The first time that I traveled to Romania was August, 1990. They were just out of communist control by eight months and were slow to change. Money was scarce and food lines were still long. Our group stayed with Brother Florin Doboş in the small town of Haţeg in central Transylvania. To me, they all spoke like Dracula! But the Doboş family treated us like royalty, meeting our every need. The next summer we returned and I brought toys and candy for Brother Florin’s two children. Cipri, his son, was about twelve and Corina, Florin’s daughter, was about eight. I had a pack of matchbox cars that I brought for Cipri. They were painted with a special coating that changed colors when immersed in hot water. Cipri thought they were neat. When I returned the next year, Florin told me that Cipri was a “business man”. Cipri had sold his matchbox cars in the market for two dollars each. Cipri had made more money from selling those cars than his father made in a month as an electrical engineer!
