15.05.2011

    As this weekend the weather is beautiful, we decided to take the chance and visit Fanel at the hospital.

    Therefore, I got Marius, Gabi, Vali, Sandu and Lucretia in the minibus and we drove to Bucharest. We have found Fanel in bed, resting,  and extremely happy to see us.

     
     We spent about one hour with Fanel, chating and getting his impresion on the days he has spent so far in the hospital. I was not surprised to find out that he spends most of the time in the nurse's room or with Dr. Tugui when she is on call over night. Everybody seems to love Fanel and we only heard good words about him from the staff. Just a few more days to go until the 19th, when the CT scan will be performed. Our prayers are with you Fanel! Keep strong!

   As we were in Bucharest and the weather was lovely, we decided to go for a walk in on of the parks before getting back  to Amara.

      12.05.2011

      Even in the last couple of years Fanel's health has improved, the day before Easter he ended up in the hospital in Slobozia. It looks like another blood vasel broke and made him  loose a lot of blood.

       When he got to the hospital, he was sent to the surgery section. After an evaluation by the surgeon, they said it is too dangerous to open him because of the cirrhosis he has got already. Therefore he was sent to the intensive care unit where they  tryed to stop the bleeding   

    

     07.05.2011

     Dinamo Bucuresti. That's the name of Sandu's favorite football team. Just say this name in front of him and you will get his attention! Then, if you promise to take him to the stadium for a game, you can get everything from him. Even the promise to be a good boy for the rest of his life. 

      As he has been a good boy in the past few months, I had to keep my promise and last night  we went to Bucharest to see the team paying. Unfortunately, they lost the game but that didn't really matter to Sandu. The most important this is that he got to see the team playing!

     

21.04.2011

      24 years old! Sandu is not a child anymore, he is an young adult!

      For his birthday we had the usual birthday cake at the house, made by Simona. 

                           

     Then, I felt like he needs a little bit more than that. Therefore, even the money are short, I went out with him for a pizza! What a great surprise that was for him! Not just because he loves the pizza, but to go out and do something different, that made his day!

        17.04.2011

        Easter is coming!
       Just like last year, our friends, the students from the Art High School and from the Special School in Slobozia came to visit us.
 
    

       And, as Easter is coming soon, it couldn't be just a simple visit.  As you know from last year, in Romania we have the tradition to paint eggs for Easter. So, we couldn't miss the chance.
      120 eggs were offered by a dear friend, the paint has been purchased and the artists were here! All set for another great day!

    

       After a couple of hours of joy and fun, everyone was happy with the result!
   
    
  

                    Click here to watch a short movie of the event or here for more pictures 

15.03.2011

       Every year, on the 8th of March, in Romania, we celebrate Women's Day.  

       On this occasion, a contest was held Slobozia with cards made by students from schools in the city. Although New Life Foundation is not a school, we were also invited to present some of the cards made by the boys at Amara. 

   

  Under the guidance of the staff at the house, Sandu, Fanel and Gabi have made cards that were sent to participate in the contest. There was little surprise to us when we were told that our work will be awarded with diplomas.   

         On March the  11th, when all the works were shown to the public, the boys received their diplomas and were congratulated by the people attending the event.

03.03.2011

  It has become a tradition to send to our supporters a hand-made card for Easter or Christmas. It is our small way to say "Thank you" to those who support our work over the year.

  As there are less than two months left until Easter, we started to work on the cards. We must make sure that we got the time to produce enough cards so every single supporter will receive one.

28.02.2011

       In the last weekend of the month, Fundatia New Life has been invited to arrange a display board with crafts made at the house by our boys and staff.

       The event was organised by the Ialomita County Teachers Association and we were invited to offer a speach as a recognition of the good work we do at the house. 

      The day before the event, we had to arrange the display board that was placed right at the entrance so no one would miss it!

 
Our presentation had a great impact and it was highly apreciated by all the teachers at the event.  Everybody agreed that we could be an example not only for the romanians, as some teachers from abroad were present at the event.

19.02.2011

     Friday, I went to Braila to visit our boys, Vasile Leonas & Badescu Sandu.

