Every day lived during the uncertain period of COVID-19 is a continuous struggle for those affected, and not only from the point of view of health. We are moving, both physically and mentally, from a state of panic to a state of relaxation, the future being uncertain for everyone. We want to know what it will be like going forward and if things will ever return to “normal.”
In this context, ADRA Romania is on the ground helping and continuing to offer all the support of our fellow people in need. Together with God's help and love, we will overcome any obstacles that come our way.
In the 16th week of implementation of the project Humanitarian Support COVID-19, the ADRA team reached 1,526 people, including 1,090 adults struggling to ensure decent living conditions, 253 elderly alone and with acute subsistence needs, 163 children from disadvantaged backgrounds and with exceptional academic results, 15 immigrants, and five survivors of domestic violence.
Thus, in the week of June 21-27 alone, Humanitarian Support COVID-19 provided for the needs of 1,526 people, as follows:
- 1,002 beneficiaries received basic food, of which 75 received a hot meal at home every day;
- 356 beneficiaries received food and hygiene products, medicines or protective equipment;
- 150 newborns received help;
- 10 people benefited from social assistance and crisis psychological counseling;
- 8 people received help acquiring shelter.
ADRA Romania provides information, awareness, counseling, and distribution of food and hygiene products through the service of qualified staff who act in accordance with the security and safety policies and rules imposed by current laws of the World Health Organization (WHO), Strategic Communication Group, Ministry of Health, General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU), and in partnership with local authorities and accredited institutions, some specialized services being outsourced.
"Personally, I think the hardest part of the 21st century is the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Vasilica Mettler, volunteer assistant manager and ADRA projects coordinator in Southern Transylvania. “Every day I lived with the beneficiaries of the ADRA project AI CUM Babadag, I responsibly conveyed to them the need to protect themselves, their families and those around them, trying to eliminate their fears in the face of an unseen but real danger.”
With patience and perseverance, Mettler helped the project recipients accept the new situation in which the world now lives, and helped them determine how to adapt to a new lifestyle, how to manage their problems, and how to develop personal initiatives without neglecting the established protection measures.
“The inner peace they received often brought a smile on their face, confidence, and joy that during this period ADRA Romania supports them not only through words, but especially through deeds,” Mettler adds.
Mettler says that working at ADRA during the pandemic is a unique experience, both in restrictions and in the way God always opened the gates of access to those in need. Within the Southern Transylvania area, they started work with the ADRA project Finally, at home!, acquiring building supplies and finding people willing to build.
“Great and wonderful are the blessings of the Lord,” Mettler says with feeling, “and those who apply the teaching to ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ see many miracles.”
Get involved!
Those who want to join the ADRA Romania team in the Humanitarian Support COVID-19 project can do so by:
- volunteering (you can contact ADRA project coordinators at regional level);
- material donations (hygiene products);
- financial donations to ADRA (specifying the project).
Since 1990, the Adventist Development & Relief Agency (ADRA) Romania has been primarily involved in development projects that benefit the entire population. Leading in the projects undertaken with the motto, Justice. Compassion. Love., ADRA Romania brings joy and hope in the lives of the beneficiaries by promoting a better future, values, and human dignity.
An accredited social services provider, ADRA Romania is part of the ADRA International network, the global humanitarian organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, one of the most widespread non-governmental organizations in the world, active in more than 130 countries and guided by a philosophy that combines compassion with practicality, addressing people in need, without making racial, ethnic, political, or religious distinctions in order to serve humanity so that all may live as God intended.