Daniel Centre

Three of the young men at the Centre have now been allowed to go back to work; István at the supermarket, who had had pneumonia, tested negative for Covid 19.

Danny, the staff member currently doing his two weeks supervising the young men, expected to be Covid-tested before this present stint but local government did not have the facility to test him.  Balazs or another staff member will take over from Danny on 9th May, but they are concerned about the local lack of necessary testing.

There have been 11,000 confirmed cases of Corona virus and 600 deaths in Romania.

Talita Kum

Schools don’t re-open till September – older children get online classes through Zoom with their teachers but younger children get emails from teachers and parents do most of the actual teaching at home – less satisfactory.

5 Talita Kum’s teachers now offer online support to the children who normally attend Talita Kum.

Planning for Talita Kum 3 & 4 goes on and has now reached the detailed planning stage.

There was little uptake to continue the fortnightly quizzes online, so they have been dropped.

Daniel Centre

The money previously assigned for the refurbishment of the large depot in Cluj has had to be temporarily re-directed to Blythswood in Deephaven to maintain essential services, including the food banks, across a wider spectrum of Blythswood projects which are currently in lockdown.

The Daniel Centre is in complete lockdown which means that all the residents have to be in isolation for 14 days and those young men who have been working will lose their jobs because of this.  Two of the lads have left the Centre for the time being, another would like to leave but this would probably have to be permanent, and seven remain with different members of staff taking turns to spend two weeks in the Centre with the young men.  The cook retires at the end of April but one of the current staffers will take his place.

The Daniel Centre has been delivering care packages to 30 homes, about 100 people, on a regular basis, but that has now to be curtailed to only the two most elderly and vulnerable people.  The Daniel Centre will transfer money regularly to the accounts of the other 28 family units till the crisis is over.

Talita Kum

The lockdown continues and the staff are now on furlough and receiving 75% of their normal salary.

Balazs has had no news of whether their fortnightly quizzes going online has been successful or not.  They may have to stop their care plan for the elderly in the current situation.

Daniel Centre

Plans move forward in the longer term to refurbish Blythswood’s large depot and sell a property in Cluj to generate funds for the Daniel Centre and Talita Kum on a more sustainable basis.

The Centre has sufficient funds to continue for the time being but will no doubt soon be challenged financially with the ongoing spread of Covid-19.

The fact that some of the young men at the Daniel Centre are being sent home from work because of the health crisis will inevitably mean that the normal pressures of spending most of their days at close quarters will be ramped up.

Talita Kum

The Talita Kum houses, like the Romanian schools, will be marking time during the current health crisis.  It will give opportunity, however, to work on projects that cannot so easily be carried out while the houses are in top gear.

Like the Daniel Centre, Talita Kum will continue to face the challenges of reduced funding with the present pressures on their fortnightly English quizzes and the Blythswood shops.

85 deaths have now been reported in the country with almost 2500 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the wake of large numbers of Romanians returning from Italy and Spain because of the lockdowns in those countries.

Daniel Centre

Balazs’s meeting with a retired Christian investment banker for funding to refurbish their large depot went well with a possible commitment to provide about 20% of the required amount.  They also hope to sell a property in Cluj.

The plans are however overshadowed at present by the lockdown occasioned by the corona virus and the effect it is having on all business transactions.

Meanwhile some of the young men at the Daniel Centre are being sent home from work because of the health crisis and may be off work for a considerable period of time.  Florin has not been improving in attitude or performance and has been given two weeks to find alternative accommodation.

The Centre has sufficient funds to continue its work for 2 to 6 months according to the unfolding circumstances.

Talita Kum

All schools in Romania, and with them TK1 and TK2, have been closed although the milder version of the coronavirus is the more prevalent there.  No deaths have been reported in the country but a large number of Romanians returning from Italy and Spain because of the lockdowns in those countries could radically change that.

