Every Person has a Story....

                                                                                                                                           2004


As I gazed at the young girl bending over the crib and smiling at her baby, I struggled with emotions. Yesterday, I had been angry and incredulous that someone could abandon her baby at the hospital where there was so little comfort or concern given. Now as I watched this teenage girl smiling at her baby, I wondered if I had been too harsh.


I continued to watch the girl struggle to feed her baby. She precariously held a spoon of potatoes over her prone baby and attempted to get the food into the baby's mouth without it falling onto the bed or choking the baby. She was trying... but had no idea how to care for her little blessing. I tentatively walked over to her, braving the stench that rose from her body and offered her a smile. I asked if  I could feed another baby with her and set about modeling to her how I fed my baby. She watched me carefully as I propped my baby up and fed her with the spoon. She smiled and copied me. I chatted to her with my limited Romanian and she did so with hers.


 I remember showing her how to clean her baby up after feeding and changing his diaper. She smiled appreciatively for the tips and for the courtesy that I was extending to a gypsy- something that rarely happens in the country. We forged a bond that day and when I explained to her later that the only reason her baby had diapers, wipes and cereal was because my ministry was providing it, concern rose in her eyes! You see, she thought that her baby would be better cared for in a state run, Romanian hospital than in her village. Sometimes that is true, but in this case, it was not. This young teenage girl made an adult decision and took her baby home that day.


And I learned something that day, as well. Every person has a story and it shapes their decisions. Sometimes those decisions are based out of selfishness, but sometimes they aren't. It might not look smart, loving or selfless to us outsiders, but not knowing the story we cannot not judge. When a woman leaves her child at the maternity hospital hours after birth it could just be that there is a physically and sexually abusive husband at home and she desperately wants to keep this baby safe. And when she makes this decision, it becomes our responsibility to care for that baby and love on her and keep her safe.


Thank-you for the part you have in that in supporting this Ministry!


~from the Heart~ Mona

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Blessings to you All!

  I want to thank you all for your support this past year! It has been a great year for Project Hope for the Children and we have so many things to be thankful for! Just a quick recap of the year:

   Alina has continued to work for our ministry and is such a valuable asset! She has had so many wonderful sponsors pay her salary and she wants everyone to know how grateful she is! She has persevered through physical ailments and the hardships of losing several of our babies to heaven this year so your support is so encouraging to her!

   Donations were generous this year and we were able to not only collaborate with our usual foundations in the hospital and buy our regular supplies, but we also purchased $2,000 worth of medicine and diapers for two additional foundations! My heart was so Blessed to be able to do this!

   The whole Cummings family traveled to Romania this year and it is so special for me to hear my four year olds talk about the babies in the hospital and how much help they need! "Train them up in the way they shall go and when they are old they shall not depart from it...."

   We have completed the renovations of our supply room in the Plugar's basement! Ali and I are so pleased with the finished result and so humbled by the willingness of people here and there to help us!

   This blog site is doing well and spreading the word about PHFTC and our Face Book page is gaining more followers. Still trying to tweak the new Mail Chimp updates. We have chosen four lovely individuals to start our Board next month and I can't wait to get started and see what Next Year brings! We have also been Blessed with people spreading the word about the Ministry and I have spoken at several new places this year. Keep up the good work!

Enjoy this Season and remember the God who blesses us so much!

Mona

 

Suffering

Hello Everyone!

  Every now and again I run across an article or such that depicts what children have and do suffer. The one that I watched last night is one that needs to be shared! It is approximately 60 minutes and I do not expect you all to sit for that long; however, please follow the link at the bottom of the page and just watch for 5 or 10 minutes. Make sure you start at the beginning!

What you see is very graphic, but it is all to common. It is why I have this passion for Romani and for the children that we serve. It is why Project Hope for the Children is such a vital mission to these children that have no hope! What you will see are glimpses into what thousands of Romanian children have suffered and a small degree of things I have personally witnessed.

At this Christmas time, please remember how blessed we are and think how you can change someone else's life for the better!

In His Love,

Mona
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyCmwlQcAuo

An Update

Hello Everyone!

    I hoped you all enjoyed Jack's perspective on his trip to Romania. Even though it was his second trip over, it is still so interesting for me to hear his point of views of my "home"! I have a few things occurring within the Ministry that I wanted to fill you in on.

    We have received four very special applications for PHFTC's Board! Our treasurer and I reviewed them the other day and were delighted in all of them. They each bring something very special with them and we will be contacting their references soon! Our target date is to meet after the Holidays! Also, please pray for the finance committee at my church; they are undergoing some changes with the new year and we will be getting a new treasurer to oversee PHFTC. So there will be some challenges in that area as well!

   A unique event coming up is the Fabius-Pompey Holiday Bazaar that is being held on November 23rd from 10-2pm at the Fabius Community Center. This Bazaar highlights local non-profits and I am so excited to be a part of it this year. If you are looking for a beautiful Christmas wreath or swag come on down! Wreathmania is a business that a friend started to fund Project Hope for the Children! All profits go to the ministry! I will also have bead necklaces for sale to profit the ministry! If anyone has something that you would like to donate for us to sell at this fundraiser please contact me:)

  Lastly, our renovations are still coming along! Painfully slow for this New Yorker, but it looks like it is being done well! We have hit a snag with our floor to ceiling shelves! It is very difficult to find real wood in Romania, but I believe thanks to the help of some friends that we have found a place that sells rough cut lumber. I am hoping we can get them sanded and painted and the price will not break the bank!

