Entertainment in the hospital

For those of you who know Steffi (vice president of Firm Foundations Romania), you probably also know her daughter Beca. Beca is originally from the Roma village Budila where we host our Kid's Club and After School Program. We've known her biological family for years and have had the privilege of working with her younger brother Robert. For reasons unknown to us, Robert has been in the Children's Hospital for the past few days, but he is still in good spirits! While Robert is bringing lots of laughs for the volunteers, we are glad that there are volunteers to brighten his day and give him the attention that every child desires.

Shampoo to the Rescue

We've all been there - you walk into your hotel room, take a look around, is there a fridge? What about a safe? How about an iron or a hair dryer? The hotel you book will determine the amenities that come with it.

One thing is almost always constant, however, and those are the travel size shampoos, conditioners, soaps and lotions that come nicely wrapped in your hotel bathroom.

Whether or not you decide to use these items or pack them up and save them for later matters not, they are a hot commodity simply because they are handy and easy to bring along.

We're going to let you in on a little secret, though. Those soaps, shampoos, lotions and conditioners are the perfect size for the bundles we put together for our Mom's Project.

Maybe you don't use the toiletry items provided, or maybe you pack them thinking you'll use them later but simply end up with a stockpile that you don't know what to do with. We're asking that you consider us the next time these convenient shampoos and soaps come in to your possession.

If you are interested in donating these travel size items to Firm Foundations Romania to be used in the bundles that we hand out to the mothers in our Mom's Project, please contact Heather   Zorzi at:

Heather@FirmFoundationsRomania.com.

Party With A Purpose

Tis the season for eggnog, cookies and parties galore. It's also the season for family, giving and goodwill. We were blessed to be the recipient of such goodwill in Raleigh, NC where an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party was held in honor of Firm Foundations Romania.

 

The Zorzi family - Heather and Abrianna Zorzi being volunteers for FFR - threw a lovely house party, inviting all of their friends to come celebrate the season while also giving back.

 

Food and drink were flowing, neighbors chatted and played games and a good time was had by all. Halfway through the evening, Sarah Vienna, Heather Zorzi and Jennifer Peterkin were able to share about FFR and sing one of Sarah's songs, "Seeds For Destiny".

 

 

Through something as simple and fun as a house party we were able to get people together, share about Romania, raise funds and recruit new volunteers!

Part Of The Family, By Katie Greiner

Volunteering in the Brasov Children’s Hospital, we have the opportunity to care for so many precious babies and toddlers. With some of these little ones, we don’t know their names, where they come from, or anything about them. With others, we know their families well and have watched their older siblings grow up in and out of the hospital when they were small. Whatever the background, though, we are there to fill in the gap and love them for as long as they are in the hospital.

 

 One family we have all gotten to know well over the past few years, is that of Constantin and Stefan. Constantin is now about 4 ½ years old and Stefan recently turned 2. Many of our volunteers will remember these boys as they were in and out of the hospital many times over their first couple of years. Stefan still comes in now and then whenever he is sick, but not so much as when he was small. They also have a 12 year old brother, Alex, who has been in the hospital a few times, and a 17 year old brother.

One of the things that has set this family apart is how they will all come together to drop off or pick up one of the boys, and so we have been able to meet the parents, grandmother, and oldest brother at these times. We would greet them whenever we saw them, and often bring clothes, shoes, and toys for the boys. Over the past year or so, we’ve gotten to know them more and they now come to our office to see us anytime they are at the hospital. There is a small box of toy cars that we keep on hand for visits like this, and the boys know that they can choose one any time they stop by. The family is very poor, so the clothes and shoes that we are able to give them from the donations that we receive has been such a blessing to them and they are so grateful. How wonderful to be able to fill bags of clothes for them, put new shoes on their feet, and bundle them up in warm coats and hats!

Watching these boys grow up and getting to know all of their family has been one of my best experiences here. Constantin was born 1 week before I moved here in 2011, so I have been able to measure my time here by his growth. I had no idea when I first met him as a little baby that he and his family would become so special to me and that I would get to watch him grow up outside of the hospital setting. That I would someday be “Tanti Caty” to him and his brothers, and a friend to their mom. Hearing the three younger boys running towards our office and knock at the door, excitedly calling my name, and then just about getting knocked over by them throwing themselves into my arms for a hug makes my heart burst with love every time. It is such an amazing gift to be here and be an Auntie to these boys!

Thank you to all of our volunteers who have given your love and time to these precious boys and to so many other little ones in the hospital. If any of you are considering volunteering in the future, come on out! These babies and kids need your love and will change you forever. 

 

Romania Fara Orfani by Sarah Peters

Sarah Peters is one of FFR's interns. She, along with fellow intern Izzy Hathaway, manage the volunteer apartment, help organize donations, supervise shifts in the hospital and lend helping hands wherever they are needed. We are so thankful for our interns!

