Sharing joy and pain – visiting families in crisis

This past week we had a chance to visit a few families that are part of our “Families In Crisis” program. It was a pleasure to spend some time with each of them and talk about their situations, and share both their joy and pain. Each one is faced with different problems that they need to overcome.

    First of all we visited Ewa, she has a lovely girl Maja, who is growing really fast. They live together in a flat with Wojtek, and their biggest dream is to get rid of their debt. That is a serious problem which they are always mindful of. Unfortunately their low income is not allowing them to pay it back at the moment. We were happy to be able to bring them a box of food. Their washing machine broke down, so they would be happy to receive a new one.

     In another family we visited we were welcomed in a small single-room flat. There were two little girls hiding in the corner, that had smiling faces. They introduced themselves  as Angelika and Lidia. The older one is going to school next year. During our visit they were playing around a lot. We talked with their father Marek. He is also struggling with a huge rental debt for his apartment. People have already been a few times to turn off the electricity, so he is afraid there will come a day they will turn it off for good and they will have to spend the evenings in a home lit only with a candle. We brought them a donated microwave and food, but what he needs most at this time is advice on how to deal with his debt, so his family will not be ejected from their flat.

At the next visit it was a great joy to see a baby boy, just born one week ago. His mum Maria was so proud of him, holding him in her hands. Unfortunately his dad hasn’t seen him yet, because he is serving a sentence in a prison. We brought her nappies and food and prayed together for this family to be blessed. Maria is dreaming about having a stroller.

      We also visited Gosia’s family. It was good to notice she had some furniture from the foundation in her room. Her older children were spending their time outside playing with their friends. We were concerned about her son Jaś, because he’s got some serious problems with his teeth. Because of this he can not speak properly and his gums are swelling. Hopefully we can resolve this problem with another visit to a dentist. 

    We had to drive some distance to get to the next little house, where Kasia lives with her family. They are coping so well in their situation. Having two seriously ill children they are still grateful to God for everything they have. It is hard to find such a cheerful heart as Kasia’s. Her son Sebastian sang an English song for us. He is so proud, because he can speak better and better English. He is a good student. He would like to have his own room in the future, so we are planning on building another room in this house. At the moment they have just one room and one kitchen with a shower and toilet built into it for all four persons.

     Apart from these we went to lot of other homes, wanting to bring not only some material help, such as food or nappies but also encouragement, advice and joy. Our aim is to give these people hope and show them that there are people who truly care for them.