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| Octi, Ovi and Vasile of RCE |
RCE has 84 employees and 83 of them are Romanians living in Romania. The only non-Romanian is our Exec Director, Mary Ann Bell, who lives in Virginia. This fact makes RCE unique. RCE's objective is to empower the Romanian people to care for their own. So the challenge for Americans like me is to adapt to the Romanian culture and meet folks where they are so we can help build and develop sustainable projects. If we help develop projects that are dependent on us, and aren't ultimately sustainable, we've not helped anyone. One of the nurses at the hospital I work at in DC thought I was crazy to come to Romania as the sole American on this trip. I told her that that was the beauty of RCE..being immersed in the culture and serving alongside some truly wonderful Romanian people.
In the picture you will see Octi (Octavian) who is a man of many talents. He currently serves as a driver for the children of Sunshine School and he takes on lots of other additional duties as needed. Ovi (Ovidiu) is the General Director of RCE and his love is Project Caring-- the arm of RCE that he began with his wife Doina years ago. Project Caring helps meet the many needs of poor individuals and families in Arad County. Ovi, Doina and the Caring team provide food, firewood, medical supplies, farm animals and school supplies in addition to many other things that help poor families stay together and survive the often difficult living conditions in Romania. Vasile helps Ovi and Doina with Project Caring assignments and has become an invaluable member of the RCE team. But perhaps his most significant role is that of father to 4 children he and his wife adopted from state orphanages in Romania. All abandoned by their families for various reasons, but now in a loving home.
One last thing... before I left the US, my Mom let me know she had donated some money to RCE for the purchase of a goat. Her instructions were for me to buy the goat, take it to a poor family, and then take a picture of the goat with the family. She did also give me the option of just taking the picture of the goat alone if that made it easier for me. I sent her the goat pictures below so she could get an idea of what types of goats are available here. I've never purchased a goat before, but I'm sure it will be an adventure..and boy won't it make a poor family happy. Lots of milk and cheese for all! For a preview of the week ahead, see final note below...
Lots more to come as next week gets going... visit to a Romanian prison, celebration of "Mother's Day" (March 8th in RO), lots of physical therapy, ongoing development of RCE policies/procedures, and visits to some new families RCE serves!
Cool goat pics! That's so funny that that was your assignment. I'd be curious to see documentation of the actual goat purchase as well. Goats are for sale in CA, too, but I think they are primarily purchased as a green way to mow lawns (not many residential goat cheese facilities that I'm aware of)! :D
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