Yesterday we were minus two of the team. Mark and Callum went off with Beth to observe the nurses and doctors from Casa Albert as they performed their outreach work in the community. They visited four patients with an age range between six and twenty three and had to travel to communities in villages off the beaten track.
These villages consist of the poorer members of the Romanian community where medical attention wouldn't be forthcoming if it wasn't for charities like Cry in the Dark funding the outreach care and medication that is vital in prolonging their lives.
Mark and Callum saw people like Emmanuel the twenty three year old with a broken spine and currently suffers seizures because of fluid on the brain; our two actually witnessing this whilst they were there. His parents are loving and caring; his father being the rock of the family despite suffering from cancer himself.
They visited Damien, a child with cerebral palsy and also suffers with fluid to the brain. His treatment from the outreach team helps to keep the fluid under control.
Lorencio a spina bifida patient. He is the youngest child of four, his older brother and sister suffering mental disabilities and all of them being looked after by their oldest sister. She struggles to cope at times and unfortunately finds comfort from alcohol. Their mother is no longer alive and the father rarely visits. When he does this is normally in a drunken state and then he beats the children.
Their last visit was to another child with cerebral palsy. The parents again are loving parents but tend to be so over protective. They are frightened to take her outside incase she catches a cold. They over dress her and then she gets hot causing skin conditions for which the outreach carers were treating her for today. Her parents are fearful of her getting any bigger. They are elderly and consequently feel they would be unable to cope if that was the case. Because of this they are resistant to the vitamin treatment that would help her to grow normally.
For Mark and Callum this was a humbling experience but also a heart warming one. Without exception each patient was extremely happy to see their doctors and nurses and above all extremely grateful. The bright eyes and wide smiles of these children will remain with them for a lifetime.
At Casa Lumina the team have speeded up production. Probably four-fifths of the ceilings on the building site are boarded with the OSB boards and the girls, Sally, Karen and Shirley have certainly picked up new DIY skills as they continue to board over the walls. Most of us manage to take a measurement, cut the boards and nail them up. Not Nicholas and Jeff. They take precise measurements and calculate their cuts according to the equilateral equation taken from the isosceles triangle formula … and still end up with gaps.
The orphans came out again today and offered another chance to interact and take photographs. It is hoped to place some of these photos on this blog page once we get back home. We gain so much pleasure from this simple interaction, particularly at the end of a grueling day.
As we all prayed this morning, Mike offered a prayer which was also a reminder. At the end of this week we all get to go home and feel comfortable that we have "done our bit". Steve Cooper however doesn't quite have that luxury. He has been committed to this project for over twelve years now and the work at Casa Lumina continues. Steve has dedicated his life to the orphaned and sick children of Romania and this is a guy that has a family back home in England. Funding still has to be found for both Casa Lumina and Casa Albert and will continue to do so until these projects can be self supporting in Romania. The timing of this is anybody's guess.
We pray that Steve can carrying on finding the strength and energy to continue these projects to the correct and successful conclusion through Gods' guideance.
Terry Norrington
