Kelsey Mathew has been fascinated by the Romani people  the – aka “Roma”, aka “Gypsies” (sometimes seen as derogatory) from an early age. I’m thrilled to have her on the show to tell us about some of her experiences interacting with this fascinating people in Romania during her many trips back with missions and charitable organizations! We’ll learn about the situation in the Transylvania region of Romania — its bad — and a bit about Romanian Romani culture, beliefs and practices too!

She opened her own Etsy store and sold artwork to help raise funds for children and families living in desperately squalid situations usually on the outskirts of otherwise modern Romanian villages.

She later stopped the Etsy and now sells her art at the Kent Market in Seattle and online at her Instagram: http://instagram.com/transylvaniawintershop/

Kelsey has been back to Romania to help at least 10 times and you can check out some blog posts and pictures over at  http://romaniaforchrist.blogspot.com/

You’ll see heart wrenching photos like this (https://bit.ly/2JUJpcO):

I am going to share about one village in particular: Seleus (Sell-eh-oosh). Situated about twenty minutes outside Sighisoara, Seleus is in two parts; the main section, and the hill. The muddy hill is where most of the Roma Gypsies live, in shacks made of plastic, sticks, mud. The ground is perpetual mud littered with garbage and covered with feces. The children run around with bare feet (only some have shoes). Stray dogs overwhelm the village, barking and biting.

If you cannot see the pictures on your device, check them out on a browser at https://bit.ly/2JUJpcO. They are surreal. Like a really bad dream, but they’re real.

Hit Kelsey up at her Instagram for information on how she’s helping and on how you may be able to help as well.