It takes a bit of courage to visit an elderly

My visit to the old lady called Vera already starts a bit more difficult than other visits. While I am walking up to her house, the two watch dogs bark their heads off and do not look friendly at all. I do not feel very comfortable, so I try to get to the house as quickly as possible. I have heard that this lady has been abandoned by everybody and has just come back from hospital. Some neighbour found her frozen in her house and called the social worker of the village to do something about Vera’s situation. As a result Vera was taken to hospital and stayed there for about a week to regain strength and to defreeze. I really want to deliver the food parcels to this lady in need, but when the dogs start to bite at my ankles and later really bite, I am about to give up. After a short knock I just open the door and enter - no polite waiting for the door to be opened - so Vera looks a bit surprised when she suddenly sees the food parcel and me in the middle of her one-room house. The house is dark, dirty, smelly and cold. Vera is sitting on the bed and is happy to receive the food parcel but the next problem I observe is that Vera does not have any wood to make a fire and so she won’t be able to cook the food she has just received. She doesn’t have any family or anybody who helps her. During the last winter she didn’t make any fire at all and lived in total cold. After she has signed the paper, confirming that she has received the parcel, I say goodbye and even though I know that the moment has come once more for me to face the angry dogs and be bitten again, I am glad that I have visited this lady and was able to see how desperately the elderly in Moldova need help. May God bless this lady and help us to reach out and find the elderly who are forgotten.