni the following morning. Our itinerary including stopping in another of the feeding programs newly started in Padureni, where together with Bread of Life we had initiated a program to feed 30  children every day.  We also distributed food packs to  a number  of  widows  and vulnerable adults in the village. The situation in this village was again dire and the Bread of Life team agreed to help out one family by taking into care  3 children who where  severally malnourished . From Padureni we continued our travel up north to Brosteni and arrived at the orphanage later that evening.

The Bread of Life orphanage was to be our mainstay venue for this ministry trip to Romania, as we spent time giving the kids some quality relational time, participating in games,  mountain walks, developing a song for recording, painting a mural, as well as painting some of the bathroom facilities at the orphanage .

One of the highlights for the men on the team was to participate in their ‘meals on wheel s’  program -  where the older lads take out meals to widows and vulnerable adults in the locality every day of the week.  This  was a humbling experience,  as the lads expressed their enjoyment of being able to help out those more in need than they themselves.  

Mironeasa the final visit for the team, in the middle of a forest,  we had to drive over a so called road that looked worse than the field . The feeding station in this locations was a home under construction but with a decent kitchen that could hold about 20-30 children.  The brother said:” my wife and I have no children; if she agrees we will receive the children in our home and feed them here.”  Guess what!  ... after two words and a wink the decision was taken.   A few days later over 50 children were waiting in line for their turn at the Bread of Life Mironeasa MFC.

It was to this new location that we bought the team.  These were probably the poorest,  most deprived looking kids that the team had seen all week.   As well as understanding the need of the feeding programs in such locations, this was also a reminder of great work that was already being achieved in more established feeding locations in Romania.

Can you help us help 2,000 kids, by providing clothing, food or blankets. email me today at gwilliams@feedthehungry.org. Or donate £4 to feed a child for a month online at www.feedthehungry.org.uk