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Me & Irakli at Christmas
Our Christmas photo, Aren't the Georgians handsome? TRAVELS WITH CONNIE, FIRST EDITION
So, I've started packing for my upcoming trip to Holland, Romania, Moldova and The Republic of Georgia.
If you would like to read "Travels with Connie", just set your email to accept emails from webmaster@travelblog.org. As I blog, you'll receive a link which you can click on to read my latest adventures. I'm leaving Wends, May 20, on Connie's Big Adventure. I'll spend 10 days in Oostvoorne, on the North Sea coast near Rotterdam, visiting my sister who has lived there for almost 20 years. (She married a Dutch fellow, Eric, and they have one daughter Emily, aged 14).
Then, 2 days in Vienna & on to Romania.
In Timisoara, Romania, I'll visit my friend Daniel Musteata, a lawyer and director of Bethlehem Ministries. Their focus is on street children rescue. I'll be checking on the land I bought there in 2006. My goal is to build a children's shelter and community center, where Daniel can run his programs such as day center for street children, workshops, English classes, dance & art therapy.
Next, I'll take the train to Arad, where I'll be meeting up with Scott &
Caroline of Solid Rock Youth Ranch. See their website at www.sryr.org. They are starting a program to help teenage girls transition from orphanages to a healthy, happy Christian life, using horses as a means of healing, restoration, therapy and training. I'll also be meeting the family of my friend Adina Luca, a Romanian who I met recently here in California. Adina will be returning to Romania in the fall to get her master's degree and work with Scott & Caroline. I'll be exploring how I might be of service to them.
After Arad, it's off to Cluj, the capital of Transylvania. I'll be spending time with Lavina, who is the psycologist at a school for disadvantaged and at-risk youth. Lavinia has been developing a financial literacy program, and I hope to work with her to develop it further. In addition to standard education, Lavinia feels a critical life skill is managing your money, and I agree and have been supporting her efforts to bring new ideas to the kids. In 2008, I sent a number of "Cash Flow for Kids" board games. These were created by Robert Kyosaki, author of the "Rich Dad, Poor Dad' series. The kids love
Gimme the money
Lavinia playing Cash Flow with her students the games and have learned a lot about life and money just from playing them.
I'll also be meeting up with friends Floyd & Ancuta Frantz, OCMC (Orthodox Christian) missionaries. An American, Floyd runs the St. Dimitrie Project. St. Dimitrie Program, the first ever drug & alcohol treatment program in Romania. Since coming to Romania in 2000, he has made amazing accomplishments including:
• Developing education and alcoholism treatment programs throughout Romania and Moldova.
• Working with the homeless and disenfranchised, especially those in hospitals and institutions.
• Currently is training and working with priests, social workers and doctors throughout Romania & in the neighboring Republic of Moldova to raise awareness of alcoholism as a disease and that treatment is now available.
He met his wife, Ancuta in Romania. Ancuta is a native Romanian and is the director of the Protection of the Theotokos (Mother of God) Family Center. The Protection Center is aimed at the prevention of child abandonment. According to official Romanian statistics, in 2006 there were over 7,000 children abandoned by their families in Romania. Ancuta's day-care and counseling project :
• Ministers to new mothers by offering counseling and material support.
•
Ancuta & Floyd Frantz
My friends Ancuta & Floyd are missionaries in Romania Cares for children & moms, offering food, clothing and medical care.
• Gives mothers the support and resources to help prevent child abandonment.
• Currently the center is serving 15 children and their mothers, but has served dozens in the past, and is a significant resource to desperate single mothers
During 2008, I (with the help of some friends) collected, packed and shipped over 6,000 lbs of donations to Daniel, Lavinia, Floyd & Ancuta in support of their programs, including
o 2,000 toys
o 500+ pairs of shoes
o 250+ warm coats plus gloves, scarves & mittens
o Thousands of other clothing items including jackets, jeans, shirts, skirts, pants.
o Dozens of blankets and hygiene kits, each containing soap, toothbrush & paste, lotion, washcloth, razor, etc.
I can't wait to see how else we can help them! In America, we have so much. It takes very little to help those in need. If you're interested in how you can help, just drop me a line at constancefinch@yahoo.com.
More later!
Cu Bine (all the best)
Connie
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Let's go and good luck
Please keep us posted