SHOEBOX DELIVERY DIARY 2011

This year we wanted to take the opportunity to visit some of our contacts in Romania and help them with the distribution of the Shoeboxes in their communities. We visited schools, kindergartens, families, old people, communities living in old container blocks, derelict buildings and many other places. Your gifts were received with wonder and delight and many questions of why? We had the joy of sharing your love with those who have little and were honoured to do so, on your behalf.

 Sunday 4^th December

After an early morning flight from Luton to Bucharest, We were kindly collected by our shoebox contacts Costel and his wife Rodica who drove us to Tucuci. They had come to Teccuci from Bacau in 1996 and seen the need of the people here, so many poor and marginalised families and had a wish and a vision to fulfil that need, and decided that health and education would be a good route to follow. Their long term plan is that the people in Teccuci will one day be able to take over the running of the centre they have built.

The plan for the next day was to split us into groups of two, with a church member, and an English speaker, enabling us to visit as many homes as possible.

Monday 5^th December

First stop, one of the local schools, attended mainly by marginalised families. This school has recently opened a kindergarten as many of the older children were unable to attend school as they had to care for younger siblings. The children loved to have their pictures taken and clustered around her after each shot, clamouring to see themselves on screen.  It was explained to us that these boxes would be an extra blessing, as tomorrow St Nicholas’s day is celebrated, the children leave their shoes out for him to fill with sweets and small gifts, but for many their shoes would still be empty in the morning, as parents can ill afford these presents, however, because of these shoeboxes, the children would now be receiving gifts.

Many of the homes we visited in town were behind rusted ornate metal gates. By and by, someone would appear, take a while to clear a barricade of bits of wood and rock behind the gate, before ushering us into their home. These people carefully remove their worn ill-fitting shoes, but insisted we kept our muddy boots on as we entered the cramped and often not pleasant smelling rooms, which large families would share.

Many families had sad stories, in one, just three months ago, candles had started a fire in their home, burning it to the ground and killing three children. As they stood and received shoeboxes, along with their large extended family, they were stony faced and silent, stood against the blackened embers which had been their home.

Lisa and Sarah told us later of a car park they had visited where large groups were living in metal containers. Whilst they were with the children opening boxes, a man was on the top of the containers, cutting the electricity supply, and a hook dangling ominously from a moving crane. They were told that these containers were about to be moved, but it was not clear why, or where too. As we went to bed that evening, we were conscious that although our very pleasant room was a little chilly and our duvets not very thick, a mere stone’s throw from where we slept, there existed families, cramped in a single room, in a single bed, under filthy blankets.

 Tuesday 6^th December

We split into teams again and went under Costell’s guidance to visit families in rural communities, one of which had recently had a devastating flood.

One home, a small square crumbling dwelling built with mud bricks was up a steep slope of slimy mud, made worse by the incessant rain today. The rain really heightens the conditions these people have to deal with daily, the relentless mud clogging boots and nowhere to wipe it off.

At another home there, in the gloom, sat a grandfather with two teenage children. The children were sat so still, quiet and expectant, but expectant for what? I don’t think they had any idea we were going. When we passed over the brightly coloured shoe box the grandfather was quite overcome with emotion, and started to quietly cry. Apparently the parents have just upped and left, leaving the grandparents to care for the two teenagers. So sad.

One 80yr old lady, was totally taken aback to be given a gift, and kept questioning why her. It was the first gift she had received in her whole life!! Another man of about 70, began to cry when the team entered his home. His son had committed suicide in the summer, so he was living alone. He hadn’t eaten, so Costell took him some sandwiches from the minibus. This man had given some of his adjoining land to his nephew, but in return, the nephew had not helped to care for him at all.

These are the reason that some supporters has given us some Shoeboxes specifically made up for Elderly people and we will be launching this on a much larger scale for our 2012 appeal.

