December 17, 2007

Dear NOROC friends,

This is the last letter you will receive from me from the United States. It has been a wonderful six months home assignment, but I am now ready to get back to the children and youth and workers in our shared ministry in Romania.

Mr. Marin in NOROC's red van, aka Santa's sleigh.

This is the first Christmas season in seven years I have not been in Tulcea. I have a secret to let you in on. Santa is helped in Tulcea County by NOROC’s red van and our van (sleigh) driver, Domnul Marin.

Another secret—this red van is not just for Christmas. We go, day in and day out, year around, sometimes to remote places. One such place is the village of Greci.

One of Santa’s chief helpers is Adriana Senciuc. Adriana does a little of everything. She is one of my assistants, but most importantly she is Tulcea’s best kindergarten teacher. The relationships with people all over the county built up over the years by NOROC workers are  very important.

The Maternal Center was operated by All God’s Children in Babadag. A center for unwed mothers and their babies, they could stay for a year while getting themselves ready with parenting and vocational skills. When the department opened its own maternal center for unwed mothers, the mothers were moved from the private, Christ-centered, program to the government-run center. In the transition there were many glitches, such as the department failing to provide food or supplies for the mothers and babies for the first week  in the new center. Oops. NOROC stepped in and provided for the mothers and babies.

Adriana Senciuc (far right) with her goddaughters, the girls' mother, and their two grandmothers.

One of these mothers was 14-year-old Maria and her daughter Mihaela. Adriana Senciuc took them under her angel wings and became Mihalea’s godmother. This was six years ago. The mother eventually ran away from the center and back to her village to live with the baby’s father. Since giving birth to Mihaela, Maria has had two other daughters with her common law husband and is expecting their fourth child. Adriana and I and our social worker, Mrs. Jivan, visited this struggling young family many times. We took them clothes and school supplies. Most importantly, we kept the lines of communication open. Adriana was concerned that the girls were not enrolled in kindergarten.

The road to this village is long and “nu e bine,” not good. In fact, it is impossible to drive down this road for days after a rain. The final half mile is deeply rutted, rocky, and unpaved. This is the road the children with their parents would have to walk to go to school. We bought them sturdy shoes to make the journey, and the children were so eager to go to school. But the parents weren’t so motivated, so they never went. The news that we are going to Greci is never greeted with enthusiasm by any of us, but we all agreed this was an at-risk family in need of our concern. After I left last summer to come to the United States, Adrianna and company made several  trips to Greci.

I received an email from Adriana this week.  She said Maria and her husband decided to go to Europe to work and left their three daughters with the alcoholic, mentally ill grandparents. Predictably, the grandfather beat Mihalea. Adrianna’s  precious goddaughter was so badly beaten that she was hospitalized in a coma for days.

I have never had too many good things to say about the Tulcea hospital, but the pediatric ward is an exception to the rest of the standards in the hospital. The doctors there are exceptional. The place is supplied with toys, and grannies for the babies are provided by NOROC. The Danish remodeled the children's wing several years ago. We take a lot of medicine to the doctors, as well as diapers supplied by the Danish. Since the children from the children’s home go to this ward when they are in the hospital, we have a long and mutually rewarding relationship with the staff there.

Soon after Mihaela arrived in the hospital, she was greeted by Adriana and helped by NOROC. A true miracle has happened since then. The baby has gone to a foster family, but the two older girls have been placed in Sperantza. Adriana petitioned the Department to have the two girls placed in her very own kindergarten class. She even got permission for the two girls to stay with her all day, until 5:00 p.m. Adrianna says the two girls call her Nana (Godmother), and they won’t leave her side. Mihaela’s and her sisters’ lives won’t be easy, but without Adriana and NOROC the lives of these two girls would be even more desperate. At least now they have Nana.

This story shows that beside delivering presents, our red van delivers hope and relationships to the darkest, remotest places.  It makes all the time, money, and effort worthwhile when we are there to save the emotional and spiritual life of a child.

Merry Christmas,

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 181