“Words cannot express the joy that I saw in this child Erika,” reports Pastor Mihai Micula who distributed shoeboxes in the villages around Satu Mare, northwest Romania. “She is just four years old and was mesmerized by every little thing she found in the shoebox. Her favourite was a lipstick which she just loved.”

He explains that the family had recently lost their father who drank heavily and beat his wife and children. Now Erika’s 12-year-old sister takes care of her siblings when their mother leaves for work. “The older girl cooks and does everything in the house, just like her mother,” Pastor Mihai says.

“She was impressed by a colouring book which she received and said she couldn’t wait to get home and start colouring.”