Well, it’s all happening in Romania !
First of all, Hannah have been busy as always. Cipi has been running two days of activities at a School for Special Educational Needs in Radauti. 25 teenagers were involved on the first day, and younger kids the next. Ariadne was helping too (you may remember Ariadne from a previous newsletter, a local teacher who also runs free after-school clubs). Hannah provided the arts-and-crafts materials and refreshments.
We had a great Zoom Conference with our students last weekend. We discussed some deep subjects, from the nature of truth and reality, to false information, to trying to make sense of today’s politics in Romania. These are highly intelligent and well informed young people, who it is a privilege to know. I keep referring to them as “students”, but dating back as they do to our pre-Covid conferences up in the mountains, they’re not just students any more!
Sad to say the current Romanian political scene is a mess. You may remember the recent Presidential elections were cancelled after an outsider with very peculiar views, Calin Georgescu, emerged as the clear front runner. This cancellation was very unpopular, even among those who don’t like Georgescu.
The new elections will take place at the beginning of May, with Georgescu still the favourite - that’s if he’s allowed to run. He’s pro-Russia, anti-EU, anti-NATO and a right wing nationalist, who strongly pedals various bizarre conspiracy theories.
Behind the scenes, the thought is that he’s sponsored by Russia along with various elements within Romania’s own security forces - but having said that, the fact remains that he gained the support of half of Romanian voters in that cancelled election, so there is clearly major discontent with the political and economic status quo in Romania.
If it does turn out that he’s banned from running this time, that too would cause major problems, with (possibly justifiable) claims that democracy has been stolen. This is what happens when poverty and social exclusion remain unaddressed over the decades.
February 2025
It’s chilly in Brodina at the moment, as you’d expect, but Hannah’s work carries on. They have identified some needy families in Cajvana, a small town just the other side of Radauti, and will be taking clothes and other necessities there.
You may remember one of the places Cipi led a Christmas project, was a school for the deaf in nearby Vicov-Bivolarie (see photo under January 2025). Hannah will be running further projects for the kids there this month.
The installation of the bathroom in the house in Horodnic village, which I’ve mentioned a few times before, is still progressing, albeit somewhat slowly. You may remember that the Father and Son of the family suffer from significant medical conditions, and these are “so-so” at the moment.
We're also planning our next Student Zoom Conference for later this month.
January 2025
Happy New Year Everybody, and may 2025 bring more peace and happiness than did the Old Year.
In the run-up to Christmas, Cipi has been very busy on behalf of Hannah, and we also sent another donation to Nicu for his work inside Ukraine.
Cipi worked at a school for the deaf in nearby Vicov (Bivolarie), making Christmas decorations, and also at a school in another nearby village, Sadau. Hannah provided gifts and materials .
Along with Ionela, he bought and distributed food and other supplies for 85 families, as well as gradually handing out clothing received from France, from their Radauti storeroom.
Meanwhile Nicu from iBelieve (NorthWest Romania) has sent supplies into Eastern Ukraine and also Odessa. iBelieve also organised a Children’s party for 150 Ukrainian refugees in the Baia Mare area.
So we look forward to all sorts of great opportunities for the New Year too !
December 2024 UPDATE
Cipi’s been very busy with Hannah’s pre-Christmas activities!
At the end of November, and along with Father Ciprian and Adiadne (you may remember these good people from a previous post) he ran an Arts and Crafts day with 35 local children, at the Orthodox Church in Radauti.
And this week, he helped 45 children at the school in the next village along from Brodina, with their Christmas decorations. Hannah also provided toys and treats for the kids, which brought delighted smiles to their faces - many are too poor to receive these sorts of things usually.
Meanwhile, please remember Romania itself. The surprise first-round win in the Presidential elections was almost certainly a Russian-backed fraud (Mr Georgescu was unknown, not backed by any of the political parties, and did not campaign at all except on TikTok. He is however pro-Russian). By the time you read this, the second voting round may have happened (Sunday). Meanwhile the Parliamentary elections did produce a majority for pro-EU parties. However, one third of the electorate voted for extreme right parties; many are obviously and rightly dismayed by the persistent poverty in their country, although a vote for the extreme right can only make their lives worse.
So ... lots to pray for
December 2024
There’s lots going on at Hannah in the run up to Christmas -
Ionela and Cipi will be helping with some children’s activities in conjunction with the Orthodox Church in Radauti, and and also - later in December - they will run a project from there, similar to last year, distributing food packets to the poor families locally.
Nearer to home (theirs not ours!), they are also planning some activities with the local school in Brodina, where there are a lot of poor families.
We held our latest video-conference last night, which was wonderful. Although we are only a small group, the way our young Romanian friends are turning out is beautiful. The topic was Mental Health, and they all had some very insightful things to say - young people especially have a lot of obstacles to navigate these days to keep themselves healthy in mind and body.
