ROMANIA – 20 YEARS ON

Echo readers will recall our connection with Romania through David's work, in articles published over the years relating our travels and support for Romanian people following the Revolution of 1989. We have written about our Romanian colleague Nicolae Muica who continued the mission despite our retirement from driving the long distance from Leicester to the Patârlagele Villages.

We were considerably saddened in August 2008 by the news that Nicolae had died as he arrived back at Bucharest's main train station from a visit to his beloved countryside.

At Easter, at the age of 85, Nicolae had made the long journey from Bucharest to Patârlagele. With funds from the UK he purchased a water heater for the hospital, visited the village of Valea Sibiciului and offered money to priest Gheorghe Geanta to provide benefits for the poor at the Easter season.

We had not expected to make another visit to Romania at Easter 2009. But David had received an invitation to visit the University A.I Cuza at Iasi, the Moldavian capital of North Eastern Romania.

A stop over at Bucharest Airport brought memories flooding back of landing there, a year before the Revolution, to be greeted by soldiers, rifles at the ready!

But in 2009 all was peaceful.

It was dark by the time the Iasi flight left Bucharest and we flew low over the mountains, lights twinkling in the villages below.

We were invited to make a visit to the famous monasteries of Bucovia, world renowned for their exterior frescoes depicting Bible stories, which remain vibrant since they were painted in the 15th and 16th Centuries.

We have been able to retain some contact with Gheorghe Geanta by sending money via Western Union. We greatly miss the help of Nicolae who made many journeys on foot to outlying villages to assess need.

Marion Turnock – 2010