A touching story from the Director of ‘Casa Shalom’, Becky Dan Walsh, a life-giving partner in Bucharest, Romania.
Becky writes:
“It was 1998 and we heard about two little children living in a terrible situation. They were abandoned by their mother. Their only caretakers were their grandfather, who had a horrible skin disease, and a cousin. The children had no bed and only slept on rags. When we found Sorin, then three years old, he was naked, sunburned, and so sad looking. When he saw us he just ran away like a scared little animal. Then we came back with some cookies and he took the whole bag and ran away. Finally, we talked to his little sister and asked her if she would like to go to school, as she was already five years old. She said yes, so I told her I would go home and look for a nice place for her and her brother to stay. When I got back to Bucharest we realized that these children were not street children and needed a special place to stay. I looked everywhere but couldn’t find the right place. I only had one free bed and the other organization I knew only had one bed. These little children were so close and the little five year old, Mirela, was like a mommy to the three year old, Sorin. We prayed and prayed for several days, "where can these two little children stay?”. Suddenly, we learned that one of our girls had gone home to visit and didn’t come back. So we realized that we now had two free beds. I only had 17 girls at that time and had a meeting with all of them and asked them if they would like to have a little brother. They all said yes. Then I asked if they would help take care of Sorin and his sister and help change his diapers. They all agreed. As I said, we had all girls. So that meant we had all girl clothing. The next morning I saw our little Sorin dressed in the cutest little dress with pink tennis shoes. The girls were just sharing their clothes with the new member of the family. I realized a little boy with a dress and pink tennis shoes was not going to be a good idea even though Sorin liked his new clothes. You have to realize he was naked when we found him. So we went out and bought some little boy clothes and Sorin learned to love those also.
One day shortly thereafter, I heard the strangest sound in the yard. It was like the sound of a little crying lamb. It was so loud that even the neighbors came out on the street to try to find this little lamb. We looked out and what did we see but our Sorin crying. His cry was just like a little lamb. I went out to him but didn’t know how to comfort him. So we got his sister to come out and soon he stopped crying. We asked what was wrong and she said she didn’t know but her presence seemed to be all that he needed. We never heard Sorin cry like a lamb again as he began to feel so much at home here at Casa Shalom.
Only women had been working at the house. It was years later until some young men came to work with us and help the children. Sorin loved going to church because, Pastor Tim loved Sorin and every Sunday he got a big hug from him. He would always ask, “how many days before Sunday?”. Sorin wanted to be sure not to miss his hug. One day a terrible thing happened. Our Pastor was beaten up by some thieves and they stole his car. The news came to our house and Sorin was so sad. He loved his Pastor and now he was beaten up, had black eyes, bruises, and no car. No one told Sorin what to do, but he went into his room and took his special back pack from Germany and filled it with his precious possessions for the Pastor that he loved. He was now only five years old but he knew what love was because he had received so much from Casa Shalom and the wonderful Pastor Tim. He wanted to show some love to his Pastor. On Sunday morning he ran up to the black eyed and bruised Pastor and said, “Pastor Tim! I have something for you. I packed it myself”. In that back pack was his most loved teddy bear, a little car, a small towel, a pen, some paper, and a few coins. This was all he had but he wanted to give it all away to help a friend in need. That morning when the pastor looked in the back pack he said, “You know, I was thinking about quitting and going back to the States, but the youngest member of our congregation has encouraged me so much that I must stay here in Romania.” That day there was no sermon in our church, but there was not a dry eye and everyone learned that real love was in giving your all to God and to others. It’s one of the lessons from our children’s home that I will never forget.
We’d like to thank MannaRelief for the vitamins that Sorin and Mirela received along with the other 80 children that Casa Shalom is helping. MannaRelief is helping hundreds of children get the needed daily vitamins that they need. It is absolutely wonderful to see the compassion the MannaRelief team has and to see them sharing this product and showing kids how much they love them and how much God loves them. Thank you MannaRelief for coming to Romania. The Romanian kids want to thank you for showing them that you care and that they are important.“
Becky Dan Walsh
Director of Casa Shalom
On behalf of MannaRelief, you’re very welcome Becky, Sorin, Mirela, and all of the children at Casa Shalom. Your story has touched all of our hearts and we’ll remember it forever! We can’t wait to see you all again and bring more nutritional support for all of the children in July 2010!
The MannaRelief Team