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Five for Friday – Beat the Winter Blues!

As we start the new year, I have been reflecting on winter and how it affects us all. I remember my first winter here in Romania in 2008, and it was my first time experiencing -22C temperatures and snow up to 1m deep! I had never been in such cold conditions and had to learn much (still am!) about how to run wood burning furnaces, putting winter tyres on my car and much more that is required for these kinds of temperatures. The winters are very harsh here and I always have 2 conflicting emotions over this season. The first is that I love the feel of thick snow on the ground; it’s pretty hard to beat a cold snow walk followed by watching a cosy movie, preferably with a big steaming coffee to go with it!

However enjoying that part of the season is always tempered by seeing how hard winter is for the Roma families we love and work with. For them winter is a time where food is scarce, work is non existent, and they often have to resort to sneaking into the woods to forage for firewood. This involves leaving at 4am and going 5 miles into the woods, to then slowly push home a bike laden with soggy branches to try and burn. This is a daily process and invokes a lot of physical risk, especially if they are caught by the police or forestry workers. We try to come alongside the Roma in any way we can during this season and are so blessed by our sponsors who provided yet again this year a big horsecart of firewood for each family along with meat, food, Christmas presents and other supplies to stay warm, fed and encouraged over this time! Just this week one of the parents in our program was telling me how they haven’t had to go to the forest for over a month to get wood and how thankful they felt for that. If you were part of sponsoring and providing all of this for the families, I just want to say a HUGE thank you! We get the enormous privilege of seeing the impact it makes on the Roma lives, and how much it truly means to them.

As we all go through winter wherever you are reading this from, I thought it would be fun to share some winter tips and ideas to make it a fun and great season!

1. As I mentioned, going for a snow walk is so much fun. Even if you don’t have snow where you are, a fresh winter walk is a great way to blast away the cobwebs and the feeling of warming up again afterwards is the best part of it! To help you stay warm while you are walking, try these nifty rechargeable hand warmers

2. Us Brits love a good hot water bottle, they are the perfect way to warm up after that winter walk! This one even comes with a pocket for your hands, which is handy (sorry).

3. How better to stay warm and cosy during this season than with a batch of fresh cookies? Try this cookie recipe to beat the winter blues, just don’t forget the pot of tea to go with them!

4. With the evenings being dark for longer, we all need something to keep us occupied. This jigsaw puzzle is the ideal way to spend a winters evening, I recommend combining tips 2 and 3 with this one, for the ultimate winter treat!

5. Nothing goes better with a cold winters day than a filling comforting meal. I love nothing more than cooking a warming stew or croc pot meal this time of year, and this turkey biscuit stew recipe is a great one to try.

Thanks for reading, I would love to hear what you love (and hate!) about winter, let me know in the comments your tips for enjoying the winter season!

Dave Truss

FMN Operations Manager