Dear friends of Rumania,
My heart aches because I will not be able to travel to Rumania this fall. But my wife’s wellbeing is a thousand times more important. She had to suffer two operations at her heart that were complicated and took place in a very quick succession. She becomes stronger slowly, very slowly. I would love to be her a good support.

 

 

In order to shelter the entrance from rain a canopy was built.

At the moment the management runs smoothly and we are very grateful for that. Grateful again that we have been spared of further conditions that are difficult to understand sometimes.

Birthday parties and gymnastics are highlights here just as well as sitting together talking – there is no end to a Rumanian’s stories.

Naomi	Ana	Alexandra	Magda	Melanie	Izabela

 Naomi is new at our house. She is part of the family with “countless” daughters. Ana S. is one of her sisters. She goes to university and wants to become a nurse.
The other four girls grew up in a village called Copacheni, round about 130 km north from Sibiu. This region offers only very few opportunities to study or any other education or trainings. There are a number of cities in Rumania that are extremely appealing at the moment and Sibiu is one of them. All of the girls are good at school and want to use this chance being offered to them. Their families are very poor. A lot of people in this area go abroad for a few month per year to earn more money. Education or even university is very expensive for them. Their parents cannot afford it. The help we offer does not help right now but hopefully they will have much better chances in the future.
Alexander (I told you a lot about his wedding in my last letter) helped us in Selimbar for a while. Now we were able to get him a job in a bakery. His wife Kasandra is expecting a child. We support them with clothes and other important things.

Warmest regards Ehrhart Weider

Everyone might have his or her own opinion and point of view. To me it is very important that we respect each other instead of fighting each other.
A surprising outcome in my opinion:
Marriage is supposed to be defined as a connection between man and wife.
                                                                                               Surprise: Rumania votes for marriage

The Rumanian Parliament has made a considerable decision. There had been an initiative from the Rumanian orthodox church. They founded a nondenominational “Coalition for family”. They were able to get 3 Million signatures within a year. They have been called religios-fundamental by another group that supports gay marriage as a “European achievement” and “EU-Standart”. The decision of the Parliament however mirrors the majority of the general public: 87% are members of the orthodox church, While some states of the EU have introduced the gay marriage, Rumania stopped it with 232 out of 270 votes. The aim now is to change the constitution. Marriage is to be defined as a connection of husband and wife. The next vote will be held in the second chamber. The PNL with it’s President Klaus Johannis (who has got german roots) wants to see the “traditional” marriage only as one out of many possible constellations. Contrary to this 42 from 50 delegates voted for marriage (husband and wife). Out of 136 parliamentarians of the governing social democrats only one voted “no”.

Jürgen Henkel, ideaSpektrum 21.2017