It's been a long Winter

It's still winter here in Arad, though usually by now we are enjoying pleasant warm sunny days, today as I look out of my window there is snow everywhere. For street children and other homeless or semi homeless people, of course Winter is by far the worst time of year. In Spring, Summer and Autumn, the weather is mainly dry, very hot in Summer and extremely pleasant in Spring and Autumn and here in Arad, on the western plains of Romania, winter is short, usually over by the beginning of March. We have also had more rain than average this winter and it is the rain even more than snow which makes life difficult for homeless people. Imagine you are living in a home made hut or a deserted railway waggon or a derelict building ... how do you dry your clothes if you get soaked in the rain? (Note the wee boy's shoes ... a good few sizes too big!)

 At the "Secret Garden" day centre we are as always busy, with many needy children, young people and families using our facilities.In the mornings we have on average between 20-30 people and in the afternoons around 12-20 street children and youth - both programmes finish with a simple but nourishing hot meal.

In recent weeks we have seen a number of new children appearing on the street of the city, coming in from villages around Arad where there are few or no jobs and out of desperation children come into town to beg until they make enough money to buy food for the family. The main problem with this is that children gradually get used to being on the streets and spend more and more time begging and hanging around and in time eventually make the move from "part time" to "full time" street child. We try to befriend such children, spending time with them and when we have established a measure of trust, encouraging them to come to the day centre. Prevention is so much better than cure, particularly in the case of street children - once they have become accustomed to life on the streets it is incredibly difficult to help them to be re-integrated into society.