Also, if you are a facebook friend remember to like our page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Hope-for-the-Children

Many Blessings to you All,

Mona

  

Renovations Part 3

SO the renovations are coming along a little slower than we hoped, but it is due to the dampness. WE want everything dried completely before continuing onto the next step and in a basement that is difficult. Here are some recent pictures of the flooring:)

A Man's Perspective

This is my husband's guest post about our recent trip to Romania. As writing is not his thing, I am so appreciative of his effort!

What I did on my mission trip to Oradea, Romania.

Our trip started by driving to JFK airport in NYC. After leaving 1/2 hour late, sitting one hour in a traffic jam before we got to NYC, and making a wrong turn just before the extended stay parking area, we were then dropped off at the wrong terminal at the airport. We then had to get on the train that was across the two lane highway and go back 1/4 mile to the correct terminal. 4 checked bags = 180 lbs. & 5 carryon's = 120 lbs. Happy Day!  We did all this with two 4 year olds that could barely carry their carry on and push their own strollers. We missed our flight and ended up spending the night there :(  So I can't just blame it on TOO MUCH luggage!  $338 each x4 to get back on track the following day :(  Talk about being a nervous wreck!  A 7 hour flight from JFK to Frankfort, Germany, a 2 hour flight to Budapest, Hungry, and then a 4 hour transport to Oradea, Romania finally got us where we needed to be.

 

 The first day there our family visited the hospital where Ramona’s ministry, Project Hope for the Children has been working for ten years now. Ramona supplies diapers, wipes, cereal, hygiene products, vitamins and toys for the hospital’s social babies that are warehoused in the hospital until they are placed in foster care, an orphanage or are returned home. The doctors and nurses were great and loved seeing Ramona and all of her caring supplies. Our kids loved visiting the babies and wanted to help.

                                               

 

The biggest reason that these babies are abandoned has been because of their Roma Gypsy origin. The parents just drop them off at the hospital and many times never come back for them. Because they're Gypsy no one local wants to adopt a child of this culture. The government has closed international adoptions stating to the other countries that they don't have a problem with abandoned children:( The hospital asks us not to take any pictures of the kids in their care, so you will not see any of these. We did, however, take a few photos at the other two foundations that we visited. You will see us delivering diapers at a Gypsy village and some locals transporting goods.

 

 

 

 

While Ramona was working and shopping for the babies, I daily drove out to the village of  Sant Andre about 8 Kilometers out of town and worked for the foundation, Children in the Son. This ministry has a home called Acasa Agape (House of Love). This houses several Gypsy boys during the school year. As the boys are from remote villages that don't have higher grade levels, this allows them to further their education by going to a high school and making more of themselves and their community. It has proven to be a great asset to the region. We hope it remains open because the mayor, that donated the property, is now trying to take it back because the property value has increased.

 

Children in the Son allowed me to use their van to commute and carry supplies. That was interesting, driving in a country that speaks a different language :(  Some of the things I accomplished while there was staining the large outdoor table and benches, scrapping the lawn mower (blown main bearings) and fixing the weed whacker so I could mow the lawn. I also stripped and painted 3 "very" large yard planters, repaired some walls in the house and put up some cork board panels for the boys to hang pictures on.

 

I was especially taken by two other foundations we visited one day.  One is fostering and placing children from the hospitals into group and foster homes. This foundation, Romanian Relief, also runs a free medical clinic. The other is trying to educate the new parents (very young Gypsy parents) how to break the negative cycle that they have learned from their culture.  This foundation is Forget Me Not Ministries and they provide a daycare, work projects and aid to one of the largest Roma villages in the county (about 3000 people in one quarter of a square mile). This is where we visited the Gypsy village and saw where many of the hospital babies come from. Ramona was excited because Project Hope for the Children was able to partner with these foundations and purchase $2,000 worth of supplies for them.

 

Can you say tram? Andrew can! Morning, noon or in the middle of the night; every time one goes by the apartment window he tells us and what color it is. The children spent their time at the babysitter’s and enjoyed meeting old and new friends! They did very well during our time there and were great sports with our different routines!

 

 

On the way home, we again traveled 4 hours by car to Budapest where we spent a whole day touring the city that is all about the Danube River. Awesome! The next day we flew on to Zurich, Switzerland then back to NYC.  Andrew and Katie our two four year olds did very well! Or as well as a 4 year old can do on a plane for 8 hours!! (Picture two of us in the airplane bathroom and Andrew calling the stewardess every time he found a button. Yes! He is a button pusher:) All in all it was a great trip!

 

*FYI Gas was $6 a gallon and they only sold 95 octane, 90% of the vehicles are diesel and all are standard transmission.

 

 

May God Bless the children!

   Jack

 

Renovations part 2

The reno is coming along wonderfully! Here are some more pictures! The electric will be worked on next then the tiles and paint. Can anyone guess what colors I picked???