Saturday April 16th 2011
Today
has been a really good day, though very challenging when you stop and think
about it. We took Flori with us and also Adela who
had a day off today.
We
began by going to see Florence Holmes at Crestina
Vineyard. Flori began by telling Florence about her
recent experiences when she was so ill. She talked about how she believed she
was dying and how the other patient in the ward for help for her; she was
whisked into intensive care as she had what sounded like a heart attack. Flori said that when she was feeling very alone and scared
she felt someone stroking her arm to comfort her, but there was no-one there so
she is sure it was an angel or Jesus Christ.
After
that we went to see the young women known to us as “Nicu’s
Girls”. These young women were rescued years ago from living on the streets
after leaving the state orphanage system, but now they are self supporting
(just about). There are 6 in that apartment and none of them earn very much. We
talked to them about how they manage and we were quite disturbed by what they
told us:
One
of them works in a factory and earns the equivalent of 150 euros, but her share
of the rent, utilities, etc is around 70 euros in the summer but it rises to
120 euros when the winter is cold and you must pay for heating, etc. Knowing
how expensive food has become I would reckon it must be challenging to eat and
travel to work on public transport on 30 euros in the winter.
Another
two work in the hospital and they earn the equivalent of 125 euros, so in the
winter (unless she has saved some money from the summer) she could have 5 euros
for food for the month and fares for trams, buses, etc to get to work.
One
works as a cleaner / baby sitter for a family and receives 100 euros a month.
The family do give her some food but it is invariably damaged or out of date.
In the summer she could have 30 euros for food at home and transport to work.
But in the winter it is simply impossible for her to make ends meet.
It
was the birthday of one of the young women and she asked if I would take her to
MacDonalds for her birthday. I discussed it with all
the girls and we agreed instead of taking them to MacDonalds
I would give them some money to buy groceries – what they asked for was pasta,
tuna, cooking oil, shampoo, washing powder, sanitary towels/tampons and toilet
cleaner. They tell me they will get the supermarket receipt to me via someone
else before we leave Romania.