Norwegian red cross helps Latvian families

FOR THE parish of Feimaņu parish, Ruth has recently taken the potatoes in two plots of land, still waiting for porcine beans, beet and carrot. The six-man family could afford to process two small gardens this year, thanks to the funds allocated to the “work therapy” project. Within the framework of the project, EUR 83 MILLION was allocated to each family for the installation and maintenance of a small garden so that the food supplies can be taken up by their forces for winter. The project “work therapy” in Rezekne municipality is held for a second year, being implemented by the Rēzekne Committee of Latvia, along with the municipality of Rezekne, while the funding of EUR 1000 WAS provided by the red cross committee from the Oplandes (Oppland) region in Norway. This year, 12 families participated in the project – two families from Griškānu parish, two from Stoļerovas parish, three from Audriņu parish, two from Feimaņiem and three from Silmalas parish. At the end of September, a volunteer group from the Norwegian red Cross Oplanet region visited Rezekne municipality to visit some of the families involved in the project and find out how they were in the summer.
In feathers, the guests first show some of the parish pride – the luxurious Roman Catholic Church, the flag plant SIA “Baltic Flags”, the cultural house, the pensioner's day centre and the youth centre “chestnuts”. Then the road leads to Ruth and Ivan's home. Although the house is old and demanding after repair, the housewife's hand is shown by a decent fence of fence in which gladiol has been fired. There are six people in the family – three adults and three children, of whom the youngest, Kirille, is only a year and three months, on the day of their visit to their lap, the youngest brother of Daddy, who has spent his childhood in the children's house, now lives here when he reaches the age of majority. Feimaņu parish social worker Mara Taranda praises her new family – although life has not been spoiled, Ruth is very charming and enterprising, now that the husband has health problems, she has taken all the burden on her fragile shoulders. The old barn and the farm building have been restored, a second small garden is also installed this spring, which also uses the money allocated to the project.
“If honestly, that really was a big break.” If this was not the case, the piece would not be processed because we paid for one square of 10 euros, a second 15, but, as the tractor driver said, the money was more than a job, ”says Ruth. The house is located at the edge of the forest, holding turkeys, chickens, and wild animals all over the last year. Ruth confesses that it is a dream to buy a cat, because it would have a pasture, and there would be milk for children. The leader of the group, Oplandes, Chairman of the Committee, Odd Egset, is interested in how much one such goat might pay when they find out the price, the guests are quickly organized and donating money on the spot for two goats so that Ruth can fill his dream. The housekeeper, on the other hand, gave the villages to their own rusty compots and juices.
IN Silmalas parish, Linda, along with the younger children, Harald and Madar, reach the village on the big road, encouraging English. The strange tongue of the housewife goes to the ravine, Linda has been working for almost half a year in England. As the social worker Vera Laškova told THE story OF Silmalas, the new family moved into the unlived cottage two years ago, before living in Koknesse. There are four children in the family, everyone in school, a job is just Daddy, Momma lives in home and nurses a small farm with both goats and rabbits and a bunch of chickens, a small orchard. This year, an aka was excavated, so that he had to go half-kilometres after drinking water. The funding allocated to Lindai in the project has mainly gone to land processing and seed purchase, but due to the rainy time the potato harvest has been poor. Linda thanked the Norwegian for help and added that the agricultural skills had already been learned in childhood, to grandparents. He was a man, and his own initiative had already moved into the countryside, because the man wanted the children to have space, freedom, garden, contact with domestic animals. They found this old cottage with their friends. “I don't complain that we moved to the countryside, even though i didn't know it would be so hard.” “I don't want to live in the city, but i would like better living conditions in the countryside,” Linda says.
The road leads to Linda's neighbor, Iveta. The ancient honesty, a beautiful alley with a giant dozens of dozens, and a huge cellar, and a large cellar in the beginning of the last century, but it is all gone. Her husband, Iveta's husband, has gone eternity this summer, six children in the family, the older daughter of whom is already in her life, raising her daughter, waiting for her second child, the youngest child of Iveta, only 2 years. However, as Vera Lashkova says, Momma is very busy and diligent, but there is not enough power or money. “As you can, it beats.” The land still stands on the name of a long-dead mother-in-law, now dead husband, because of the outstanding inheritance papers, Iveta cannot receive subsidies, but the settling of land issues requires too much money. The holding is a cow and a tent, grown vegetables, potatoes, but it is not a great harvest. However, there is an acidic cabbage barrel in the cellar, and the shelves are lined with compots and mariners. Iveta shows the project journal, where all jobs and expenses were fixed, one of the conditions was to insert photos, but in Iveta's diary, her daughter Aija drew lovely drawings showing the whole of her work.
One family, the project participant in both Feimaņu and Silmalas parish, remained unvisited because they couldn't get along with the bus. However, on both sides of the house, every day, children travel several kilometres through the forest and rural road to get to the road where the school bus runs. Not the little boy, driving from school, usually curling on the bench and sleeping tight.
As Mr Silvija Strankale, head of the social service of Rezekne, is informed, there are 3000 poor families in which income per family member is 128 euros and less. They all need help. Also, this project “working therapy”, which continues for a second year, is a small but good return for at least some of them. “This year there was a family that was a real fighter.” Despite the fact that the climatic conditions are not high, the crops grown in the gardens are not large, however, compared to the previous year, the progress achieved on these families is greater and should allow them to continue the project for the next year. ”
The project manager, Ods Egsets, was also pleased with the vision and acknowledged that the project “work therapy” should continue. “Thank you for the families who let us come home and see how they live.” These families were so different, but all the circumstances were poor, we saw mothers who were fighting for the welfare of their children. Much of it was sad for us to see because our country is prosperous. I think it would be useful for many Norwegian people to come here and look at the lives of children in Latvian countryside. '
The Norwegian partners also confirmed their support in practical terms -- during the visit to the Rēzekne Red Cross committee, a cheque of EUR 2 000 from the Oplanet Committee's Nordre Land division for the needs of the poor family of Rēzekne was served.
Anna Rancāne  
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