Romania held the first round of presidential elections yesterday, and the results are alarming. There is a good article about it here : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9dlw5pq967o
In Romania, the President is more symbolic than powerful, but he does have influence. This was a very peculiar election (see the link above), and a worrying one (to me at any rate! Livia seems more sanguine about it). People need hope, and they look for it in dangerous places.
Across Europe and elsewhere, the politics of fear and hate seem to be gaining ground, but I must confess this surprised me for Romania. It still has one of the highest rates of poverty in Europe, and so I guess so many people are discontent with the status quo. Please pray for Romania - the second round of the elections is on Dec 8th. Whatever happens in the world of politics, here or abroad, at least we can spread a bit of love to those who are around us.
October 2024
Our occasional Zoom Conferences with a small group of our old Students are going really well, with them choosing the topics. We’ve held 4 so far over the Summer, and no 5 is coming up towards the end of November. The topic chosen this time is Mental Health - which I’m sure you’re aware is a very real concern everywhere for this age group (not only for this age group of course).
Meanwhile, as well as supporting Hannah, we sent another donation to Nicu of iBelieve for their work with the poor locally :
September 2024
While the practicalities around the projects I mentioned earlier in the Summer are unfolding in the background, I thought I’d give you a quick update on our Zoom Conferences.
It is such a joy to be back in touch with some of our old friends from Summer Conference days way back before Covid ! Zoom has its pros and cons, but one of the big “pros” is that we can easily gather ourselves from here, various parts of Romania, and Germany – our Romanian friends have dispersed since University! Having already had some great discussions on Consciousness and Spirituality, they have asked for something on Artificial Intelligence.
This is a topic which is way outside my area of expertise, although one of the students is currently studying this very thing in Germany. Whether we realise it or not of course, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already something which is affecting all of our lives (in the background at least), but for their generation it is becoming more and more an insistent reality. As well as opening up lots of both good and bad things, it is also an existential challenge for young people (if AI will soon be able to do more and more jobs better than humans can, what can I do with my life?)
And this leads directly into the next topic, which is a big one : Mental Health. There is so much to say about this for young Europeans – facing so very many uncertainties (climate, cost of living, political instability, not to mention the AI factor), lifestyles, personal traumas, attitudes, how best to respond to life’s challenges. At least some of our young friends have had more than their fair share of life’s challenges. So AI is next week, and we’ll plan something on Mental Health for later in the autumn. Do please pray that we can create a useful forum for discussion and help.
We've been able to send more funds over to Hannah to help with some of the various projects I wrote about last time, and also some to iBelieve who are responding to the needs of Ukraine (you may remember we've supported them before : iBelieve is run by Nicu, who was one of the younsters who came up through Misu's camps, and now runs a Church is North-West Romania).
July 2024
There is so much to write about this month - I hope you can make sense of it all!
I've re-jigged the site slightly : hover over "Newsletter" along the top, and you'll see a drop-down list of the several pages that describe this very productive visit. Or - just to make things easier - there's a big orange "Next" button at the end of each page (including this one) so you can go through them in order (I've manfully resisted putting cross-links in any of the pages, as I'm hoping you're not going to skip any of the story !! )
It was so lovely to see Livia and the girls, and we had a wonderful time with them. Our couple of weeks was a perfect combination of visiting projects, and of just being friends.
Livia is tending to act more as a consultant behind the scenes, with a lot of the hands-on work being carried out by Ionela (her middle daughter) and Cipi - along with various other ad-hoc volunteers. Here’s the team :
The 3 boys at Stefanesti. Ionela is in the middle, in pink, and the chap on the far right in the blue sweater, is Cipi, who has been a tremendous help to all the Ciobanu’s
Livia in her kitchen
Some memories of Misu
Sometimes life trips you up, things happen that you don’t expect. My dear friend Misu died suddenly and unexpectedly on Saturday, aged 58. He hadn’t been ill, in fact we had been exchanging cheerful messages only a couple of days before. There has already been a post-mortem, and it turns out he’d had a massive heart attack.
Obviously his family are distraught : Misu and Livia were teenage sweethearts, and did everything together. Their three girls went straight up to be with Livia, and are able to stay for a while; in fact Ionela’s job allows her to work from home, so she’ll stay there for as long as necessary. I’ve been in regular touch since Saturday, and I’ve cleared the diary so we can go over there in a week or so’s time.
Misu was one of those rare people who are truly amazing. He and Livia chose a unique and rather precarious path, which most of us don’t dare to follow. They both gave themselves to the poor, the vulnerable, the sick, and spoke into the lives of countless children and young people, who will be forever enriched by their influence. Misu wasn’t entangled by the desires of this world, but on the other hand, he was interested in everything – science, philosophy, people. His grasp of faith was the most profound I know. We used to talk for hours about all kinds of things, he was one of my closest friends, and a lifelong companion to Livia and his three lovely daughters.
It’s much too early to say what happens now with Hannah, but we’ll work that out in due course.