     As you know from my previous articles, they were born in Braila county but sent for schooling in Slobozia, Ialomita county. When the legislation in child protection has changed 8 years ago, to allow Romania to enter the E.U., the boys were sent back to the county of their birth. Since then, I kept in touch with them and visited regularly, as they had no family of their own.

     Things turned bad last autumn when, despite the fact that they were still in school, the institution that suppose to take care of them decided to send them on the streets. Of course, I could't allow that to happen. After several trips to Braila and a few meetings with people from the local authorities someone agreed to put them in a night shelter, for the period until they  would complete their education.

     Now, that time has come and at the begining of February, our boys graduated school. Even they are still allowed to stay at the shelter, their future is bleak!  Every 30 days, they must fill out an application that woud be sent for aproval, to allow them to stay at the shelter.

     Luckly, durring my visits to Braila I have found a few people that are keen to help.  

      Among them, Prof. Dermengiu. A really nice person, always ready to help. As a Braila citizen, he knows the right people that could be a help in our efforts ( like an orthodox priest that offers a hot meal, every day).

     For the next 30 days or boys got a shelter and a meal provided by the local church. Unfortunately, I can not say what would happen after. My promise to the boys was that I will do whatever is necesary so they don't end up on the streets!

     As you know, usually, when I go to Braila, I would be accompanied by some of the boys from the house. This time I had Fanel and Sandu. I use the time driving to Braila ( about 1 hour and 15 min.) talking to them about different things.

      Once all the problems are sorted, we go shoping for the house and Fanel always makes sure I buy the right things and even more (usually, something just for him).

   

    After a very long day, before we hit the road for the trip back, everybody is hungry and needs  a meal!

31.01.2011

        As we have been speaking about birthdays, the month ended with another party at the house. Today we've celebrated Vali, on his 26th aniversary.

       As usual when we celebrate a birthday at the house, Simona prepared another one of her great  looking and teasting cakes. It was so good that even it was huge in size, it dissapeared in 5 min after we start eating!

 Happy birthday, Vali!

26.01.2011

    Cleopatra is a young girl from Slobozia who has been introduced to our boys last summer by one of the students from the High School in Slobozia.

    Since then, she has constantly kept in touch with the boys, especialy with Fanel and Sandu. Even her nick name is Cleo, it seems to be too difficult for our boys to pronounce it right. Therefore, Fanel calls her Tolo and Sandu would call her Teo. All we hope is that she doesn't get too confused and forget her real name!

   This week, Cleo as Tolo as Teo, celebrated her 21 birthday. Knowing that, Fanel couldn't just stay still and do nothing about it. He has been working on his own for two days on the sawing machine to have the presence done in time. Even is not the best thing to offer a kitchen apron to a girl turning 21, Fanel was very proud of his work!

17.01.2011

   The New Year came with lots of snow. That, and the large garden at the house, were the  best ingredients for a snowman and a ... snow fight!

   Now, to make a snowman it's not an easy thing. You need some friens to come and give a hand. We didn't need to say that twice, and the team was ready - some of our boys, volunteers, local kids.

   As about what it came out...  not the most handsome snowman! But all it mattered was the fun we had for a few hours!

   Once the Snowman was done, it was time for the snow fight to start. Guess who coludn't wait for that: Sandu!

   One of his favorite things is to fight with snow, especially if there is a chance to put some snow on a girl's face! And, this time, there were lots of chances!

       Once the fight was over, we were friends again and we all rushed in for a cup of hot tea!

 

15.01.2011

     Therefore, we had to act quickly and find a solution to keep the boys warm. We found some electric heaters  to warm up the bedrooms and we decided to turn one of the bedrooms in a room for daily activities. That was so we don't have to heat the big room! 

   

    To get the hot water that we desperately need to keep the boys clean, we had to buy an electric instant water heater that was just enough the get some hot water for showers.

 
With all this beeing done, we only hoped that the problem with the heating system will be solved as soon as possible.

Well, it was not solved as quick as we hoped but, as we have a saying in Romania, "better later then never"!

The best thing that came out of this situation, happened just a few days later. Vicki & Sam Ingrassia,  old friends of Fundatia, from U.S., offered to pay the costs with the repairs. We can only say "God bless you for your heart and may Him reward you for all your support to Fundatia over the years! "