A letter from Mary Ferris in Romania
November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving
Dear Friends,
I am writing this on Thanksgiving Day. I’m very grateful for everyone who reads this and for your continued interest and support. I have just returned from six weeks in the United States, mostly a family vacation, but I managed to visit a few churches, attend a NOROC board meeting, and be a spiritual advisor at a Presbyterian Cursillo Retreat. All these things rejuvenated me tremendously.
In my last newsletter I wrote about a lice problem at the Sperantza children’s home. One of our faithful sponsors read this and her church responded by sending money to buy lice shampoo and vitamins. I have delivered the shampoo, given instruction in Romanian, and will go today to see them use it. They were supposed to do the de-lousing last week, but it was postponed to this week. It has to be on Thursdays because that’s when they get their weekly bath and shampoo. This is also the day they change the linens, so for the treatment to work, it has to be on Thursday. Does your head itch just thinking about this? Mine does.
I am very pleased to report that Calin, one of the young men we struggled this year to get into high school, greeted me upon my return from my vacation with a big hug. Until this year he has always attended “special school,” was told he was retarded, and was slated to be sent to further “special” programs in another town when we went to the school board and talked to one of the educational inspectors. It happened that this inspector was the first young man we (NOROC) had sponsored through university. He is a Roma and now helps Roma youth in our community. He helped get Calin into a regular high school, but everyone was worried, including me, that this school would be too difficult for him. Ha! It is easier for him—he has good teachers and a normal classroom. He loves school for the first time in his life. He told me yesterday he has the highest grades in his class. I do not even want to think about how many other Calins are out there, but I’m comforted to know that at least one young man now has a chance for a “normal” life.
Yesterday I visited a family of three children who were reintegrated with their mother last year in the neighboring county of Constanta. NOROC does not normally venture out of our county, but this reintegration was totally illegal. They sent the children on a visit to their mother, who lives in a makeshift cardboard cubicle, and the department here in Tulcea never brought them back. If we had not intervened, these three children wouldn’t be in school, wouldn’t have been receiving social assistance, etc. When I visited them yesterday, I was so impressed that they still had the backpacks NOROC bought them last year. The oldest boy, Cristi, still has every single notebook we bought him at the first of the year. He is still using the same pencils we gave him, but was sorry because his pen ran out of ink, so a colleague gave him another one. He helps his younger brother and sister, who are going to school but struggling. We visited his school, and the teachers were all pleased with their progress.
Children receive their Last minute instructions from psychologist Adrianna Senciuc before the carnival begins.
I visited Cocorrii I and II—the small houses that shelter 25 younger children with special needs. This is where the majority of our Big Hearted Grandmothers work. Imagine my delight when I visited one of these houses and these children put on a Christmas program just for us! Usually, we are the ones doing the programs.
One of our bright spots here in Tulcea is our Saturday morning activities with the children in Sperantza. We welcome our new art teacher, who has the children creatively involved with making masks for New Year’s. What fun!
Adrianna Senciuc with her children from group therapy.
Also, Adrianna, in her new role as psychologist, has involved her therapy group in creative role playing. She borrowed costumes from her school so that these children, who never get to be in anything, could do a fall carnival. One little boy dressed as a cricket said, “This is the happiest day of my life.”
These types of responses are the rewards that keep us going. For some children, the smiles from the NOROC staff are just about the only smiles of appreciation they get. We are one big team. Paul calls it the “Body of Christ.” Your prayers, donations, and financial support are very much appreciated and make a huge difference. We are helping Christ transform these lives—through a pair of shoes, school supplies, by providing happy, creative moments.
We are now hard at work being Santa’s workshop for these children, so your next report will be the results of our Christmas efforts!
Happy Thanksgiving,
Mary Ferris
The 2009 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 182
