Homes and roads in Romania

Road repair in Arad

When I first came to Romania in 1999, I remember there being very few paved roads. Sure the main roads through the city were paved, but anything off the main roads, in the neighborhoods, meant some pretty rough travel. Sometimes roads were completely impassable when the rain came and the mud took over. Today many of the roads in the neighborhoods in the city are paved, but some are in the midst of being paved. Here's a road I walked by the other day..it will take a number of weeks still before it's ready for cars. Can you imagine living on this street?

Village road

House under construction

Out in the villages, it's a different story entirely. Dirt roads, and I'm talking really rough dirt roads, are the norm. Some of the villages are so remote and their location is made more remote by the condition of the roads they must take to get to the city. You can imagine the car repair business that exists in Romania. People even use cable ties to secure their hubcaps to their cars because at any moment you could hit a big bump or pot hole and a hub cap could take flight.

There are many different types of homes in Arad and the surrounding area. There is definitely a middle-class look here and there as there are some very nice homes that have been built or in the process of being built. This is something that has occurred over the past few years as a middle class has emerged. However, these nicer homes are often wedged between homes that are in disrepair. It isn't uncommon to see a very nice home by Romanian standards next to one that looks not so nice.

Boxes being readied to use

Old jar; new box

Romanian Fund Raising... Over the past few years, RCE has taken to doing more domestic fund raising in Romania. This is a big challenge because of the state of the economy and because of the fact that many don't have extra cash on hand to donate to non-profits. But, because of some creative thinking and innovative fund raising ideas, we have managed to raise some in-country funds. Something we've done for a couple of years now, but has recently taken on a new look, is placing donation boxes in stores and businesses. This is done often in the states, but not so much in Romania. Mimi Bocsa and his Social Team have recently designed new boxes to replace the RCE jars that were in businesses up until now. Forty boxes will eventually be placed in the community.

There was some drama at a store that had one of the older RCE donation jars located in it, not too long ago. A young man went into the store, asked the clerk for a pack of cigarettes and when she turned her back, he took the RCE jar and ran. She chased after him screaming at him as he ran. He threw the jar to the ground and kept on running. The woman got to the jar, saw it had broken open, the money in it, stuck in the mud. She picked up each bill and every coin, brought them back to her store, cleaned them up and gave them to RCE.

Donation box in 5 Corners Pizza

RCE's Financial Dept...
Speaking of donations..it's about time you met the important women that run RCE's Financial Dept in Arad.  Mili and Nicoletta work tirelessly to assure that RCE's books are in order, that everyone gets paid and that the ministry has enough finds coming in and out to cover all of the wonderful work RCE does!

Mili and Nicoletta of RCE's Financial Dept

Romanian words of the day:

April=  Aprilie (ah-pre-lea)

Romanian currency= Lei (lay) This is plural for Leu (lou).  1 Leu is  about 30 cents USD