Notes from my last visit

I paid a visit to Glodeanu on Saturday, as I told you. I felt a joy that I can’t put into words when I saw them again and they were all happy and smiling. 

I encountered some of the children in the churchyard, right after service. Nicușor held a large plate with koliva and gave it to me in order to taste what his mother had prepared. I was glad to see the kids coming to church, for the service, especially on a Saturday, when we, urban people for example, rarely go to the Lord’s house on Saturday.

In church, I rejoined Mrs. Jenny, the teacher who is dedicated body and soul to the children and helped them together with other teachers to prepare the cards for the fair held in April. She told me about all the miraculous changes that have been happening in the past few weeks. Four of the children who received your and father Marian Tudor’s support and those to whom you have sent gifts are Mrs. Jeny’s pupils. She told me that the recent events have had a great impact on the children’s state of mind. For better. They have more appetite for life, play and books. I saw all this later that day when I stopped by their homes.

First stop was at Cristina’s house, where I saw the big blue-eyed Denisa again. I saw Nicușor, Vlad and Adrian. Cristina arranged our shoes we had taken off at the entrance. When I left, she whispered in my ear "You wear 37" (size 4 in UK).  They looked cheerful and energetic as any children of their age! That clumsiness I saw in their eyes at our first meeting vanished. Back then, they were sad and almost ashamed of poverty and the conditions in which we met, and somewhat embarrassed that we brought food and clothes. Now, the children greeted us with ease.

You can also notice the changes in Cătălin and Michael’s home. We found only Cătălin at home, who fled back into his mother's arms. But the house looks different – the bed is a proper bed now, the walls are lime-washed, the stove is clean, one can notice the freshly washed rugs spread on the walls, there are toys and curtains at the windows. I found some supplies and food in a box and outside, you could smell the freshly washed laundry hanged on the clothesline, waving in the wind. Cătălin's mother was not as scared as the first time. However, you can still read in her eyes the fear that someday, someone may come and take her kids away.

I was strongly impressed with Jeni. Beautifully dressed, she was sitting on a small bench in front of the gate with her sister, Florina and her brother, Bogdan. The minute we got there she told father Tudor that it was a good thing that he had paid for her participation in a French contest because Jeni won the contest, rating "excellent". I entered the room and Jeni got excited when she received a gift from Mrs. Luiza Almangiu, a gift that was wrapped with love and was sent from Bucharest. Her birthday had been at the end of May, so every thing she discovered in the gift prepared for her filled her with delight. Jeni impressed me because she was VERY CHEERFUL. Both she and Florina  were happy. At our first meeting Jeni was hunched an old lady, as if she was carrying the burdens of the entire universe on her shoulders. Now she was as happy as a butterfly, mainly because she had found out that she will go to the summer camp at Tismana at the end of August, by courtesy of a big hearted lady, who will bear the costs of camp for five children from Glodeanu.

When we got to Loredana’s house, we were not able to stay too long because it started pouring and we had to hurry so that our car would not get stuck in that muddy street. Lore received me as loving as always, between us there is a soul bound that can not be expressed in too many words. We both felt it at the very beginning of our first arrival in Glodeanu.

We dropped by Maria’s, who came out disheveled, with a big smile on her lips, looking happy to receive unannounced visitors. Fortunately, I read the same happiness on Marinuș’ face. He will also be going on the camp to Tismana. Marinuș signed like a doctor the document that had to be filled in before leaving for the camp. This kid is special. Not only will he graduate from school with "very good" marks, but he also seems to have developed signs of adult maturity and responsibility. He takes care of his younger siblings, just like a mother does.

This is what Glodeanu looked like on Saturday. I left that place much happier than I did after my first visit when all I could read in those children’s eyes was an immense sadness. I left thinking that things are on the right track, that baby steps were made towards a better life, because these children have THE CHANCE, they have a great chance. What is going to happen to them is the greatest joy of this year to me so far. Because they are the living proof that everything is possible. 

Much can be done if each of us gives a helping hand. Then each of us could mean so much to someone who never had anything. I left Glodeanu thanking St. Philophteia that she took care of these souls and their prayers were listened to especially because she is the patron saint of the village.  I'm sure these children have received and will continue to receive help from Saint Nicholas, from the Mother of God and from our Lord, Jesus Christ.

God will reward those who helped and will not cease to help the children!"

Nicoleta Ţintea

"What would you like to get for Easter?" "Potatoes..."

