REPORT

MISSION TRIP 2006

Date 23 July until 6 of August

Report made by Lambro

Arrival

The arrival and the pick up off all 22 mission trip volunteers went very well.

The Dutch group was the first to arrive. Gabi was at the Otopeni airport waiting for them. She took 3 people (Dimitri and 2 other volunteers) to Odobesti.

The rest of the group (5 persons) waited for the English group (9 persons) to arrive. Sorin and the bus driver arrived in time and after the English group was landed we drove up to the project. Both Sorin and the bus driver drove very carefully and so we arrived about one hour later.On the project we were welcomed with nice Romanian vegetarian food. Everybody was fine and happy.

On Monday the 24^th Sorin and I picked up the French volunteers. They arrived at the other airport in Bucharest called Baneasa. They arrived in time. We recognized them from the pictures we got. Their trip was mostly paid by ADRA.

What we did not know about the French people is that they were not Adventist. Anyway this could bring a new challenge to our trip.

On Tuesday the 24^th Sorin and I picked up the last English volunteer who arrived at Otopeni airport.

Goals for this mission trip

On the evening of the 23^rd I spoke to Simona, Sorin and Gabi about the kind of work we could do. Beside that I told them that we got some extra funds from Belgium and the UK. This totalled about € 1200,-. I suggested using this for some necessary things.

At the end we came up with the following goals:

- Dig a trench for the water pipe (about 30 meters long and 1 meter deep) going from house nr 2 until house nr 3

- Unload the truck with the transport we expected from the Netherlands (arriving on a Monday or a Tuesday)

- Help in the garden

- Work in the receiving centre. Especially in the room which is connected to the kitchen and the playground. The walls are very bad and need some reconstruction. Also the new windows (placed by Daren and the first group) need to have cement to fill up the holes

The goals to spend the extra funds for were:

- Repair 4 washing of the nails (estimated costs € 300,-)

- A new door connecting the receiving centre with the play ground (estimated costs € 430,-)

- Make a park in the middle of the project. This idea was already in the plans before the building of the houses started. It is good for the children of house nr 1 and 2 to get a place to play. Because playing on the playground at the receiving centre is not a good idea. The age difference between the children is too big. Besides the playground is too small. The new park will also have a social function. Parents, other workers and volunteers can sit there in the evening and enjoy the children playing (estimated costs € 400,-)

The ideas about the extra funds Joyce and I took back to the volunteers. We wanted them to agree on them first. We did it so these goals would become also part of their goals. Later when they go back to their churches they can show their sponsors what they achieved. Everybody agreed.

Tour on the project

On Monday the 24^th I gave the group a tour on the project. We visited all locations and I told them some history of the project and about ICC. Most volunteers were very amazed by the set up of the village. They did not expect it to be so big and so well organized.

Working on the project

From Monday the 24^th until Friday the 28^th we worked hard on the project. We accomplished many of our goals.

- We finished the trench for the water pipe

- We unloaded the truck. A few days after unloading we organized the warehouse

- We helped several times in the garden

- We did some work in the receiving centre (get the wood off the walls so the can dry before they are reconstructed and fill the wholes at the new windows)

For the goals with the extra funds we ordered the new door (final price € 400,-), which was placed on the 2^nd of August.

We bought all the items for the fence (total € 250,-) and some volunteers made the fence during the second week.

The repairman for the washing machine did not come yet. So this will probably be taken care of later. Joyce will ask on the next trip (end of august) if they have been repared.

For the park we did not find seeds for the right price. I decided to call the IKN office, maybe the could come up with a donation. Kalin has two options now, but we will have to wait for their decision.

On Sunday the 30^th we started with a new trench (about 15meters long and 80cm deep). This trench was made behind the 2^nd house and was made for the warm water system. At the end of the trench there will be made a whole of about 30meters deep. The trench was finished on Monday.

Some volunteers organised the tiles on Sunday which came from Holland earlier this week.

For the next mission trip we have decided that:

- we work inside the 3^rd house, because all windows will be in and many other things. So there will be a lot of cleaning to do, maybe painting ect.

- There will be work in the garden (especially on the potatoefield)

- There will be work in the receiving centre to be done.

- Adriaan (one of the dutch volunteers, who seems to be a good builder) can go down to the old man’s house and see if he can do anything to help.

Through Julia I made Sorin aware of the fact that he has to take care of putting people to work. When the volunteers have enough to do the possibility is that they start complaining. Sorin said that he would take care of it and that their will be enough work to do. He is especially happy with the extra people for the potatoes. Normally they have to hire people. Now they can save some money.

Work in the kitchen

Joyce took good care of the kitchen. As well as for the buying (spending only € 450,00 in the first week) as well as delegating the work in the kitchen. Every day there were new people working and their was a lot of order.

The food was reasonably good. There was always enough. And there were no big complaints. There were some little complaints in the beginning about not enough fruit and some other small issues. But Joyce explained very well that we are on a mission trip and we are not at home. The persons involved understood it very well and that was it.

Worships and church

Again Joyce took good care of this program item. Every morning and every evening there was someone (sometimes they did it together) leading the worships. It was really building for the volunteers individually as well as building up the group process.

Only the French people had a problem with the worships after 2 days. They knew we were Adventist, but they did not know that the Mission Trip would content so much religious program items. I decided that they were free to choose and if they did not want to attend they were not obliged. They were satisfied with this solution.

However one of the French volunteers attended worships several times. He was a little bit older (about 55) than the rest and they seemed to like the worship. Especially he liked the singing. On the night before going to church he said that he would not attend to go.

