Description: We began our Healing Hearts charitable activities in this part of the world in 1995, even as war was still raging in Croatia and Bosnia. From 1995 – 2007 we worked in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Serbia. We spent 2008 – 2009 in Peru, and returned to Serbia in April, 2010.
Roma children are not used to receiving gifts at Christmas, or at any other time of the year for that matter. It’s a hard fact of their young lives that standards are low, life is hard, and if there’s ever any money around, it will go to buy food. How wonderfully satisfying was it then for us to be able to be a blessing and the hands of Jesus during this Christmas season by bringing the children Christmas “shoe box” gift packages…
We had been talking to two of our friends about how we were helping the poor Roma settlement near to us and how we had recently brought them a donated generator so they could have electricity in the evenings, since the isolated area where they are living does not have running water or electricity. The young couple, who are not so well off themselves, said they wanted to donate to them some warm bedding and other things for the winter…
Over 7 years ago while driving along an isolated country road we noticed a small Roma encampment of a few dilapidated shacks next to a tiny stream. Since we generally carry some humanitarian aid in the back of our vehicle, we stopped and went down to give them what we had with us…