Daniel Centre

Hungary’s Africa Fair has been interesting but not greatly productive for Blythswood’s Kenyan NGO.

Development work still drag on slowly at the Depot.

The lads at the Centre should prepare their own food once they have found work, some three of them have not been looking for work and still expecting the Centre to provide food for them.  They have not been taking this well.

8 adult Ukrainian refugees and 5 children have now taken up the offer of the apartment behind the Centre and have even offered to help out at the Centre but Balazs and their night supervisor Sergiu had asked the three Centre boys who are not working to help get the apartment ready for the refuges and the lads were very rude and unwelcoming to the Ukrainians who fortunately could not understand the insults being made in the Romanian language.

Three new candidates for the Centre have now been interviewed, but all of them from the same Gherla orphanage where the three recalcitrants also came from – where they spent most of their time on the TV and computer games.  Much prayer is now needed in those areas.

 Talita Kum

The December deadline has now passed for getting an EU grant in time to build TK3 and TK4 and so the project will have to be abandoned.

The taxes levied on Talita Kum last year have been repeated this year.  Adi has now regrouped the Talita Kum 1 children into Talita Kum 2 to save on energy prices which have now doubled with the present crisis.

Daniel Centre

Balazs and the Hungarian volunteer were able to accomplish all that they had set out to do in Kenya – the volunteer helping set up chicken and fish farms, and Balazs getting the building projects underway and counselling the 6 recipients of Hungarian scholarships for further education.  They now await planning permission for the school extensions.  Balazs and Louisa leave for Hungary’s Africa Fair today and return on Sunday evening with potential chaos at the border because of the Ukrainian crisis.

3 of the Centre lads have had varying degrees of suicidal thinking, Soreen being the most serious.  Istvan has left the Centre against their advice to spend a week with friends who have young children and has been warned that he will now no longer be allowed back to the Centre.

The Centre are offering the apartment behind it to Ukrainian refugees but most refugees are staying close to the Ukrainian border in hope of a return home or are heading through Romania to the West.  Agnes has herniated discs in her neck and they are considering both Romania and Hungarian options for treatment or surgery.

Talita Kum

The December deadline for getting an EU grant for building TK3 and TK4 is fast approaching and there is a serious likelihood now that the project will have to be abandoned.

Daniel Centre

Balazs and family have come down with Covid when he was due to leave on 15th for Kenya to start the building programme that they had received funds for from the Hungarian government and also from a Romanian donor.   He was due to have a PCR test on Sunday 13th, get the results on Monday 14th and fly out if tested negative.  A volunteer was scheduled to fly out with him to set up a Tilapia fish farm to help the school there to self-finance in future.

All the lads at the Daniel Centre are now back at their jobs after having had to self-isolate for Covid.

There have been no other significant developments at the Daniel Centre since the last update.

Talita Kum

There is nothing new to report on Talita Kum for the time being.

Daniel Centre

Balazs was delighted that the Hungarian government have granted €65,000 for the school in Kenya plus €6,600 for university grants (to be managed by an NGO in Nigeria to make sure it goes to needy Kenyans) and that, together with a pledge from a Romanian businessman, will be sufficient to build 4 more classrooms and 6 teachers’ houses.  Louisa will represent Blythswood at a Hungary in Africa Fair in March.

There has been no further development at the Depot.

 Julian has contracted Covid and the other lads lose their salaries as the Council is very slow in issuing certificates that would allow them to isolate at home instead of going to work.  Danny, the counsellor, also has flu symptoms at present.

There has been trauma where one of the lads accused another of sexually abusing him but the police have been very understanding about it.

Balazs’ visit to Scotland has now been delayed till late May but we hope to have him speak to us in Castle Street by Zoom in early March.  Agnes is scheduled for a back consultation on 7th February.

Talita Kum

Life in TK1 and TK2 goes on normally.  Adi is waiting for the Italian owners of the spare ground behind TK2 to visit Jimboliya to see if they can buy some of the land for a play area for the children and perhaps a football pitch.

Daniel Centre

Still waiting on news of any Hungarian government grant for the school in Kenya.  Louisa, in her 20s, already having a very positive impact on the residents of the Daniel Centre and forming a very good team with Danny – good interaction with Alix and Daniel in particular.

Development at the Depot goes on, 3 of the 5 buildings there are already spoken for, one is possibly spoken for by a neighbouring business and the 5th is the slow remodelling.  The local church has decided against taking the premises behind the Daniel Centre, about 2.5 km. from the depot site.

Cipri waits the results of a very exhaustive testing.  The lads find it hard to believe they are not being ripped off when the Centre asks them to contribute more from their earnings to the Centre because of escalating energy costs.

Romeo, very stable at work, would like to move out but doesn’t earn enough yet.  Daniel is in the same situation, has given up school for the time being and hopes to resume next year.  Soreen is coming back to the Centre once again.  Alix, the recent arrival, has a drug problem and will have to leave because of this.  The other Alix who had moved out to rent and Istvan are both doing well.

Talita Kum

Adi’s second-hand clothing shop is having to move to make way for various clubs but the Council has increased their support for Talita Kum to almost compensate for the loss.  Adi still hopes to have some of the spare ground behind TK2 for a play area for the children and perhaps a football pitch.

Daniel Centre

Balazs is back from a very successful trip to Kenya.  Balazs is now applying to the Hungarian government for a significant grant towards the development of the school there.  Louisa, one of the volunteers there, is now full-time at the Daniel Centre as a counsellor. 

Development at the Depot goes on, but very slowly.  There is the possibility of a local church moving into the spare ground behind the Daniel Centre which could be a great encouragement to some of the residents.

Cipri’s problems have now been possibly diagnosed as physical rather than psychological but there have been no other significant changes among the young men at the Centre but plenty activity with the arrival of this year’s shoeboxes to deal with.

Talita Kum

Adi continues to experience less sympathy and help from the new local council in Jimboliya and they have currently not renewed his contract for the building that houses his second-hand clothing shop.

There is no movement on the EU funding for TK3 and TK4.

Daniel Centre

No news this month as Balazs is in Kenya for the month of November, working on their Kenya project. 

Talita Kum

No news this month as Balazs is in Kenya for the month of November, working on their Kenya project.

Daniel Centre

No news this month as Balazs is in Kenya for the month of November, working on their Kenya project. 

 

Daniel Centre

No news this month as Balazs is in Kenya for the month of November, working on their Kenya project.

Daniel Centre

Work on the depot continues to progress slowly.  The Romanian Covid situation is now the worst in the world.

Balazs leaves for Kenya for a month on October 24th.  Samuel, director of the Kenyan school 8 hours’ drive west of Nairobi, is making progress with physiotherapy.  Balazs will be involved in tree-planting and irrigation while there.  A Catholic businessman in Cluj has now given a €20,000 donation towards building 3 new classrooms and teacher accommodation for the Kenya project.

The Kenya volunteer, Louisa, just resigned from her social services work, has now agreed to be an assistant to Balazs and Dani at the Daniel Centre.  Julian does not have Aids.  A big challenge for the young men is having opportunities to find a stable life partner.

Alex has found a place to rent, Cipri is looking for an office job, and Damian has left the Centre rather than give up his dog which was becoming a major problem there. 

Talita Kum

The students are back at school and into their usual routine at Talita Kum.  Adi has applied for an extension on the answer to their application for EU funding for Talita Kum 3 and Talita Kum 4.  The staffing situation is stable at the moment.

The looming crisis for both the Daniel Centre and Talita Kum is the imminent rise in energy prices which could radically impact the budget of both projects.