Thursday 18 June 2009

A new life in France?

One of our street families left Arad yesterday in search of a new life in France (pictured with me and Irina and Viorel at either side of them. Secret and Tatiana and their wee girl Amalia came to the Secret Garden to have showers before leaving for the bus station. Life is very hard for young people who live on the streets and it is extremely difficult for them to get a new chance at life with all the ties that bind them to street life. Several of the homeless young people we know have moved away from Arad, some to other countries in search of a new life. For a few it seems to be working and the change of scene has enabled them to leave behind old habits but sadly for others the basic problems in their lives remain and they end up on the streets elsewhere or eventually make their way back to Arad. Secret and Tatiana want a better life for their daughter, it's not going to be easy for them but we hope and pray that they succeed.

Wednesday 10 June 2009

The Secret Garden ...officially open

As many of you know, we had our official day centre opening on the Saturday 6th of June. We had lots of work to do to get the place ready so we would like to thank all the various volunteers and visitors who helped us get everything together and supported us on the big day. We'll post pictures soon, but here is a presentation of the "Secret Garden" Day Centre accompanied by some lovely traditional European Roma (Gypsy) music!