Newsletter S.O.S. Street children - December 2015

Hello friends,

When I see the large stream of fugitives, then I see especially the mothers and the children and I have a lot of compassion with them! They don’t have a safe place to live and that is very sad. But then one has to start at the basis of the problem and try to solve the problem there. That is my opinion. Nothing has been solved so far!

I got a very nice reaction from someone recently. He told me that the sewers in Holland are his working place. He maintains them and constructs them and trains people and companies and also introduces new developments. That children, after so many years, still live in sewers in our own Europe was appalling for him! He also would like to do something about this, but first he wanted to join me to see it with his own eyes. 

So we both travelled together to Romania, together with Willie, a friend of mine who organized an action for the street children. He organized an exposition of the paintings of his father Pierre Jacobs, who is an artist painter.

So we travelled with the three of us, Theo, Peter and Willie. Willie had put several things in his luggage like crackers and little presents. In Bucharest we immediately saw the street children at the railway station and Willie gave them a package with crackers. After that we also visited Lucas in Casa Cana. Lucas told his story, how he has been addicted and criminal and how he began a new life and now may help others with his team.

Later we travelled to Constanta where we also were surprised by an action of Willie. He had prepared this because he carried several  things with him. All the little children got a little crown and became princes and princesses. They had a lot of fun. They also got several sweets!
When we visited our family home in Corbu Peter gave advice about several technical matters and we had a lot of fun with the children. At the end of the week Peter and Willie returned back to Holland. Stefan, our coordinator, brought them to the airport and came back with a group of women from Sweden. 

They are also friends of our work for the children. Therefore I stayed one more week because they also wanted to meet me and talk to me. It was a very special week.

In the mean time our little grandson Dominique, who we care for, told to the teacher at school : still one night and then grandpa comes home again from Romania. What is he doing there, asked the teacher. Dominique told about the children where grandpa cares for.

 The result of this is that I am invited to tell about our work at his school. Dominique is only five years old but he is very enthusiastic about it already. That is very nice.

Thanks for your help and support!!

Peter, also thanks for your invitation for the day “Sewer Works in Harderwijk”. We got there a stand for free where  we could promote our work for the S.O.S. street children. People were shocked when they heard that still today children live in the sewers of several cities in Europe. 

We wish you all very nice and blessed Christmas days and a lot of happiness and a good healthy in 2016.

Theo, Greta en Dominique van Hoof