“I’ve never met an ordinary human” C.S. Lewis

Fundatia Link Romania Moldavia, str. Ciurchi 46, Iasi, Romania | 0040 728 444 521 | www,linkromania.ro

NEWSLINKSeptember 2013

SPEND A WEEK IN ROMANIA FOR £350

AN INVITATION FOR THE NEXT YEAR TO TEACH, BUILD, OR JUST CARE

BUILDING HOUSESWHY?

Fundatia Link wants to invest in the long term development and sustainability of deprived communities across rural areas of Romania. The house building project is a remarkable project where voluntary teams work together to construct homes for poverty-stricken families. Throughout rural Romania there are many families living in sub-standard housing without adequate sanitation or harsh weather protection. Link Romania works within the community to construct and to provide a better standard of living and to bring them better sanitation and living conditions.

WHAT WE OFFERWe offer the fantastic opportunity to work alongside the community in constructing homes and other construction projects such as wells, animal holdings, and fencing. You will be able to see the immediate and significant difference you will make to the community. You would stay at Fundatia Link Romania Moldavia Hostel.

COSTThe Project costs £350 per person for 1 week including local transport, accommodation, food and building materials, for teams consisting of at least 4 persons.Accommodation works out at £15 a day for a single bedroom with showers and toilettes close by. A meal will be provided each evening working out at £10 for 4 person team.

FLIGHT DIRECTLY TO IASI!F lights from London Heathrow to Iasi international airport. (Flights not included in this price).

See also page 2

As life became again very difficult in Romania, we need more than ever the practical and financial

help of all who know and support us. We would highly appreciate if you would consider coming

for a week in this beautiful country and do whatever you know best: work with the children,

teach the Bible, or build something.

Issue 4, New Edition www.linkromania.roA D D R E S S :

FUNDATIA L INK ROMANIA MOLDAVIA

S t r . C i u r c h i 4 6 , I a s i , R o m a n i a

T E L E P H O N E0040 728 444 521 F A C S I M I L E

0040 232 239 100

Homes are traditionally made of sticks and mud.

Playing with children and educating them. They get a few visits every year.

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Fundatia Link Romania Moldavia, str. Ciurchi 46 Iasi, Romania | 0040 728 444 521 | www.linkromania.ro

By working with groups and teams from

abroad and working within the local community

we work together to help with all aspects of

building and renovating homes and other

buildings in the city and rural areas.

Over the past few years Link Romania

Moldovia has constructed many houses and is

looking for self-funded groups and teams to

come and get involved in construction projects

in rural parts of Romania as well as in the city.

Get your hands dirty and get involved in

building houses for poor communities and other

development projects. Not only will you have a

building adventure but you will have the

fantastic opportunity to work and live alongside

the community who will benefit from your effort

and support whilst you will also learn a lot of

new skills and some of the difficulties of living in

one of these communities.

As well as the home building project Link

Romania also works to construct all aspects of

building such as pig sties, chicken coops and

wells. Which all invest in the future of local

communities as we believe it leads to

sustainability.

Yet with such a sheer scale of work, we

can’t do it alone. We look for groups and teams

to join us, who are behind everything we do.

Our vision and aim is to build one house

each year, as well as aiding the local community

in other building projects.

IN OUR NEWSLETTER’S NEXT ISSUE

WE WILL SHOW THE PICTURES OF

THE WORTHWHILE PROJECTS WHICH

WE HAVE COMPLETED THIS YEAR.

THEY WILL BE AN INVITATION TO

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK THAT

BRITISH CITIZENS HAVE DONE OVER

THE LAST DECADES.

Invitation to the building project of the year 2014

We can build homes easily for those whose only hope is from abroad.

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Fundatia Link Romania Moldavia, str. Ciurchi 46 Iasi, Romania | 0040 728 444 521 | www.linkromania.ro

We have worked during most of the year with a family that we did not know for so many years, but who was recommended by one of the people who used to be supported by our charity, an ex-homeless who became vice-mayor of his village. Trusting his judgement, as he knew our ethos and policies, we gladly involved the family in our projects. Their daughter Andrea has serious problems with her kidneys. she has to go monthly to the hospital in Iasi to check the quality of her blood, and whether or not there are infections caused by the poor activity of her kidneys.

Her father Nelu is both diligent and skilled in his construction work, so it was, again, easy working in this project, as we did not have to employ people to do his work.

They live at about 20 kms from Iasi, the main city, and the parents do not have constant jobs. Nelu is working in the neighboring villages, whenever somebody calls him. His wife is a house-wife, spending most of her time with their daughter and in their small household.

The house that we built is almost ready. We will have to cover it with a roof - including the old

part of the house, and but the materials for plastering.

As you can see in the bottom-right picture, we also built, with the help of a British school, a pig-sty and chicken coup. This will also need plastering, too.

A Br i t i sh g roup o f 12 generous persons have decided to sponsor the daughter with 50 Sterling Pounds per month. We buy every month quality food from the local hypermarkets, and we deliver it to the village - having in this way a reason to keep in touch with the family, and always paying attention to possible difficulties that they would face and that we could help to overcome.

We are grateful for every helping hand and support we get from Britain.

This year’s building project

The doors are very ornated.

The windows are made of fir-wood, for easy maintenance.

Waiting for Christmas, in a new home.

The roof is ready for the tin.

