November 2002

Romania

Poland

(kelli's journal)

Sunday the 20^th 

            …The flight to Amsterdam was LONG. We flew over Canada and Greenland. They kept us well fed, and showed movies, so most of us were not overly anxious. Not many of us slept though. David Byrd celebrated his eighteenth birthday. He danced at the back of the plane with Matt Hecht.

Group session in Amsterdam .

Monday October 21^st

            I can’t figure out when Monday started and Sunday ended, but sometime Monday morning we landed in Amsterdam. The facilitators split us up into groups of five and gave us an hour to find food. My group struggled right away. No one could agree on what they wanted to eat. We finally decided on a coffee shop with pastries and such. We barely made it back in time. A few of the groups had trouble like this and we had a mini group in the middle of the airport. Everyone agreed that our poor moods were due to the lack of sleep and communication. We boarded our next flight at gate D44. I was very impressed with KLM airlines. We were served some of the best airplane food I have every tasted. 

When we arrived in Bucharest we were relived to discover that all of our back made it to our destination. We each took our own, and cleared customs. That is when we were introduced to three people who would be with us for our time in Romania. George was our cynical bus driver. Andre a young lawyer who really bad wants to be a priest, full of energy and knowledge. He was a very nice guy and seemed to adore Patsy. And last but not least we met Mamma Bitz, Alex’s mother. I am at a loss of words when I try to describe this woman. When we were introduced to her she grabbed each one of us and planted big kisses on our cheeks. She was so sweet and knew everything (or so she thought). She was always there to help us out, despite the fact that not everyone wanted it. (Note: Kelly, excellent description of my mother, thanks! – Alex) We all took to her though and she seemed to love each of us right away. We split up our bags, with half of them in a van that Alex had rented. The other half we loaded onto George’s bus. 

On the way to our hotel most of us watched a countryside go by. It was like nothing that I had ever seen before. The houses were all different, most very poor. Cows, chickens and people lined the street. Once we arrived at the hotel rooms and roommates were assigned. We all took showers and naps. At 6:30 we met at the hotel restaurant and were served a dinner of steak and fries. Alex showed up with different cakes in honor of David’s birthday. We went to bed exhausted and full.

Tuesday October 22^nd 

Today started at 8:30 when we met at the restaurant. They served us bread, ham, cheese, coffee, and tea. It was the best bread, ham, cheese, coffee, and tea that I have ever tasted. After that we got on the bus and headed to a city called Ploiesti. There we picked up a Romanian student named Carmen. She was going to spend the next few days with us in a village a few hours outside the city. We got to the village and were assigned to houses. We were to live with the people of the village. In Romania it is an honor to entertain guests. Here are these very poor people who set aside half of their hose for guests only. They welcomed us in and treat us like kings and queens. After we got settled in, we met at one of many churches in this village. There they served us lunch and we met Father Tanase. He was the man who started this orphanage in the village. He told us about how it got started. It was interesting because the people in this village would all take the kids in to their houses, as foster children. The father thought the children deserved a normal home life. Some of the villagers had up to 18 kids with them. At the orphanage,  lived younger kids who had not been taken in yet, and women that Father Tanasi had taken in off the streets. 

After learning about the orphanage we went there. The walk there was a mile or so through the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. It was fall there and the trees were all orange and yellow. The trees contrasted against the green hills and the blue sky making the effect more dramatic.

On the walk I felt like I went back in time. We passed old men who looked about ninety with donkeys pulling mounds of hay on wooden carts. We saw old women who also looked ninety, dressed in cloths from the middle ages, working in the fields. It was straight out of national geographic.

We ran into a group of boys getting into a fight outside of the school. They broke it up when they saw us coming and immediately became friends. After that they followed us to the orphanage, making fun of us in Romanian the whole way. 

When we arrived at the orphanage we were given handfuls of candy to give to the kids. They were all very hesitant of us at first. Many took the candy and walked away. But slowly they warmed up to us. When the babies woke up from their nap some of us went to play with them. They were all so beautiful. None of us could understand why anyone would want to give them up. They were so open to us. They came to us as if we were their mothers, like everyone was their mother. When we had to leave Mama Bitz led us back to the village. There we had dinner and went to bed.

Father Tanase, mama Bitz, Micah and Asher

Wednesday October 23^rd

For the first part of the day we worked around the houses Father Tanase, with help from others, and us is building for the orphanage (dormitories – two completed, three in construction –infirmary completed, farm- completed). For the second half of the day we played with the babies and the kids. Everyone seemed to have one or two kids whom they took to. They were all so receptive to us. It was a powerful experience for all of us.

            When we left many of us, and some of the kids, were in tears. It’s almost impossible to leave a baby with sparkling blue eyes and tiny hands reaching for you…