Stefanesti
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I’ve written before about the 3 boys of Stefanesti, who lost both their parents to drink. They live in a very poor and predominately agricultural area. The oldest boy is now technically an adult, but an older married sister has official responsibility for them. However, although her husband does have work, they are too poor to help much.
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They live with their grandfather, who doesn’t work although we are not sure why.
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Theirs is a wattle and daub house, leaning somewhat as the photo shows, with no indoor facilities and no running water. The corrugated asbestos roof leaks.
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Alex is now 18 and is doing an apprenticeship in bee keeping – this includes classes at a Vocational High School, as well as paid practical work nearby. He has also passed his driving test, and so can do deliveries. From his own wages he has bought a fridge/freezer and new windows for their house.
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Marius is going up to his final year at Middle School in September, at the end of which he will take the all-important National Exam. See the Education in Romania article for why this is so important.
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Claudiu is a couple of years younger. We need to find out from the school if both are on track to pass the National Exam, and if not, to see what extra tuition we could organise.
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​from a previous visit, featuring Alex in yellow
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The house really needs pulling down and starting again from scratch, but that is probably beyond what we can sponsor. However, repairing the roof and providing piped water and an indoor shower and loo would seem to be a minimum requirement.
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Two members of the local Pentecostal Church – Cornel and Florentina – help the boys where they can. They have a van and large trailer, and have made trips to the Hannah Centre in Radauti to collect clothes and other goods for the boys and for other families in the area.
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Unfortunately Stefanesti is a long way away (3 hours each way by car), and so significant hands-on help from Hannah may not be possible. However Hannah does donate £100 / month via the sister’s bank account, to supplement the family income. The standard pension in Romania, for those with sufficient qualifying years, is about £300 / month. However, agricultural workers, such as most of the inhabitants of the Stefanesti area, do not qualify for a pension as such, but instead receive Social Assistance of about £200. Bear in mind that although prices are a bit cheaper in Romania, the difference with the UK is not all that great.
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Although Romania has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years (in some ways) it still harbours a lot of extreme poverty - as the graph above highlights. The graph shows Romania comfortably in first place, unfortunately, compared with the EU average (being a Eurostat graph, the UK is not included for comparison, but it looks like the best place to grow up would be Slovenia!) Also, the graph does not indicate the significant regional variations - the Stefanesti area would be worse than the national average, for example.
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See the After-School Club article for why this poverty can blight children’s lives.
