All in a day.

Earlier this mornng we went with Daniel to Tarlengeni, which is about three miles from Sacele and the Ziurel Centre where we are staying. We were greeted in the village by a few children and Peter who works for FAST as part of the Better Homes Team. He is a Roma, and along with his family live in one of the new houses. We were invited in to see his house and then we wandered past several very simple and quite crude dwellngs. It was noticeable how quiet we three were as we took in what we are seeing. It is hard to describe the very basic nature of these houses and to think that even though some were living in new houses, still families of seven and ten children all in one small space.

Some of the children came to talk to us and we managed a few simple greetings and a smile!!

It looks like our first job on Monday is to help finish some staircases, with handrails etc, in recently built homes even though the families have moved in. Dad and I are trying to contemplate how we go about actually turning up and trying to work around a family already there. I guess we presumed these houses might have been unoccupied. Later in the week, there is more to do in the way of construction but suffice to say that today we came face to face with a completely different culture, and poverty in way that we don't ordinarily see.

By contrast this afternoon, because FAST Charity workers tend to have the weekend off, we went into the local city of Brasov for a few hours. There the Square was crowded with people enjoying the very warm sunny weather. Dad and Steve went up the cable car on the nearby mountain, leaving me to wander round and snooze on a bench in the sun. You cannot really believe that the Roma village and the crowded city are probably only seven miles apart. 

We have just had a good meal and now relaxing before a hopefully a good nights sleep!!