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Report from Georgi Opreanu,
Director of Elderly Care |
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If you
want to be happy yourself…make another person happy!
 Sweet
November is gone…and I can’t really believe it. I asked myself a few
times where November went…it happened so quickly that I felt I lost a
month. But then I remembered, I didn’t lose it, in fact I lived every
minute of it…going to see new cases, meeting new people, celebrating
birthdays, employing new staff, having meetings after meetings, making
hospital visits, making plans for December and many other things.
November is not lost because of so many good things that happened
during this month. We went to see 12 new cases and 6 elderly are now
already residents of ECO and 4 more will come this week. We also had
inspections from 2 different departments: ‘Public Health’ and ‘Food
Health and Safety’ both of them went well and we are now full
authorised. We praise the Lord for this, because those inspections
can be very difficult at times.
We celebrated the
birthdays of Floare
(86 years),
Virgil (78
years) and Francisc
(84 years) and all those celebrations were
special because some didn’t expect us to remember their birthday, let
alone giving them a cake.
We are blessed to
have pastor Vasile from Tileagd coming every Thursday for
special times spent with the elderly and more and more are interested
in coming to study the Bible and have fellowship together.
In Salonta we
celebrate this month the birthdays of two
Maria’s
- 79 and 85 years. They are already use d
to the cakes because they had it before, but for next year we plan to
give them also a gift, will be photo album with their pictures in the
centre.
We planned the
second edition of the Christmas concert in JFL which will be on
December 12th. Last year was a great joy for everyone and I
hope and pray that the one this year will bring joy in the life of the
elderly.
Also in Salonta
we had another lady that has given her heart to Jesus.
On December 7th will be
the baptism in the local church. In my next report you will be able to
read her story. We are so blessed to be able to spread the truth of
the Gospel and God is indeed working in wonderful ways.
One special thing
that I want to announce this month is that finally we have a name for
the Elderly Care Home in Salonta.
I was trying to find a name for the centre before it was even open. I
even did a contest in the office challenging my colleagues to find a
name that I will think is suitable for the centre. No success was made
for a year. In October, at the opening of the Oradea Centre, I was
listening to Kevin say a few words about his mother and as I started
to think about her and how she was all the years I knew her - I
realized what a wonderful lady she was and really wanted the centre to
be named after her. She was a joyful and optimistic lady, this is how
I would like all the elderly residents to be in the days they have and
she worked hard for others to make sure all the needs of the ones
around her were taken care of…this is how my staff and I would like to
be, never getting tired to help those in need.
 When I
proposed the name to Kevin, he didn’t really want it but for us, will
be an honour to name our centre after such an inspiring lady. Thank
you Sefu (Kevin) for accepting our proposal and now we are able to
call Phase I of the JFL – The Doris
Elderly Care Home!
As I was saying
earlier, I met new cases and new people this month, but one was from
far the most disturbing case I’ve seen. I have been working for the
Smiles Foundation since 2005 and I seen so many things and so many
problems, but this one touched my heart in a special way.
It was a gentleman that is 73 years
old. We
were called by a doctor friend of his. We went to see him at his one
room apartment in Oradea. He was lying on the floor on matr esses
and all around him were bottles of water, food (some that for sure
wasn’t edible any more), medicine, a phone and a radio. He couldn’t
walk anymore because of some severe
health problems, so he was left there alone for most of the day.
A lady was coming
to clean him and the place, but I think she was coming just to collect
the money, because no cleaning had been done there for weeks. Another
foundation was bringing food every other day, but nobody took the
recipient anything on the other day…so the room started to smell of
bad food and a dirty home.
We couldn’t believe the condition
that he was living for 2 months and the neighbours or family didn’t do
anything for him. He worked for 27 years as a biochemist in a
hospital, suffered a divorce a few years ago when his mother needed
care and his wife wasn’t too pleased having him going to care for her.