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Fundatia Link Romania Moldavia, str. Ciurchi 46 Iasi, Romania | 0040 728 444 521 | www.linkromania.ro

Just to refresh the memory of our readers, we have built a house two years ago for Marcel. Marcel was raised up in an orphanage, and at the age of 18 he had to leave that p l a c e , a s t h e R o m a n i a n government wouldn’t support the adult orphans. He stayed with an other charity for a few years, while he had a job offered by our charity. He proved to be ambitious and diligent. He married a girl, and they had an ill baby child, who died at the age of two months. Both of them were shocked, and they separated. He moved to Bucharest, the capital city of Romania, where he spent quite a while. Afterwards, he came back to Iasi, and he asked for our support again. After a few years, in a Spring, he received from the Local Council a plot of land, and with the help of a few British teams we have been able to complete a house for him.

We e v e n p a y e d f o r a connection to the electricity network, but the Mayor did not allowed to be connected to the network, saying that Marcel is too poor to afford to pay his bills. So now in fron of his house there is an electricity poll, without the wires.

We did not give up helping him. On the contrary, being very annoyed by the Mayor’s attitude, and with the help of some generous supporters, we fitted a solar panel on his house, and as you can see on the top right picture, during the evenings and

nights he has free electricity. we then fitted a second panel too, and we hope that during the years we will add other panels - provided that he will marry and he will need the extra power.

We have also bought him a horse, as we already purchased a cart the previous year. He also decided to keep some rabbits and chicken - for that an other team built a chicken coup, but Marcel added a special annex.

So for the past years it was an enriching as well as challenging experience with him. In a way, you all were his enlarged family.

We work a lot with other homeless young adults, but just a very few of them are ready to change. So I asked Marcel what does he believe would be the reason why he accepted to confront the difficulties of life, and others like him stay on the streets, some of them with a very bad health. His answer was surprising: the o ther s don’t have any ambition!

I a m s o g l a d h e h a s “ambition”, and now I am waiting (not very) patiently for the top of his ambition: his wedding and his babies.

The latest developments with Marcel

Checking if the horse can pull a cart.

With his female horse, at the market.

He proved to be a good whelder, too.

Light generated by solar panels.

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Fundatia Link Romania Moldavia, str. Ciurchi 46 Iasi, Romania | 0040 728 444 521 | www.linkromania.ro

Fundatia Link Romania Moldavia wants to make a great and sustainable impact on poverty in the rural area of Romania which especially affects children. We are committed to a more long-ter m change in developing communities and creating a difference. Child sponsorship is a great way towards sustainable change. Through child sponsorship we can work with poverty-stricken and vulnerable children, many with health implications. We work in providing food for the children especially children requiring a specialist diet due to the health reasons, with the provision of health care and medication to children up to the age of 10. Our vision is to provide a head start in a fulfilling life for children with limited opportunities living in poverty and material deprivation.

According to a study published/reviewed on the Christianity Today’s

June 2013 website, conducted on over 809 individuals from Uganda, (and then expanded to Guatemala, the Philippines, India, Kenya and Bolivia to 10,114 individuals) the children sponsorship had “large and statistically significant impacts on educational outcomes for sponsored children”. The study also shows that sponsorships makes children 27 to 40 percent more likely to complete a university education. child sponsorship also appears to be the great equalizer in education: in areas where outcomes are worse, such as sub-Saharan Africa, impacts are bigger.

The academic paper containing the full methodology and results of the study appears in the June issue of the Journal of Political Economy. Edited by the department of economics at the University of Chicago, the JPE is comparable to The New England Journal of Medicine for medical researchers.

Our bank account in

Great Britain:

Lloyds TSBBranch:

LittlehamptonAccount no: 01681355,

and Sort code: 30-95-09

Cheques payable to:FLRM,

50, Bryce Crescent,Currie

EdinburghEH14 5LL

Andrea, 2, has a kidney that is not working We buy her quality food, that she can’t get from her parents.

VISIT US AT:

WWW.LINKROMANIA.RO

CHILDREN SPONSORSHIP SCHEME: £20-50 MONTHLYSPONSORSHIPS MAKES CHILDREN 27 TO 40 PERCENT

MORE LIKELY TO COMPLETE A UNIVERSITY

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Fundatia Link Romania Moldavia, str. Ciurchi 46 Iasi, Romania | 0040 728 444 521 | www.linkromania.ro

Fundatia Link Romania Moldavia

has been established in working with

Roma people for the past 10 years

running projects with the vision to

change the lives of Roma living in

poverty. The projects run not only

benefit individuals but work in the

larger community to bring long term

development work which is

sustainable to supporting new

generations.

With the much appreciated

support of British charities and

groups we have had an established

center working within the Roma

community offering many projects

such as computer courses, bible

studies, pre-school center and camps.

Through our work with these projects

we can offer a more enlightening and

fulfilling life with the aim of

education and enjoyment.

As well as our work with

individuals and Roma children we

also run projects within the

community such as our home

building projects, which can offer

great support and sustainability.

Fundatia Link Romania

Moldavia has constructed many

houses in the past with the help of

amazing and awe-inspiring groups as

well as the contraction of wells,

animal holdings and fencing.

Our vision for the future is

simple. Its to create more long-term

sustainable work within the

community and we are looking for

hardworking, dedicated and

motivated groups to work alongside

the community in home building

projects, running groups, child

support and other community

projects alike.

The homes we construct are

simple yet practical and durable and

also cost next to nothing, which is

why with the support of groups and

charities we can make a large impact

on the community in changing lives

and giving the Roma a chance to live

up to their full potential.

We are thankful to all of those who involved in our projects and help us financially or practically. They must know that their help is much appreciated, and it has a good use in the lives of the poor of Romania.

Visit us at: www.linkromania.ro/posts.

Serving the Roma communitiesBY TEACHING THE BIBLE, SUPPORTING THEIR HOMELESS, AND HANDING

OUT FOOD & CLOTHES

Working with the Roma teenagers in Slobozia. Feeding the homeless by the river.