Hey Everyone. . .I was writing up things that have been happening here in Romania and thought maybe some of you would be interested about life in Romania. Most of you know I'm here for the summer working with Craig and Victoria Goodwin, formerly of St. Stephen, but for nearly three years they were at St. George Orthodox Cathedral in Wichita, KS. They are working in Romania thru the OCMC with a man named Constantin Asavoaie who is the Executive Director of Prison Fellowship Romania. When renovation is complete on a huge old manor house in the country near the city Cluj (population over 350,000), they will be given oversight of this project for children whose mothers are in prison. Meanwhile, they are putting together boxes of clothes and food, distributing them to the needy in and around Cluj.

Typical countryside scenery

Went with Victoria today to pack up some clothes boxes and deliver them, along with food boxes to some of the needy families today. We were only able o find two of the families at home. One was Monica, a single mother with a seven year old daughter. The 7 year old daughter Alina, looked more like she was 5, due to malnutrition I'm sure, and her bright, big, brown eyes were horribly crossed. The mother was young, early 20's and was terribly thin and looked malnourished herself. She is on the Prison Fellowship list to received food and clothing once or month or so. The flat she lived in looked nice, and I don't know how many other people live there with her, but there was no evidence of a husband.

The next flat we went to was where the family of Ioan Pop lived, and it was appalling! A man greeted us and we came in a couple of feet inside and stood in the tiny entry of his dirty, dark flat. Radu, our translator, explained where we were from and about the boxes of food and clothing. The place looked like it had only two rooms and one bath, for this family of four. It was at the top of a bloc of flats with NO elevator. I understand that the living conditons his famiy lived in was nothing compared to some of the people the Goodwins deliver the food and clothing to.

Yesterday on the main street of Cluj, we were going into a grocery store to look for some yogurt and bananas and pick up some bread. About 1/2 a block from the store sat an old woman, sitting with her back against the side of a building, begging for money. This is not unusual in and of itself. There are beggars all over Romania. What knocked the breath out of me was that she had NO FACE!!!!! I kid you not. I died a thousand deaths for this woman as her image hit my brain with the force of an explosion!!!! It looked like she had to have the same disease as England's famous Elephant Man. Her face was a rough, leathery, ruddy brown, and had NO distinctive features but for the horrific signs of the disease. She had no eyes. I couldn't distinguish a nose or mouth. They had to be there because obviously she's alive. I got into the grocery store, turned to Radu and nearly burst into tears as I asked WHY she was out there on the street begging? Where was her family? Doesn't the government have any provision for obviously diseased persons like this? Isn't there any hospital where she can be treated and the government would pay for her? Aren't there any old age homes where she could go and be cared for? He shrugged, offered no answer because there was none other than, "This is the way it is." I suppose I'll see her all summer as I understand that she is a "regular" on the streets.

I give regularly to dirty-faced, little urchins on the streets and buy the coathangers and/or wooden spoons that they sell, since are actually trying to do something to earn a living rather than beg. I give regularly to certain beggars, and of course the woman with no face will be no exception, but I also try to listen for God's spirit to direct me to the ones who need it most. HA! What an understatement! Don't they ALL?

The Gypsies in Romania will put the most disfigured of their family members out on the streets to beg. Not only that, they teach their children to bend their arms or legs into "pretzel" shapes so they look like they're lame, and put them on the streets to beg. Many times children will have one or two of their limbs broken as infants so when they grow up it will be deformed and they will be able to bring in a lot of money because of the smympathy they receive as they beg.

A common sight: Donkey with milk cans

Seeing this way of life year after year as I've made my way into the emerald Transylvania hills I am eternally grateful for the kind of life God has seen fit to bless us with in the US. At the same time I am horrified with the standard of living we strive for in the States, and which we take for granted. We have SO much! I had absolutely no idea how a grown, married woman would react as I gave her the crayons John Stamps sent with me to give to her. On his visit here over Christmas, he was giving kids crayons. Juiana, a priest's wife, saw them and loved them, and had never seen crayons before. When I gave them to her last week, she squealed with delight, smiled ear-to-ear and couldn't get over the huge box of 96 crayons!!! I'm certain she'll share them with the children she teaches, but I don't think those children could possibly be more excited about them than she was! It's the simple pleasures like crayons which we take for granted, while the Romanians think that simply, ordinary, everyday things like crayons are extraordinary and the best gift they could ever receive. It's like that with balloons, simple toys like jump ropes, balls, or nicely scented candles.

Well, I hope I haven't bored too many people on this list. I simply wanted to share some of my experiences with you all. Next email will be about getting a car registered in Romania. You think the DMV is inefficient? You haven't seen inefficient until you run up against a couple of weeks of trying to register a car over 8 years old in this country! Believe it or not, only a foreigner in Romania can purchase a car over 8 years old! Incredible! And getting it registered is a series of comical errors, frustration, endless hours of going from one bureaucratic office to another way across town. Stay tuned!

Luv to All. . .Zan

Down the trail with Zan to Volume II
...or go back and check out the St. Philothea Mission page.