Semi-annual report of 2009

Summer is just around the corner, and many are already traveling or will soon start their vacations. So it is time to inform you again about the latest from Transcarpathia, our relief projects from the past half-year as well as ongoing projects.

Relief Transports

We were able to dispatch four transports of various sizes in the first half-year. One special note should mention an entire truckload of adult diapers and various articles to care for babies. A relief organization from the German state of Hesse, which unfortunately had to go out of business, offered us its remaining donations to finance a relief transport of suffering people in Transcarpathia. Friends of this organization then arranged the delivery of this aid directly from the manufacturer of the products in Poland. This happened a few weeks ago. Our partners in Transcarpathia were overjoyed about this. It was especially a very valuable help to many sick and bedridden people in a large number of villages.

Projects and Support Efforts

We have already reported about "our" József several times. Since his support will be more long-term, we at the board have decided to make a special project of him. Flyers have been passed out in the last few days and may be requested from the organization in the future. In early May we were able to meet József at home immediately after his return from another treatment session in Truskavec. The doctors there are very satisfied with his positive development. He can go up to 25 steps on his own, he is slowly becoming more steady at running, and he is thrilled. He has grown another 3 centimeters, which is reason for optimism, because it means his muscles are growing along with his enthusiasm.
His next trip to the sanatorium in Truskavec is to be in August, since József will attend the local school in September. He is looking forward to that as well. Conditions for this are very good, there will probably be only seven or eight children in the class, including both his cousin and another child from his neighborhood. His godmother will be his first teacher. A handicapped child in a "normal" school in Transcarpathia—that will surely be a bit of a sensation! We are all thrilled about this.
Donations for his further treatment are requested to be sent to our bank account with the keyword: Josef.

Last December an accident occurred in the parsonage in Uzhorod/Ungvár. The roof of the basement collapsed and the living quarters of the pastor above it fell through the rubble. That was the area where meals were cooked for the poor several times a week. It is suspected that broken water pipes in the walkway in front of the house caused water to seep into the foundation and made them unstable. A few days prior, there was a warning of the accident when cracks appeared in the wall. Overnight the pastor evacuated most of his home before everything collapsed the following morning. It was a miracle that not one person was injured. Since the parish had done a renovation to the church in the past year, its financial resources were too exhausted to cover the repairs to the parsonage. We are participating with other donors in the costs of reconstruction.

In May we got to know a young man in Beregszász/Berehovo, who had found himself living "on the street" since childhood due to various family circumstances. About two years ago he came in contact with the people in charge at KRISZ-Pont, the youth outreach of the Reformed Church's young people's association. Since that time he not only attends the events that take place there regularly, but he lives in "normal" conditions and is free from the abuse of alcohol and cleaning solvent. His forgetfulness, which causes problems for him today, is indeed attributable to the detrimental effects this had on his brain. Unfortunately there is not a lot of help for him available, but a young female doctor "prescribed" a vitamin B medication for him, which we arranged to be filled in a local pharmacy.

Collapsed parsonage in Uzhorod/Ungvár Fire department in Dercen

The fact that Transcarpathia has a lot of "peculiaraties" is something we often encounter. We finally had an opportunity to get to know the "reformed fire department", a volunteer firefighters association from the parish in Dercen. We were astonished to see the state of their equipment, training and preparedness under the most basic conditions. They make use of a 23-year-old Csepel-brand firetruck, donated from Hungary. Nearly all of their other equipment is likewise objects donated from Hungary or Holland. To transport their firefighting personnel there is also a mini-bus. The alarm system works by means of their own cell phone emergency phone number, the men are alerted by pager. Their equipment includes tools to cut open cars involved in an accident. They regularly have training sessions in all areas including first aid by experts from Hungary. The "reformed fire department" of Dercen is the only volunteer fire department in all of Transcarpathia. Elsewhere there are only professional fire fighters. But with regard to their equipment, preparedness, motivation and promptness, these are not even close to Dercen by comparison. Besides this, the closest fire department to Dercen is 25 km away.
Csonkapapi, the parish where Péter Szeghljánik has been pastor since last fall, is likewise planning to set up a volunteer fire department. In case you might have any contacts in the area of firefighting, please let us know. If you know of any used firefighting equipment in good condition that might be sent over there, tell us, and we will determine if it may be possible or sensible to ship it to Transcarpathia.

Evi Lemberger, a young photographer from the Bavarian Forest, following her training and studies in England, and job assignments with various newspapers, has developed a project in Transcarpathia. During her four-week stay in various localities, with our assistance she put together a collection of photos, about 1500 in all, showing many impressions of the area. She is currently involved in organizing and classifying these pictures. A sampling of them is to be shown at an exhibit here in Germany's Vogtland region. We will let you know of the time and place where it can be viewed.

While preparations are under way at the moment for this year's Christmas Parcel Drive, I can tell you now about a special donation for this. After publicizing the Christmas Drive last November in the City Gallery of Plauen, the center manager Mr. Danne promised us the revenue of their in-house giftwrap service during advent as a donation for our Christmas drive. The donation was made this past spring. We are most grateful for this!

For now we send our sincere best wishes from Lengenfeld and wish you a pleasant and refreshing summer. May God bless you!