He has a son that is not very close to him who comes and goes all the
time, so not very reliable.
When I left the
house that day, I promised him that I will come back and take him
to
a clean place, a better place…he didn’t believe me, because others
promised him that, but didn’t keep their word.
We called the
social services to come and assist us with the case, then the
ambulance to transport him to our centre. When the people from the
ambulance took him from the floor a smell hit me and I could not stay
in the room any more. After they took him out, I entered again in the
room to take some of his belongings and then I saw the floor was
bulging from urine rot. I can’t describe the feelings that I had in
those moments - anger, frustration, pity, but also joy…joy because I
work for a foundation that can make a difference in somebody’s
life…Joy because I don’t need to leave the house not knowing where to
find help for him…joy because I could see with my own eyes another
destiny changed…joy because I can tell him that Jesus is the one that
send us to help and he needs to thank Him for everything that he will
receive from now on.
When the ambulance
arrived at the centre and saw it so clean and beautiful they asked me
if for sure he will be taken in, or somebody will come see him and
send him back home. I assured them that it is ok and he will be able
to stay and spend the rest of his life with dignity.
They couldn’t believe we will take him in and
Mr. Tiberiu couldn’t believe that I kept my promise.
What was hard for
me to believe was the indifference of his family and his
neighbours…nobody should live or die alone and in those conditions. A
few days ago I went
 to
visit him and I asked him how he feels. His words were
"here is like in heaven…but I don’t know for
how long this heaven will last." When
he lost hope in peoples promises it’s hard for him to regain trust…but
this is our challenge now: to re-gain his trust in human beings!
This is not an easy
case, comes with a lot of challenges and problems…but we are not here
for an easy job, we are here to change the world…maybe not the whole
world but we definitely changed Mr. Tiberiu’s world in a way that he
never believed would be possible.
This month I
have a challenge for you: to give a
present for a person that will not get a present this Christmas from
their family…and I know quite a few, so I want us to be their family
this year.
 My
challenge for you is to allocate some money from your budget for those
whose dear ones forgot them. In our two elderly care homes are living
people that were never visited by a close member of their family. It
is Christmas for them too and my purpose this year is to make them
feel the joy of having a bigger family than they know. For all of the
elderly that are in the centre I want to make December 25th
a special day. The greatest gift of all is Jesus, and I want them to
feel His love through the gifts that they will receive from us.
All of them will have a gift under the
Christmas tree and I ask - Will one be from you?
If there are there
people that take my challenge this is the plan:
- Sponsor a gift for an elderly with £5, £10
or £20 (or more if you like)
- If your sponsorship is of £10 you can pick
one item that you want the gift to contain, if your sponsorship is
£20 you can chose 2 items.
- Write a few words of encouragement for the
person that will receive the gift from you and I will make sure it
will be translated for them and receive it together with the gift.
- Send the money to the Leeds office or
Smiles bank account with message "Christmas Challenge"
and then an e-mail to
info@thesmilesfoundation.org and
georgeta.opreanu@thesmilesfoundation.org
with the amount you sponsor, the items you want to be presented in
the gift and the encouraging message by December 15 and I will make
sure they will receive the gift on Christmas Day.
- May God bless your gift!
With my sincere
thanks
Georgi
Georgi Opreanu
Director of Elderly Care
georgi@thesmilesfoundation.org
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Prayer
points :
- For God to prepare the new residents that
will c
ome in the centre and experience the
love of God thru the care we provide;
- For staff to have a loving and caring
heart for those in need;
- For the residents to feel is a special
time of year and not to miss too much their family;
- For Mr. Tiberiu to personally know the
love of the Lord;
- For "enough" people to take the Christmas
Challenge so everyone can receive a present for Christmas. We
currently have 47 residents and growing.
- For health and well-being for residents
and staff;
- For all Smiles staff be able to show Gods
love so others will get to know HIM
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Previous Reports
from Georgi:
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