There are very hard moments in my activity, at times. The hardest ones are, by far, those in which I lose a child.
I lost about 4 in 4 years of work, and it always hurt, but this time… it hurts A LOT.

Philip, his siblings – Shivan, Peace, Prossy, Edrine and Patricia – and their mom, Lovisa, have been one of my first difficult cases – a woman with 6 children, having nothing, nothing. We changed their lives for the better and they all have loving long-distance parents. Me included, as I took Prossy under my personal care after having been abandoned.

Philip suffered from cerebral palsy. He could not stand, turn, sit up, almost nothing by himself. They say that such children do not perceive the outer world, but Philip did. He reacted to objects and he smiled. He could eat and drink.

He was kept clean and proper, fed, nurtured and loved by his mom Lovisa, and by his long-distance mother, who is suffering a lot now. She is the kindest soul and I hold her tight and grieve with her.
Philip wasn’t growing. He was 6 years old but he barley looked as though he was 1 year old. He was carried around in a stroller. He was not developing. His heart gave in, and he died in seconds.
When a child so ill is born and survives for a while, we tend to ask ourselves – why? How could life be so cruel?

But today I know it is because they are here to teach us a lesson about love. About pure, unconditional love and acceptance.
We grieve with this good woman Lovisa and with the long distance mother, K. I hope and pray that they both find comfort and strength. Philip is among the angels now; and I am very sure, he can finally say: “I love you!”.

I hope you can hear it.

I took a (moderate) break yesterday and today (as far as possible, messages are always on) and spent some time to just contemplate my work and rest my thoughts in the kindness of the good people that I have the joy of knowing.

When I first started my work with HOCT, I was sponsoring a child, just like many of you. And then everything took off, my closest friends joined the “challenge”, people found out, gathered around me, a very large family was built.

Sometimes I can’t believe it myself. In 2019, we had 29 children in our registry and I was fighting so hard to find parents for them. Now, everything is a dream. We built a Library, a Hospital and we are building a School.

Today, I sent the funds for the purchase of bricks. I can’t wait to see the huge quantity that will be delivered to the construction site. I know nothing about construction, but each day I am learning something.

There is so much work piled up.

I am so tired…

It is so good.

Veronica Anghelescu

We provided food and gifts to 300 + children. A blessing!

The joy and blessing of our activity! The pictures speak for themselves.

This little boy, Bafumba, is very dear to my heart. When I first started working with HOCT, he was already there, among the first “batch” of children.

Last week, he got very sick, suffering from severe abdominal pain. I was fearing appendicitis, so I sent him straight to hospital. It turned out he had a kidney and stomach issue (two separate issues), he was admitted and remained in the hospital for one week, undergoing a lot of procedures and good quality treatment.

Yesterday, he was discharged, and he is doing so much better. He came to say thank you.

If it is within our power, we will not any child suffer.

How did you spend your Monday?

Here’s how we spent ours.

It was a beautiful day of serene, peaceful work.

When we feed a child, the whole world is healing.

William Shakespeare said that we should be great in act, just as we have been in thought. It is not so easy, when you think of it. In our mind, in our own secure inner world, we are all so brave. We all do great deeds. We all save the world. But at the end of the day, it is all reduced to thought.

It is important to have pure thoughts. But even more important is to put them into action, in a proper and righteous way – to be the outer versions of our inner projections.

I have always considered that being consistent and aligned with our inner principles is one of people’s best and most important qualities. It is all about the promises we make to ourselves and to others – and about how we keep them.