Dorina Lazar,
Legal Counsellor, Domestic Violence Progam

Dorina joined the initial Domestic Violence team in the spring of 2003 as the grant administrator. A short time later she finished a law degree and was able to qualify as a “jurist” and to begin offering legal counseling to victims of domestic violence. She represents Veritas at meetings of the National Coalition against Domestic Violence, and she worked on a project to monitor compliance with domestic violence legislation on the part of county authorities nation-wide. Dorina’s three children have all left home for university studies. She and her husband both enjoy acting with a local amateur theatre group. They attend the Orthodox church.

Claudiu (Liviu) Tudosie,
Youth worker with Adolescent Program

Eta has been cooking for the Family Center for 10 years, during which she has seen the number of people served – staff, students, volunteers, children – grow from about 40 to 150 daily. She now has two assistants who help her prepare breakfast for the preschool children, lunch for the main crowd, and sandwiches for anyone who comes to the door off-schedule asking for something to eat. Both of Eta’s children have married and she is the happy grandmother of two cute little grandchildren. On weekends Eta goes back to the village where her elderly parents live and where she has a house and large garden to take care of. There she is part of the Hungarian Reformed church. Eta says, “I love to cook and take pleasure in good music. I like children, flowers and all that is beautiful.

Steluþa Gocica, Social Worker, Kid’s Club worker with 7-12 year olds.

Steluta initially studied library science and only after several years working with books decided to go back to school and study social work. Her first two years working at Veritas coincided with her last two years of social work school, and her interest in the relationships between the children and their parents gave rise to the topic of her final thesis, the affect of abuse and neglect on children. In June 2007 she graduated with her social work degree two days before going off to camp with 40 children.
Steluta and Kati work with about 65 children from poor families twice a week in Kids’ Club, providing a hot meal, Christian teaching, support for school work, enrichment activities such as crafts, music, games, sports, excursions, and summer camp. They meet regularly with groups of parents and also visit each family two or three times a year. Steluta is a member of the Adventist Church. She enjoys the mountains and playing with her daughter, of whom she says, “She is careful to remind me that a child is not a miniature adult.”

Maria Golea, Elderly Program

Mia has training in accounting and for four years was manager of the International Café in the House on the Rock, helping with the mountains of paperwork needed to begin the business and steering it through the start-up phase. Now she works in the context of our elderly program where her patient, sensitive nature and ability to build one-to-one relationships with the senior citizens combines well with her practical good sense and ablity to get things organized. She was instrumental in starting up the third club in the Baragan neighbourhood in the spring of 2007. Mia has four children, three of whom have left Sighisoara, her two sons are maried in the USA and her daughter is curently studying in Bucharest. Mia and her husband Ghitsa also adopted Dorin, a nine-year old boy who is full of non-stop energy. The Goleas attend the Nazarene church. Mia says: “For Veritas the most important thing is nurturing the spiritual life of each person and helping him or her grow closer to God.”

Eva Gyerko, Coordinator of Special Needs Program

Eva runs two weekly activities for a group of disabled adults, a time for socialization and a time for learning skills such as English and computers. She also conducts a support group for parents who have a special needs child. Eva is a very creative person and passionate about the cause of the people with special needs. Her degree is a social work degree and she studied in Germany for four years.
She is married and has two lively little boys and attends the Reformed church in Sighisoara.

Zelma Kovacs, Assistant Cook, Entrepreneur

Zelma loves to cook – whether for her family and the many guests she gathers around her Sunday dinner table, or for the children who come to the Family Center. She, Eta and Dragos cook a two or three course meal for about 150 people every day, and then take care of the dishes and the cleaning. Zelma says, “I love to cook and to bake, and I love children.”. She has three grown children and two grandchildren. Zelma attends the Mana church, which has outreach in several nearby villages. In the village of Secuieni Zelma has started a project that provides work for traditional broom-makers who are part of the church – making all-natural brooms for sale in the US.

David Laszlo, Coordinator of Elderly Program 

David joined the Veritas staff five years ago to help with building maintenance. Having spent three years in Hungarian working in construction, he has many practical skills. Soon after he began to work for Veritas it became evident that David is very caring and sensitive to the needs of people. We asked him to fill a gap in the staffing of the elderly program – the fact that he is ethnic Hungarian was exciting for the several Hungarian old folks in the program who enjoy speaking to him in their first language. David also is a qualified masseur, and he regularly does massages for our elderly clients. David attends the Hungarian Reformed Church. He enjoys all kinds of sport, mountain hiking, classic films and good music.

Claudiu Lazar

Alina Levai

Mihaela Nagy, Coordinator of Material Aid (half-time)

Mihaela started to work for Veritas as a volunteer in our preschool program and did so faithfully for almost two years. We came to know her as hard-working, helpful and trustworthy, the ideal person to fill our need for a half-time coordinator for the organization, inventory and distribution of the abundant supply of used clothing and household supplies which we receive from Northern Ireland through the charity Project Romania. Mihaela demonstrates unfailing patience and good humour in working with staff to make up packages for families and individuals, and to ensure that all receive a fair allocation of material help. Mihaela attends the Nazarene church. She says of her work for Veritas: “ I am happy when I can make others happy and can help them within the limits of what we have to offer.”