 

This November, Izzy, Rachel and I had the privilege of attending a conference organized by the alliance Romania Without Orphans. At the conference, we heard from Romanian politicians, a director of social services, social workers, families who have adopted, charity workers, church pastors and young adults raised in institutions, now supporting other orphaned and abandoned children.

Here discussions revolved around these views:

•  Children should not be raised by the state, but in a family.
• Adoption is not currently viewed as a priority by many in Romania, so we need to motivate a culture of adoption across Romania, to care for the children in institutional care.
•  All children have a voice, and where some children may have lost theirs, we should help them find it.
•  Children who have experienced trauma in their lives need love, support and safety - all children deserve that.
•  Supporting families so they don’t have to leave the country for work, or abandon their children, putting preventative and early intervention models in place.
•  ‘Because God cares about the orphaned and abandoned children, ‘si noua ne pasa’, we also care.

It was a wonderful opportunity for us to network with other people working in Romania with the same heart, and it was so inspiring to see so many people, especially Romanians, committing to working towards 'Romania fara orfani', Romania without orphans.

Bonding, Building & Pizza

Having the teenagers from our Teen Mentor Program living in Brasov is a great opportunity to get to know them on a deeper level, to develop individual friendships with them and to expose them to new cultures and new people - and vice versa!

That's why, once a month, our FFR Interns plan a dinner night with the teens, inviting volunteers to join as well! On top of the relationship building aspect, it's a great way for the girls to practice their English.

September marked the first "Dinner Night" - pizza was ordered, team building games were played and fun was had! It was really neat to see our teens bond with their flatmates and our volunteers. We're already looking forward to the next one!

 

New Kids On The Block

Last week, we introduced you to our teens. This week we're giving you a glimpse of Kid's Club! Seeing their faces light up when we pull up to the schoolhouse, when they learn a new song, or when they get to play with a plethora of toys is such a joy. There are some familiar faces and some new ones, but either way we feel so blessed to have a group of kids that are excited to come learn about Jesus and sing His praises!

Meet Our New Teens!

Autumn is in the air! And with the change of season comes a new school year full of possibilities. We hope that the teen girls that have joined our High School Mentorship program this year will reach their goals and taste the sweetness of brand new experiences. These girls have moved out of their homes in Budila into our second teen apartment (we are so blessed to need more space). We ask that you pray for these girls, their studies, their relationships with each other and their personal relationship with Jesus. Pray that they would be undaunted during this new adventure!

 


Diana Denisa Burmaru
Diana is 15 years old and has just started 9th grade, studying culinary arts. She loves to cook and one day would like to be the chef at her own restaurant.




Denisa Florea
Denisa is also 15 years old and has just started the 9th grade, studying culinary arts, as well. She and Diana go to the same school and have the same dream of owning their own restaurant. They encourage each other and are close friends, even sharing the same room in the teen apartment!



Rebeca Denisa Lingurar
Rebeca is 15 years old and just started 9th grade. She is studying electromechanics at the moment, but hopes to one day become a secretary and a make-up artist.



 


Rebeicca Marias
Rebeicca is 15 years old and just started 9th grade. She is studying to become a hair dresser and one day she hopes to be the principal hair dresser in her own salon.



 



Izabela Brumar
Izabela is 15 years old and has just started 9th grade. She is studying social studies and hopes to one day become a police officer. We ask that you keep Izabela and her dream in your prayers as her family does not want her to pursue that line of work.

Estera Constantin
This is a face many of you may recognize! Estera is 19years old and has just started 11th grade, studying fashion. In her free time she loves to do different hair styles. Estera has a gift for both fashion and hair and one day she hopes to be qualified in clothing design and hair dressing so that she can run her own business.

English Camp

Juliana, Andrei & Lyndsey

For one week in July we were so fortunate to have Lyndsey Marcu come to Budila to run an English Camp for our teens. Lyndsey hails from Northern Ireland but currently lives in Hungary with her husband, Simon. In Hungary she is a teacher and during her summer break she travels all across Eastern Europe, holding camps for at-risk youth.

Lyndsey's camps promote teamwork, good social skills, manners and sharing. The kids are encouraged to participate in reciting verses, playing games and singing songs. Teams are created the first day of camp (with each team picking their own name!), giving the kids incentive to work hard for points. Additional incentive is the "Star of the Day" certificate that is presented to one boy and one girl every day of the week for exceptional hard work and a willingness to work with others.

Close to 40 teens attended the camp and we feel so blessed. This is the second year that Lyndsey has come to work with our teens and we are grateful for her! We also want to send a huge thank you Juliana Timofte and Andrei Pintilie for volunteering their time and energy to this camp.

Thank you Lyndsey! We hope to see you again next summer...

English Camp 2015 Theme Verse:

Let us run the race that lies before us. 

Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

Hebrews 12:1-2