September 24, 2013.....4 months here in Montenegro and we are just feeling more comfortable with our calling here.  Last week we went to a Roma refugee camp in the mountains of Montenegro.  It is much colder there and most people are already using their stoves to heat their homes.  Luckily there is a lot of firewood here!  Anyway, there are 41 homes in the camp with a total of 346 people that live there.  The little houses are very close together but at least they have a nice roof over their heads.  The problem is that they have not paid their electric bill for years so the utility company has finally turned off the electricity.  They must use their wood stove to cook and heat...BUT they have no money to buy firewood as there are no jobs.  LDS Charities hopefully is going to provide the firewood for each home plus 30 more townspeople in desperate need also.  Here is a picture of the camp.

Some enterprising person as gone to the sawmill and paid for some scrap lumber for his home.

There was a large paper plant here but it has closed and the unemployment rate has soared

over 20%.

 Here is what the little stoves look like that they use to cook and heat. 

On another note, we went to Bar, Montenegro to the hospital there as they wanted help in purchasing a delivery bed for the new mothers.  The one they have must be 40 years old...here is a picture....They cover this old rusty bed with a 2" foam pad.  We are getting bids from different companies to get them new bed.

 

The hospital was very clean and the staff were doing their best for the patients.  Here is a picture of the sweet new moms and the babies.

..

US at the hospital

Another interesting thing here....There is this foot bridge really close to our apartment.  The couples here, when they get engaged, put a lock on this bridge and throw the key into the river....:)

That is all for now!