Iuliana Puscas, Accountant

Monica Tordai

Floare de Colt:

Monica Stefanescu, Psychologist, Domestic Violence Program
Monica has a degree in psychology from Babes Bolyoi University in Cluj, and worked as a school psychologist for  twenty years. After the ’89 Revolution Monica  developed a private practice as a psychotherapist and specialized in offering support to abused women. She is a member of the National Association of Psychotherapists. Monica had the unusual opportunity to pursue training and qualifications in group therapy and psychodrama, including Bibliodrama. She finds this way of working with groups and individuals “captivating.” In 2003 Monica was part of the community task force established to address the issue of domestic violence in Sighisoara, and when Veritas secured funding from USAID to begin a domestic violence program, she joined the team part-time to provide counseling to victims. Having a person of her experience and reputation on the team added greatly to the credibility of the new program. Three years later Monica decided to leave her school job and join Veritas full-time. She said, “When I think about how I spend my time, I realize it is my work with Veritas that gives me most satisfaction.” Her counseling work with Veritas extends beyond the domestic violence program, providing help for people referred by the schools or social services department for other kinds of problems. She regularly gives wise counsel and support to the Veritas staff in their work with a wide range of clients. Monica says,  “Veritas is for me more than a job, it is a way of being active as an Orthodox Christian, since we work with the poorest and most troubled people in the community. My family means a lot to me: my husband and I have two children, one with a degree in modern languages, and settled into her first job, the other a student.”

House on the Rock:

Elena Istrati, Teacher of Romanian Language and Literature
Graduate of the Pedagogical University in Balti, Republic of Moldova, in Romanian and Latin, with a Master’s degree in Romanian Literature and Literary Criticism, Elena teaches courses in Romanian Language and Literature to the American students in the Romanian Studies Program as well as to other foreigners who come to live and work in Sighisoara. She also helps with translation, public relations for Veritas and she coordinates Veritas community events.
Elena says about her eleven year old son, Victor: “I have a son who always makes me smile and reminds me that God loves us.” Elena enjoys books, new experiences, communicating with people and hiking. She and Victor attend the Orthodox church.

Oana Mehedin, Secretary for Educational Programs

Oana rejoined our team after a one and a half year's break. She initially worked for five years as the Coordonator of the Kid’s Club for children with the age between 7-12 year old. Her experience as a chemistry teacher and her love for children made it easy for her to relate to the children. She was happy to return and replace Svetlana during her two years maternity leave. She is a very creative person, pacient, flexible and very helpful and shows a lot of initiative. Her work currently consists in providing secretarial support to the educational staff, teach an English class, handle visa applications and other bureaucratic matters for students and volunteers and all kinds of little details which are so important for things to work out smoothly.
Oana is married and has two children and they attend the Orthodox Church. In her free time she likes to play the piano which helps her relax and she said: "The most important thing in my life is my family."

Maternity Leave:

Ramona Magda Costea

Rodica Mc Guire-Velici& David McGuire, Nurse, Kid’s Club Worker with 7-12 year-olds
Rodica worked as a nurse for seven years before marrying and moving to Sighisoara in the summer of 2006. She also had had many years of volunteer experience in working with children in her church. She was a valuable addition to the staff of our children’s programs because of her warm personality, her love for children, and her ability to relate well to parents. Her medical background means that she was often called on by staff in other Veritas programs to check blood pressure for the elderly, to help provide sex education for teenagers, to teach parents about basic hygiene and disease prevention. Rodica  would like to begin studies in physiotherapy or kinesiology  in order to help Veritas disabled and elderly clients more.
Rodica and her husband David have a cheerful little daughter. David has a vocation to provide for the housing needs of very poor, marginalized Roma – a calling which often involves Rodica outside her work for Veritas. Rodica and David attend the Mana church. She enjoys reading and traveling.

Svetlana Muntean, Secretary for Educational Programs, Coordinator of Tourism Services.
Svetlana moved to Sighisoara from Chisinau in the Republic of Moldova after graduating with a degree in English. She began to work as receptionist at House on the Rock, providing secretarial support to the educational staff. In addition she teaches English classes, handles visa applications and other bureaucratic matters for students and volunteers, and coordinates summer tourist services. Svetlana had the opportunity in the spring of 2005 to go to Scotland and work as an intern in the tourist information office of the town of Stirling, similar in many ways to Sighisoara with its castle and heroic past. Since then she has trained and supervised the high school young people who have summer jobs with Veritas providing guided tours and tourist information. She took a course in tourism management. Svetlana is a native speaker of Russian. She is married, has a beautiful little girl and lives in the village of Archita. Svetlana is a member of the Orthodox Church.

Szerenke Veres, Kindergarten Teacher 

Szerenke was a child when her family left Sighisoara and moved to Hungary.  There she attended a pedagogical high school, did two years of social work studies and then went on to the Reformed University in Budapest where she graduated with a degree in education and religion.  Szerenke had never stopped missing her childhood home in Transylvania, so on completion of her studies she moved back to live with her grandmother and to look for a job.  Veritas had no openings for a teacher in the summer of 2006, and Szerenke came to work at the International Café for a year before a position opened up for her in the preschool program. Szerenke got married and is expecting a little baby girl. She attends the Catholic church. Szerenke enjoys reading historical novels, making cakes, and doing all kinds of handcrafts. Her sensitivity, hard work, friendly personality, and creativity will be missed in the kindergarten.