Helping the Homeless of Arad

Ovi and shelter staff

This past Monday night, I joined Ovi and Doina as they visited one of their newest Project Caring efforts. Since last fall, they have been in partnership with the city's only homeless shelter. The shelter has enough beds for 70 people but has never reached capacity. In the winter they've seen 45-50 people per night.

Visiting just once per month for now, Ovi and Doina get volunteers to make sandwiches and provide juice for those who stay in the shelter. On monday the volunteers made nearly 50 sandwiches for the 40 or so folks who ended up checking into the shelter by 8PM before it closed its doors for the night. One of the shelter's social workers and another coordinator were sure to be at the shelter for this event even though they had already worked the day shift. They said it was important that they come in so they could support RCE's efforts.

Before the sandwiches were distributed, everyone gathered round Ovi as he introduced the volunteers and shared a few words from the scripture.  When he was done, Ovi offered my services as the offical "shelter photographer" for the evening.  He told them that if they wanted a picture of themselves to share, to send to family, or just to have for their very own, I could take one.  I have to admit that I wasn't so sure that this would end up being the offer a homeless person couldn't refuse!  But boy was I wrong...

Although our photography session began slowly, it got very busy VERY quickly.  The first few pictures were homeless folks posing with Ovi; some just with Ovi's bible and without Ovi.  But then things really took off... I felt like I was constantly being tapped on the shoulder, pulled into pictures, walked to dorm rooms so folks could have pictures taken with their 'friends', spoken to in broken English, Romanian and even German by one person (what were they thinking!). Sad part is, that I didn't even realize I was being spoken to in German, because it was so busy in there.  In the end, I ended up taking nearly 50 pictures. Each picture was approved by the subject-- if they didn't like the light, their expression, or their posture, I took the picture again.  There were some tough customers in there! We'll have the pictures printed and then distributed at the shelter.

Some updates....
- when I was eating the rooster soup on Sunday night, Carmen said to me... "it seems to me that there are so many left handed people in America" (not sure where that thought came from since I was eating my rooster soup right handed:) )...  I told her there were many more right handed people than lefties in America.  She told me that there are few lefties in Romania because during the communist times (1989 and earlier), children were not permitted to learn to write left handed, or use their left hands for pretty much anything.  Today things are different of course, but there are still a couple generations of Romanians out there who are 100% right-handed.

- I was walking across the parking lot at the Sunshine School the other day, carrying a plastic bag in each hand and wearing my back pack... one of the RCE staffers yelled out.."you look like Romanian lady!"  It's true, wherever you look, you see Romanian women toting plastic bags here and there.. they're usually carrying one, but more often than not they're toting two.  I did another "Romanian lady" thing the other day... grabbed my coffee cup, swung my living room window open wide,  and sat there watching the people go by...it was relaxing and VERY Romanian lady like...

- Tomorrow (Thurs) morning I'm heading to Tirnova with Ovi to photograph the tearing down of the roof of a church (and hopefully the start of the re-build); and then in the afternoon will head to Hungary to see the orthopedist along with Carmen and Angy's knees...

Romanian Words of the Day:

House= casa (ca-sa)
Room= camera (cam-era)
Apartment house/bldg= bloc (block)
Apartment= apartament (aparta-ment)