The fortnightly English quizzes and Blythswood shops which brought in considerable funding for Talita Kum have also been affected though they are looking into the possibility of transferring the quizzes online.

Daniel Centre

Balazs is meeting with a retired Christian investment banker to discuss the funding to refurbish a large depot they have owned for 20 years.  Once funding was in place, it would take them about a year to be up and running and ready for potential renters.

Alix is apprehensive about leaving the Daniel Centre and needs a nudge out of the nest.  Florin has lost his job at Carrefour and has no concern for fire prevention measures – he probably needs to be sent away from the Daniel Centre for a week or two as a wake-up call.  Istvan has been moved to the meat department at Carrefour and is doing well.

 Talita Kum

Adrian Poppa is now in position for a meeting with the authorities to discuss documentation and technical plans for TK3 and TK4.  The EU funding line which was refused in December (because salary projections for staff were too low) is possibly being re-opened by the authorities. 

It is possible that the Talita Kum salaries are set too low and therefore hampering the recruitment of qualified teachers.

A Nokia representative who was at one of their recent quiz nights has offered to supply them with second-hand laptops and perhaps extend this offer to the Blythswood work in Serbia as well.

Daniel Centre

Balazs is hoping to have Blythswood funding to refurbish a large depot they have owned for 20 years.  When this work is complete, they will be able to rent out sections of the refurbished depot to businesses.  This will give them sustainable income for their various Romanian projects.

Gaby is still not back but his younger brother, a regular church attender, should be joining the Daniel Centre towards the end of March.  Alix needs to earn and save enough to be able to get a mortgage for himself before moving out.  His attitude is problematical for the other young men.  Florin has quit his job at Carrefour but Istvan and Ciprian seem to be hanging in there.

Talita Kum

EU funding has now been released for TK3 and TK4 with a second tranche to come. 

A flu epidemic has been raging in Romania and many of the pupils who attend TK1 and TK2 have not been well enough to come.  They are still critically short of teachers.

Fortnightly English quizzes that Talita Kum runs for the public have been doing well and bring in around £500 per time.

Daniel Centre

Balazs has been having negatives and positives with the lads in the Daniel Centre.

On the negative side, Gaby, who had joined the Centre recently, has left in disappointment after verbal conflicts with another resident Alix.  Since Alix has worked well and saved enough money to soon move on, however, Gaby may well return after Alix’s departure.

On the positive side, Florin has been able to hold down a job for the first time and has been excited about stacking shelves at the local supermarket.  István has also been excited about lasting an afternoon at washing dishes in a local restaurant.  He now hopes to join Florin at the supermarket.

Talita Kum

Blythswood Romania have been helping Blythswood Serbia to develop a Christianity Explored course for Serbia and were encouraged by their visit to Talita Kum last month for this reason, and also to see how Talita Kum currently deal with primary school children in the hope that they will be able to develop their similar but embryonic programme in Serbia.

Daniel Centre

 Balazs was not at the Daniel Centre in this week, but down at Talita Kum in Jimbolia.  Two Blythswood partners had come over from Serbia to see what they could learn from Adrian Poppa’s work at Talita Kum, and Balazs was there as part of the discussions. 

 There was nothing new to report from the Daniel Centre this month, but I was able to have some time with the four gentlemen in Jimbolia.

 Talita Kum

The Blythswood partners from Serbia currently deal with a dozen primary school children on a daily basis and were encouraged to see the set-up at Talita Kum.

 Talita Kum 1 has 48 children each day and Talita Kum 2 has 33.  They are still short of teachers and could use 4 new ones immediately as a lot of the homework assistance is on a one-to-one basis with Special Needs children.

 There have been past funding issues with the local government, and though these are being gradually addressed, the delay in new funding being released is having a negative impact on finding new teachers. 

Adrian is confident that lessons have been learned and that EU funding for TK3 and TK4 will be on a more secure basis.  They hope to be working  with 15 students in Talita Kum 3 and 10 students in Talita Kum 4 by December 2021.