Village people

Feb 17 2016, Okay no YMCA here, but we went on a trip today with the humanitarian missionaries, the Vogelsbergs from North Carolina. They were going to 2 villages to look  at their water systems to have LDS Humanitarian services help with funding clean water. We went to help and for the ride. We went to 2 villages, Sertaci and Mascauti, both with Romanian letters. They also had a Russian interpreter along to help. So first the pictures, in order as usual. #1-outside the mayors office the chickens were in the yard- there are 2 pictures here for Mette, just in case she misses us. The outhouse was an outhouse with only a hole in the floor and no paper, one needs good hips here. #2 The Vogelsberg's with their interpreter- note the dirt road and mud, no cement or pavement in this town.#3 Us along a typical fence in the villages-old rocks put together, occasionally with mortar. #4 A picture of a field in fallow, incredibly rich chernozem soil, and any farmer should salivate at how rich this soil is. Ary Van Es from Burdett told me of the soil before we came over, he probably understated how rich it is. The Primar or mayor farmed sunflowers, corn and wheat, and raised cows, goats and rabbits. #5 A farmer more than happy to have his picture taken, he had a wagon full of oranges- where he got them we could not guess.#6 A Russian Orthodox church- the incredible difference between it and surrounding houses is easy to note. #7  I was trying to hold up that wall which was probably much older that I- hard as that is to believe. Trust me , it was mortar. #8 Well, our favorite couple,we needed a picture of us to send to Germany, this shows we are well. #9 We had to stop on the road to let turkeys cross, this one is for Max, can't you taste those drumsticks?  We were astounded by the poverty in these villages. We were told today the average income in Chisinau was 4000 lei, or $200 US a month. It is much less in these villages- really subsistence living. It was hard to believe with such incredible farm land, but these people have been thru much and continue to deal with difficult politics. They are kind, gracious  people who give all- when we talked with the first mayor, we could not leave until he fed us lunch. Deb really salivated as it was sardine sandwiches which were really delicious. As a Canadian, it is hard to imagine what we complain about at home when seeing how these villagers live, how they survive in such conditions. We will not ever complain about Bow Island roads for sure. The roads today that we travelled were gravel optional.