At one stop, their team got out of the car, each carrying some boxes to distribute. It was then that Linda noticed that Rodica was carrying a box which paper she recognised, and, when she looked closely at the customs list, clearly recognised her own writing! When it came to the time for that box to be given out, Rodica handed it to Linda, saying that she should choose who she gave it to.

When a lady and her son answered the door at the next home, Linda felt it so right that she gave the box to them, saying that it came filled with love. The boy kissed her on both cheeks, and when Trish explained that Linda herself had filled the box back in England, the lady and her son both kissed her again and thanked her profusely. It was a million to one chance that a box packed in the UK, sorted in Worthing, transported to one of 5 countries in Eastern Europe and then distributed to over 80 locations should end up in the car of the person who packed it!

We were sorry to see team member Sam leave the team, on route home, the rest of us boarded the minibus for the four hour journey to Iasi.

Wednesday 7^th December

We arrived to visit our Little Rainbows Kindergarten, run and funded solely by Link Romania. What an amazing place, full of happy children who were engaged in various activities. We loved the way they would pile onto your lap, and include you in what they were up to.

The children clearly adore their quiet, efficient, affectionate teachers Mirela and Mihiela who later told us that when many of the children first join Little Rainbows at the age of 5/6yrs, they do not know their own names, as it is normal to use nicknames as a matter of course.

It was interesting to watch the children preparing to go home, removing their kindergarten shoes, and often socks too, before squeezing their feet into an assortment of shoes, and a selection of scarves, hats and gloves. Often the boys wearing girls coat and vice versa, as these clothes get passed down through the siblings, many times.

Link Romania do send clothes out to the kindergarten so that staff can distribute them when and where they see the need. One little girl took off her socks to reveal filthy feet which looked as though they had never been washed, she had a strong aroma of smoke about her, apparently two of the walls in her home had recently burnt down.

When it was time for the children to leave, the odd parent or sibling appeared, but the vast majority of these under 7’s walk home through the mud tracks of the Dallas Shanty Town alone!

The afternoon was spent visiting some of the families of children at the kindergarten. These homes were difficult to describe  Tiny? Dirty? Cramped? Smelly? Squalid? Dank? Dingy? Dark? Unsafe? Yes to all of these, but what the words and pictures cannot convey is the smell of unwashed lives, not really body odour, just general grime.

It is strange to see newly built, houses plonked in the middle of Dallas, next to little more than a tumble down dwelling. But apparently, if people here are able to go away and earn enough money to build a property, they choose to build it and stay in the community which is their home.

It was a joy to see them savour the moment of unpacking the shoebox, examining each and every item closely, with gasps of surprise and awe. The Romanians with us always explained that the box is a gift for the whole family, and comes with much love from families in the UK. To see people – including children, so excited about such simple objects such as soap, shampoo and a hairbrush, brings you down to earth with a jolt.

As we walked past one home (The houses are very cramped together) one little girl of about 7, had her nose pressed to the window, clutching one of her younger siblings. We were told that she is often left looking after her 3 younger siblings, when her mother goes out! She was delighted when we returned to her home with a shoebox, whose contents could have been packed with her in mind.

At another house, the father was home, and it was great to see him actively involved with opening the shoebox alongside his son. He was delighted with the tape measure and screwdriver which were inside.

Camilla gave out her box, one which had been carefully packed at home the day before we left. The family it went to is one which is known to Link Romania, they live in the tiniest lean- to on the back of a ramshackle building which is home to three other families. The mum of my shoebox family looked very gaunt and painfully thin. She has four children living at home, the dad works away. This mum works hard to support her family, collecting scrap metal to sell with a bone shaker of a bike. She has been known to carry a bath and a fridge home!! Mum was very proud of her daughter’s achievements, and brought out her school book of grades to show us. It was great being with them as they opened the shoebox, unpacking all the things Camilla had chosen so carefully .

Thursday 8^th December

Collecting Mihaela from the kindergarten, we loaded a minibus with shoeboxes and set off for a 45minute drive to an isolated rural community. We were met by the councillor of the village who took us to visit tiny schools and homes.

