Giving Hope in the midst of Pain...

Matt Parker reports about a visit to a suffering family in Romania…

This week I visited the home of a small family – a grandmother and two boys, aged nine and seven – who live in a small village in the south of Romania. Theirs is a desperate situation. The family has one, tiny room to live in. It is dark and damp. The roof is falling in. The boys sleep on the floor.

The grandmother explained to me that the boys’ mother had abandoned them when the youngest was just four months. The father is sick and incapacitated. She has to provide for them, working long hours in the fields each day to earn a pittance of a wage. With her tiny income, she does her best to provide food for the family each evening. She wiped tears from her eyes as she shared the pain of seeing her grandchildren suffer.

The two boys recently began attending our care centre programme, where they receive help with their education, a snack, and a safe place where they can play and be cared for by our committed staff. Their grandmother expressed her gratitude for this provision – and we are delighted to be able to support this needy family in this way. We have been encouraged to see the positive changes in these special kids’ lives over the past few months. Our prayer is that these children – and many others like them – will be given hope and a future as a result of our work in this impoverished community.