WHAT ARE WE DOING?

The restoration work at Ärkamine safe- and servicehome in Estonia continues. Lazarus Human Aid continues to support families in crisis in Estonia, among other things, by enrolling sponsoring families that give monthly subsidies directly to the family or individual in question. Ärkamine provides help with food, personal social counseling, children's daycare, kindergarten, adult therapy, Sunday school, church services, concerts and song evenings etc. Ärkamine also provides temporary shelter for women and children who are victims of domestic violence. Ärkamine is actively working to get children off the streets and away from criminal gangs, and to engage them in humanitarian and cultural activities. It should be noted that Ärkamine does not receive help from neither state nor municipality.

The project Future for the Romanies of Romania continues. This is a pilot project whose long-run goal is to give the Romanies of Romania the opportunities required to help them build themselves a humanly dignified future in their own country - to attend school, get a profession, a job, be able to participate in the political life, develop their own and the country's culture, and to decide about their own lives as equal citizens.

In addition to building housing, the association wants to build a school (in Haranglab) this year. Since the illiteracy rate among the Romanies is around 84%, education is of the highest priority. The association is exploring different solutions towards involving the Romanies, helping them support themselves. Generations of unemployment and persecution have left a huge gap in knowledge. Everything must be relearned from the start. Among other things, we try to teach them how to cultivate various plants, rear hens and pigs etc. A tractor that has been donated to the association will soon be delivered to the villages around Tirgu Mures. The association has its own instructor (Mauri Ojala) on-site, who teaches the different professions: engineering, farming, workshop techniques, animal rearing etc. This year the association aims at building 10 new houses for roughly 20 families, mainly in Haranglab. Like in Cipau, the construction work will be a step in the vocational training. A new dental clinic will be established in the city of Iernut to serve the Romanies, who in general are not welcome at the public dentist receptions.

Why are we putting so much emphasis on building housing? A normal house among the Romanies of Romania consists of a shed erected using cornstalks, sticks, grass and mud. The house is built straight on the ground with the earth serving as the floor. It is not uncommon for the whole house to crumble in the late winter-early spring when the thaw sets in. The house is generally about 3.5 m x 3.5 m large. The floor space is thus roughly 10 square meters, into which two families are commonly crammed. Most families seldom have fewer than 6 members, but often 10. A big problem is the big rats, which enter by digging through the earth floors. The children often sleep so deeply that they don't immediately wake up when the rats start to bite their ears, toes or fingers. From a health perspective, it is very important to get dry and warm homes to counteract all the diseases now so common everywhere due to the inability to uphold personal hygiene in the damp and crowded sheds. Disease of all kinds prevail. The most common cause of death is tuberculosis. All forms of hepatitis, HIV and leprosy are also common. The mean age is around 40 years, which says quite a lot about their social conditions. With your help we can accomplish a lot.