A report by Martin Seymour, Minister of Littlehampton Baptist Church on visiting the work in Oradea.
I was able to witness and live via the news of the Ceausescu dictatorship, in all of its horror in his Office and its bloody ending, then to have the opportunity to visit and spend time with those who lived through it all, in living colour and in fact, was one of those life impacting experiences.
On our first visit, was to a very comfortable home of a family whose Father was a serving Firefighter who had suffered a “Stroke” and was not eligible for a full compensation as he had not served in the service long enough to be eligible. However, this comfortable home was to be, whilst very sad and distressing, the very best experience of my visit. The young girls of this family, whilst loved and content and accomplished are up against great odds when the need for Further Education comes knocking on their door, and they will be faced with the reality of finances needed to support their futures.
On our next visit, it was clear the Firefighters home was the exception. I was surprised to find a family of ten living in what I can only call a Dickensian shack of “Fagin’s” proportions. I counted five “Fly Papers” fully populated with fly corpses, hanging over where food was prepared and consumed.
Ani informed me that the living quarters “were so much better than on their last visit”, to which I wondered how bad must it have been before? The eldest daughter needed to go to “Professional School” but was dissuaded by the Mother through fear of her daughter being seduced into a darker lifestyle, the family had already received a visit from the Police concerning their son, who had got into trouble.
It was clear that the impoverished lived cheek by jowl with the “better off” as I saw latest models of good quality cars moving around Oradea. New apartment blocks being built, the Mayor of one of the Villages, offering work to one of the Fathers, around the gardens of his house. The country has moved on, but had left so many behind. A recent poll showed 53% would be content to go back to the days of communism, how bad does it have to be to want to return to a dictatorship.
The domestic water wells, the crumbling homes, the need!!…..should move you, if not check to see if you still have a pulse. However, we were always greeted with great warmth and affection. I liken the visits from Nelu and Ani to these families akin to bearers of great gifts, but it is only 35kgs of food, rucksacks full of exercise books for school. The children poring over the books and showing each other what was in their rucksack, made me think of our own children in the UK who take school for granted and on the whole, see school as a bit of a chore to be endured.
Education would seem to be the only way out of this life of need. We have therefore begun a “Smartie Campaign” at Littlehampton Baptist Church. Empty Smartie Tubes can each hold £28. We heard of Alexie who wants to be a policeman, but he will need £30 a month to keep him in High School. We had 13 Smartie Tubes, and asked if anyone would take one and fill it over how many weeks, with pound coins, 13 full tubes will give us £360, a years’ worth of education for Alexie. All 13 tubes went and we now have to buy more tubes for others. This is just our “Smartie Tube” way to respond, to turn a student, into a “Smarty” with education.
Rev Martin Seymour.
operationromaniatrust.co.uk 