The classes in this school were small, about 12 children in each class and mixed year groups. Although it had been explained to them what was about to happen, they seemed unsure, needing us alongside them to unwrap the shoeboxes. It was lovely to hear them talk about their family members as they looked at the enclosed objects, and really heightened the importance of including an item for each family member. Its hugely disappointing for us to see a shoebox being unwrapped here which is pretty much all toiletries, or all toys, we often needed extra ‘emergency’ items to fill in the gaps, presents for parents, grandparents and teenagers go down particularly well.

We left the first school as children were departing for home, clutching bulging shoeboxes as though their life depended on it, excited voices calling out thanks as they passed us, running up the stony road, unaccompanied by parents, to houses out of sight.

The main team  left for Iasi and said goodbye to Lisa and Maria, who were travelling onwards to Cluj to visit more of the projects, then, we once again climbed aboard Costel’s minibus for the eight hour trip to Bucharest and home.

A privilege to be on this shoebox delivery trip, with a lovely team who supported each other through the emotional highs and lows.

Over to Lisa..........

                                              Friday 9^th December

Off on the overnight train to Cluj where we quickly realised that we would have to decide between being baked alive ie the temperature of the carriage was extremely hot or not being able to sleep due to opening the window and being deafened by the noise. We chose lack of sleep due to noise and therefore arrived at 5.30am at Cluj train stations more than a little exhausted. We were met by Istvan Borzasi who is the pastor of the Hungarian Church of Romania and turned out to be practically a bishop! He drove us two hours up to Perecei in the West of Romania and started the day giving out Shoeboxes. 

We visited a village that had a small church and the people who could attend met us there although it was'nt obligatory. We sang some songs and met their lovely community leader who was obviously well regarded. We then went to visit a few homes to meet up with others and give out more boxes and went into one house that didn’t have a roof but only had a canopy keeping the rain out.

 Istvan then drove us to a village far on the outskirts where the housing was appalling and the children were filthy. Quite a stir in the village when we arrived but all the families came out to greet us and it was well organised. We saw a mum trying to read out the box label in English to her son which showed that even in poverty mums and dads still want their children to learn.

In the afternoon we visited two community halls were people were waiting for us. Lists appeared to make sure that the right people got the shoeboxes and we carried on until the evening until the light finally failed us and poor Istvan was exhausted from holding on to the light to try to enable the photos to be taken. We finally went back to Istvans house were we were staying and stumbled up to bed.

Saturday 10^th December

Istvan woke up not feeling very well at all but as he had all the community and church leaders coming to his church that day he reluctantly put us in the care of ‘Joe’ a 24 year old who spoke excellent English and who Istvan trusted to drive us in his car. We visited a poor school in the morning and the teachers were delighted that we has come to visit them. The children queued up for their shoeboxes and Joe helped us pile them up into a mountain of shoeboxes and then give them out. Then onto our last stop which was a school/kindergarten. The English teacher has come in specially to speak to us and introduce us to the headmistress. We decided to give out the Shoeboxes in the playground and the children came up to us by class. The very last child came and had clearly rehearsed his small speech , thanking us in English and wishing us a very Happy Christmas. We were very impressed.

Sadly leaving out last place Joe delightedly declared that Istvan was letting him drive us to Cluj, some two hours away. The reason he was so happy became apparent when Maria and I had to detour to help him pick up his wedding rings that he had ordered and then when we arrived his very beautiful fiancée came to meet us. It meant they had a few hours together which they hadn’t expected to have as they can only see each other infrequently. Early night to catch the 6am flight from Cluj to Luton on Sunday morning. Another year over........... 

Diary written by Milly Johnson and Lisa Hector with contributions from Penny Perrett, Linda Kershaw, Sarah Rowley, Trish Varndall, Samuel Kempsey

All Photographs taken by Maria Scard www.mariascard.com