He said that he was sorry, but because of the language problem he would not understand the sermon. So I said to him that he can visit an Adventist church when he is back in France. I will pray for Dominique and I hope he will go soon.

Hans, who was one of the volunteers of the Netherlands, is also not an Adventist. Because he slept with my father at the administration office he skipped most of the worships. But on the Sabbath he went with us to church. He calls himself a happy Christian and he does not always goes to church in the Netherlands. I hope that God will touch his heart and that I can interest him (and his wife) to come to church. They are both very nice and active people, so God surely can use them in on his churches.

I spoke for about 5 minutes in church. Told them about us (with all the different nationalities) working together. After my little speech we sung a song with the Mission Trip 2006 choir.

Trip to Bucharest

We decided to split up the group in two for the Bucharest trip. On both days Joyce took the lead and she had Julia as her guide and translator. I was staying behind and organised the working activities. Both groups travelled by train to Bucharest.

They visited the poor people on the streets. They gave them a sandwich, a drink and some clothes. On the first day they found a boy who was very injured. On the second day Joyce brought him some clean bandages. The boy was extremely grateful.

Most of the volunteers were very emotional about everything they saw on the streets. After the second day we had a group talk about it to share everyone’s experiences.

Picnic with the children

On Monday the 31^st in the afternoon all volunteers went out with the children for a picnic. Everybody had a great time.

Roundtrip through Romania

On Tuesday the 1^st of August all volunteers, Julia, Alina and 5 children went on a tour through the beautiful country of Romania. We visited Sinai (a palace) and Bran (Dracula’s castle). On both locations people could buy souvenirs.

We were all driving in a big bus (50 seats). The driver was careful. Only on the way back about 3 people got sick, because of going down the mountain. It was not the drivers fault, but these people could not stand the small road.

In the evening we went to a Pizza place in Sinai. Also for this place Daren had given directions. He went there before. In the morning we had given the order already, so in the evening all the pizzas were ready. It was really good organized by Joyce and Julia. We spent about € 5,- per person (including the drinks).

Visiting the old man

At the previous trip the Norwegian people gathered some money together to fix the roof of an old man who is living close to the project. Through Daren they give 30 Euros to do some more. On Sunday the 30^th Dimitri and Hans went together with Sorin to see if they could do some more. Dimitri took some clothes and some attributes for the house to give to the man. Hans looked at what he could do, but he is not really a house builder. I know that on the next trip there is someone who may be able to help the old man. So we will put this on the program for the end of August.

Extra money for the Greenhouse?

We probably will have between € 7.000 and € 10.000 left from the mission trip. The possibility is to use this for a greenhouse (25m2 by 4 m2). In order to get this project successful we have to make a business plan. In my conversation with Gabi on my arrival she told that she has no knowledge at all about greenhouses. I offered my help to look into the possibilities. Sorin said he has some friends in the area where he is living and we can visit them sometime during the Mission Trip.

On Monday the 31^st Sorin, Julia and I went to Sorin’s village. There he has some friends with greenhouses. The report of the greenhouse is in another document called “ Business plan Greenhouse”.

New house parents

Just a few weeks ago Simona hired new house parents (the father’s name is Silvio, the mother’s name I forgot). They have a little girl named Sara (15 months old). Florentina and Michaela were the first 2 children who went to them. On Friday the 28 the Dragos and Ovidu went there also. Dragos had an accident already after half an hour. He fell through a window. They took him to the hospital. Dragos did not cry at all!!!!

Later on they will take again 2 children and when they finally go to house number 3 (somewhere in October/November) the 2 brothers Marian and Adrian will go there also.

Silvio speaks a little bit of English and I liked it very much to chat with him.

The choir idea

On the first night with Gabi we talked also about the children choir. Recently they recorded a very nice cd. They just practiced twice and they did the job. I think that this is very good!!! I also think that recording this cd is good for their self esteem and it makes them and the ICC staff very proud.

Beside that there is also another very important benefit. Singing is good for the soul. Our children have suffered a lot when they were little. Singing can help to get over their problems and give it a place. Gabi told me a good example. Vasile did a solo song on that cd. The song was about a father who died very young and he left his child behind. The child is singing about the day he and his father will see each other again in heaven. For Vasile this is a very important song, because the story really happened to him. It gives him a possibility to deal with his loss.

Now about the choir idea. Gabi said that many churches are inviting them to sing. But the income of one night is sometimes not enough to cover the fuelcosts.

I think that we have to support this project by selling their cd’s. I think that there are many beneficial aspects, like:

- the children love to do the concerts, the parents (and this is what Gabi said) can use this during the week (if you are not doing your best than you can’t go on the concert coming weekend)

- contributing to the monthly budget by themselves would be good for their self esteem (both for the children as well as the ICC staff)

- it would be very good for ICC’s name awareness. Maybe they also can focus to get their own childsponsors.

- if this program is working well and the economy is going better than we even can think off helping other ICC projects with childsponsors (this was a thought Kent shared with us on our last chapter meeting)

Final conclusion

Joyce and I found our mission trip very pleasant. We had a great group of people, who worked hard, participated in the worships and in kitchen. We had a nice working relationship with Sorin and Simona. Julia was a great translator. I thanked Simona for taking care of the careful driving this year.

We achieved most of our goals we set in the beginning and that was very nice. Beside that we came up with some good ideas for next year.

At the end of the trip we had a evaluation. First we showed a small photo presentation with music to get everybody in the mood. Than we handed out certificates for attending the mission trip. After that everyone filled in the evaluation form. In September we will work all forms out and come with a report.

Anyway it was a great time this last 12 days. I’ll hope to be able to come back next year.

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