About

Elena lives in a one room building about half a mile up a mountain outside Brasov in Romania. The temperature the night before my visit had been minus 15C, and this was the first time Id seen her in over a year. She has no electric or running water and wears the old mis fitting clothes that we had brought her years before. We first met when I was driving through her village in 2007. I saw this little old lady bent double and walking at a snails pace at the side of the road. She looked distressed. We stopped the car and asked her where she lived. Turn right after the orchard she said, thinking that would mean something to us. I felt compelled to help her and gave her 50 Lei (10). That night I was annoyed that I had only given her the money that was too easy so we went looking for her the next day. We found her several hours later in this little one room shack half a mile off the road, up a mountain path. The smell when you entered was overwhelming. Fifteen years of body odour absorbed into the couple of bed sheets, walls black with soot from the fire in the corner which wasnt properly vented. The roof was a leaky tarpaulin. She told us about a mentally handicapped son who had been taken off her because she had no-where to live. She hoped he would return soon. In the intervening years we visited Elena a few times. We were the only people who ever did. We made makeshift repairs to her roof and her chimney and brought her food every time we went. She always talked of her son and her faith in God. And she always loved to get a hug. About three years ago we went to visit and her shack had been rebuilt. It was still one room, still no electric or water or toilet, but it was dry at least and well built. Some labourers who passed every day had taken pity on her and built a new roof and proper walls. So we visited less often because we thought she was being looked after. But the labouring job had ended and now no-one ever looks in on her. When I visited last week within a minute of us arriving she asked Have you brought me any food? I havent eaten in days. She told us how she had stood outside on the mud path for hours that day in the hope of seeing someone to ask for food. No-one came. She said she got so cold she had to come in. It was minus 6C. I brought the food in and set it down for her and she asked me to carry in some sticks from the little pile she had outside. Those would at least keep the fire going. She sat on a little chair next to it for days on end. I asked her if she thought much about God during all those endless hours of solitude. Was he close to her. Or had he abandoned her. Oh, Hes with me every day she said. And then with a gentle smile she added, Sure he has brought you here to me. I turned to look out the window to hide the tears. Oh Ill never lose my faith she said. When I stopped crying I turned to chat again and saw the little transistor radio that we had brought her a few years earlier. I guess the batteries are dead by now? I said, as sort of a light hearted joke. Oh no, she said I save them all week and just turn it on for the Sunday service. I turned back to stare out the window. I asked about her son. I havent heard anything. Maybe hell come home some day soon. There were two simple beds and a table in the room, along with the chair she lived on. The bed clothes on the bed were the same ones we had given her six years earlier. Why two beds?, I asked. Just in case anyone ever needs to stay, she said. My friend who was with me went to the car and got her own socks and thermals and some other things out of her case and gave them to Elena. But we had to head for the airport. Our visit to be honest was almost an after-thought to our trip to Romania and time was running out. Will you come back and visit me? she said. Yes, I promise I will sometime, I said and tried to explain where I lived. Will it be soon?, she asked. Ill try to make it soon, I said. Well, Ill be waiting on you, she said, Ill be waiting. With that we hugged her, and left. I want to make sure that this precious old lady can live out her last years with dignity. I want to put a small fund together that will provide food for at least a year, and can pay someone to deliver it. My friend who lives there is 90 minutes away and thats 25 petrol money, which to any modest Romanian family is a fortune. So I want to cover that for a year as well. I want to buy new bed clothes, new clothes and shoes for Elena and some LED solar powered lights (just simple portable ones). And I want to buy her a CD player with a few Romanian gospel CDs. And some pots and pans. And... And... Just the basics. Thanks for reading her story. Shes a sweetheart. Anything you can give will be well used. Just think of it as a virtual hug.