Vasile and his family September 2001

It was our intentions to buy Vasile pigs on this trip to help him start pig farming with his eldest two sons. On the day I visited him however he was distraught. I thought initially that Florin (his little boy with AIDS) had died. It was his horse that had died the previous day and without which he could not bring in his crops.

In March we told the story of Vasile and his eight children and his wife who died in 1995 aged 35. His son Florin went into hospital with a chest infection and came out with AIDS The same needles are used over and over again. Vasile was struggling to make a living from the land and his eldest sons where going to different farms each day to try and earn a little money to buy food for the family.

With the money we gave Vasile each month he has been able to plant crops etc. and just as his corn on the cob was ready for harvesting his horse died. He and his sons where sleeping in the fields each night to try and protect the crops from thieves. When we told Vasile we would get him a horse he sat and cried. We also managed to get him a six month old sow.
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