Date:
12/2008
Country:
The second part of our stay in Romania was further north in Transylvannia in a town called Cluj Napoca. Here the stark contrasts were between those with money and employment and the many without. The shoe boxes here were being distributed by a Christian charity that carries out social work across the country - Ecce Homo. We heard how unemployment is a really big problem - if you are working medical contributions are taken out of your salary but if you don't have a job you won't get any medical treatment unless you can pay.
A huge number of Romanians have left the country to look for work and in some cases both parents go leaving the children alone, an awful statistic shows that the suicide rate in 8-12 year olds is very high.
While we were in Cluj we handed out boxes to seriously ill children in hospital - even the little girl who was having chemotherapy managed a smile as we looked in her box and the mums all seemed very touched that we were there to see their children.
My second moving moment came when I was chatting via interpreter to a mum whose daughter was poorly. I was told she'd just been diagnosed as diabetic and I was taken straight back to when my son was diagnosed at 5 years old. I can remember wondering whether Thomas would live to grow up so I was able to reassure this mum that Tom is 24 now and has travelled round the world. Without the shoe box I would never have had that conversation.
Last year Operation Christmas Child sent 1.3 million shoe boxes from Britain to children in 13 countries in Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It's such a simple concept - a present from one child to another - but if you saw the smiles on the faces of those receiving you'd know it's a whole load more.
Author & photos: Lesley Dolphin BBC Radio Suffolk