Article taken from "Observatorul buzoian"

Written by Sorin Dinco and Ciprian Sterian

Toma’s family courtyard in Cârligu Mare looks like a pile of garbage and on top of the pile two children are sitting quietly. A five year-old and a six-year-old. They seem to be lost in the dust. When Father Tudor, who accompanies us through the maze of poverty in the village, asks them how they are, they go into the garden. Their mother, Rodica Toma (32 years), takes a broom lying on the floor and starts sweeping. Perhaps the mound of dirt grew there because of all that sweeping in the yard. She doesn’t greet back. "Are you upset with us, that we don’t get to talk?", asks Father Tudor. The woman carries on with her work. Children are running in circles in the garden, with their heads bowed. Their movements are somewhat meaningless. The little one has wet crotch pants, the older one looks from time to time to the priest, who barely gets the woman to talk. Near the mound, two broken wheels of a tricycle are the only toys for these children. "Where's your husband? Look, these people came all the way here to show the world the condition you are living in. In what way do you want the people to  help you?". She laughs and says something incomprehensible. We also try, and, in gibberish, she says a few words. "Do you have food in the house to give these children someting to eat today?". She nods that she does. "What?" "Potatoes..." replies the mother and "potatoes" is the only word that sounds clear and fills the yard.

„It broke your heart to see them…"

Home sweet home

A year ago, when the county authorities were interested in the fate of the two boys, they decided to take them in foster care. Then, this almost silent and indifferent woman, burst into cries of despair and snatched the children from the arms of social workers. "They were holding them tight in their arms, she and her husband, screaming that the children belonged to them and they don’t want to give them away to anyone. It broke your heart to see them".  How else? However, children do not attend kindergarten and they eat unhealthy food. Clothes, toys, food would help considerably. The two little beings lack something fundamental. Even after we left, as if we hadn’t been there, the little one kept running in circles, following his brother. Sun seems to be their only light.

 

"Yes, veeeery good!"

"They gave us a packet of cheese ..."

 Hunger is on the agenda, strengthens or divides families in need. In another courtyard, where Marian Oprea (27 years) lives with four children, the grandmother says that when they all gather, she counts 15 grandchildren. They have two acres of land, a pig and some birds. They say they have a horse, too, but half-heartedly, with fear because should they declare their assets, then they will no longer get any social benefits. One of the nieces returns from school and heartily eats a croissant.  She tells us, with a voice as if she has seen Santa Claus, that the children at school were given a packet of cheese. Was it good? "Yes, verrryyyyy good". Her brothers and her cousins ​​confirmed it. Father Marian Tudor assures us that this is a more united household, who cares for its children.

God gave her more days than doctors

As united as the Toma family is the home of Steluţa Neculae, Claudia Marinela’s mother, a girl who is immobilized in bed. With aid from the church, Father Tudor has managed to provide the girl a wheelchair, so that she can go out in the yard. Her mother tells us: "When she was little, she once had a fit of crying. I said that this required baptism and we had her baptized. Then, when she was only two and a half years old, I went all by myself to see doctors, not knowing what was wrong with her. Then, being so tired, I demanded one doctor to tell me at once what problem my daughter had. He didn’t want to tell me and I screamed at him, telling him I could not run from one place to another anymore, and there was no sign that my daughter was getting better. Then, the  doctor told me: "Look, Mrs. Neculae, I did not want to tell you because I did not want to upset you, but your daughter is physically disabled and will not be well again. I don’t know if she has the chance to live until her eleventh anniversary..."  When I heard those words, I didn’t know what was going on with me. I looked at that doctor and all I could see was the movement of his lips. I walked for days like a mad  woman..."

"When they told me what she had, I didn’t know what was going on with me ..."

Indeed, hope is a disappointment postponed

Marinela is 17 and likes to play with children. Nobody gives her a chance of recovery, but her parents think there might be one. Her mother received three million lei from the Romanian government, for taking care of her. Now, she was announced that she would become unemployed, because there was no more money. "However, they gave us the money in December, after not receiving the money since June. You see her?..." (the girl can move only her head – she is still able to laugh and say some words), "and I had to take her with me every year to go and renew her certificate of disability, because they thought she might have got well in the meantime ... If only she had!". Marinela needs diapers,  tights and a special recovery program . If God has given more days than doctors, parents still hope.

 She is only 29 years old, has three children and she’s not allowed to work

Ioana is a 6th-grade pupil who does not dare to dream of a future. This seems like a bad dream that never ends.

Marian Bunea’s wife, Monica, is 29 years old and an accident rendered her unable to work and financially support their three children. She was hitchhiking to go in the city to do some errands when their car was hit by another car because of the glazed frost. She recovered from coma with difficulty, but remained in pain and with memory loss.

Her eldest daughter, Ioana Florentina, is in the 6th grade and has only good grades. She likes to read. Seven souls share the same room, although it can barely fit two beds, a table and a stove. No shelf on which to put a book. Ioana goes to library to borrow books. Upon leaving, the husband asks us to help with a disability pension for his wife: "She can’t work all her life. We have debts everywhere, I must leave the country to work somewhere. I have been gone before, but I left them alone and it was awful."

Watch in tomorrow's edition Father Tudor’s plans to build a social canteen in Cârligu Mare.

Help these children in every possible way you can by contacting the priest Marian Tudor by phone 004-0720.281.634 or by  e-mail parohiacarligumare@yahoo.com. Visit the Facebook page "Copiii din Glodeanu", Buzău.