Arad, Romania

Hello everyone!

We haven't updated our blog in over a week!  That's because it was an uneventful week for us - we didn't have the chance to go to Oradea like we wanted to because the trip would require us to go over our budget, something that we didn't want to do.  We were, however, able to go to a closer city, Arad, and visit a program there where a lot of orphans were.  It was a great visit, and we met three deaf orphans there.  

We are excited about the upcoming month of March, because that's when we will hop into a train or a bus and go all the way to Bucharest, the heart and capital city of Romania.  There, we will meet up with Alex's sister, Allison, and her husband, Ryan!  They are coming to Romania for three weeks to do a "mini-survey" of what they will do with orphans, and we have discussed on how we can work closely.  We are very excited to see what doors will open as a result of this.

We are also going to Bucharest to meet with two other organizations, "For God's Children International" and "Children to Love".  FGCI is an organization from Council Bluffs, Iowa and headed by Joel Burkum, a very cool guy who knows how to sign, as he used to work for Deaf Missions.  FGCI works with orphans, and we are going to meet with their Romania liaison, who is Jeremy Befort.  Will post blog and pictures when we do meet with him/them.  

For Children to Love - it is founded by DeAnn Sampley and her husband.  DeAnn is an ASL professor from Bakersfield, California and wrote a few books on ASL.  She has been kind enough to give us a contact person and even informed us about two deaf orphans that were in Bucharest, so we are going to meet with leaders of that organization and the two boys.  

Not only that, we are also looking forward to meeting the deaf church that meets in Bucharest and the deaf members who go there.  Bucharest is a BIG city, so there should be a lot to do and a lot of pictures to take, which is good for this blog and for you :)

Now - a little news - Alexa's dreads are gone!  That's because she got tired of having to do maintenance - rubbing, rolling, waxing, backcombing, all that.  She didn't realize that it was a lot of work, so she decided to cut it off (because you CAN'T undread dreadlocks!)  She is not used to it, but after a few days, she likes it!  

Enough words, on with the pictures!  We are sharing pictures of our trip to Arad and the program there.  You can check out the program's website at www.rcenterprises.org.  Not all the kids in this program are orphans, but a large number of them are.  

Alexa's new look!  

The entrance into the program at Arad.

The first classroom we visited.  The woman in red on the right is a teacher, and she knew how to sign, which was very cool for us, as we had an interpreter.  She signed in Romanian, and luckily for us, we learned enough to be able to understand!  The cute girl with the striped sweater on the front is a deaf/mentally challenged orphan.  Her name is Ioana.

  This school focuses on mentally challenged children.  Its approach to the deaf orphans is to integrate them with the other students, and try to teach them how to speak, as many of the other kids can't speak too - so they are "in the same boat".  The teacher in the red teaches the deaf kids on how to sign.
    

Another classroom where there is another deaf orphan.   

The second deaf orphan.  He has mental challenges as well.  His name is Dani.  The reason why Ioana or Dani is not at the deaf school is because when they were screened - they were found to have another disabilities, so they ended up at this school.  

Another classroom.  The boy on the far left (baby blue sweater) is the third deaf orphan in this program.  His name is Vali.  

Vali was obviously using his eyes to understand what was going on in this class - as the other kids could just simply use their ears.  Vali would imitate the teacher's hand movements, but when the teacher used her voice and not her hands, Vali would look away.  It is a challenge when there are deaf kids with mental difficulties - because they have more needs, and you can't just split them up to a deaf school and a special program.  

Outside.  Yes, it snowed!  The Romania flag is in the background.

The program split up the children in three houses.  Each house holds ten children.

Each house has its own little kitchen - there is no "big cafeteria".  This woman is the cook!  :)  

We liked this poster.  It's true.

The two women on the far left and far right are social workers - the ones who try to place the orphans into families who are willing to adopt them.  Only Romanians can adopt Romanian orphans.  I asked on if it was difficult, and they said YES.  They are able to place only two or three kids a year into homes.  Adopting an orphan is already a difficult decision for many families, but adopting an orphan with multiple disabilities is another thing.

We are amazed at the heart and the spirit of the people who work in this program - they could have worked any other place or with "normal" children.  But they are Christians and they chose a harder path, but they do get more rewards.  We  know that God looks down and smiles on those good workers.  

A diagram that explains the process that this program follows.  The big yellow house represents a state institution where orphans with special needs are abandoned.  This program adopts those children and gives them a good education, with a hope that they will be able to integrate into public schools and good families when they grow up.  

That's all for now!  God bless!  

La Revedere, Timisoara

Bible study on Thursday night!  The blonde woman on the right is Nicole Condra, a hearing missionary that we bumped into on the bus.  She is fluent in ASL!  She is very interested in the deaf and was happy that we could help her to meet deaf Romanian Christians.  She is also on a research/survey trip, and she's going to be traveling across Romania for three months.

Learnin' the language

At our apartment.  We are making index cards with Romanian words on the front and English words on the back!  

Cinci - five, galben - yellow, and the others are unreadable :)

A lot of streets sell books like this.  All in Romanian.  They have individual plastic wrappings, for, say, should there be a sudden thunderstorm.

In some corners or walls you will find this!  Like any big city in the USA.

One of the several plazas in Timisoara.  This one is the biggest, but it's quiet and not as lively as Plaza Victory (the one we showed in the previous blog with the pigeons).

A statue that was erected in the 1800's by the local people who were grateful that they survived a plague.

"Oh, you are taking a picture of me?"

Although it was pretty cold 30 F, people still sat outside.  Look on the roof! :)

The Romanian and EU flags.  (European Union)

She's looking at maybe a bird, a plane, or Superman

Communist-era apartment block.  We see this kind of apartment everywhere.  There are also a lot of beautiful modern homes. so it's a mix of the past and the present.

We see a lot of stray dogs. 

And cats.  But they are not really "abandoned" because people like this woman do come and feed them.  We saw a dog in another apartment block that was fed by a resident.  They don't live with their owners, but are fed by a few friendly people.  Alexa's quote - "every dog or cat's dream".  To live outside and be fed!

Policemen

A rough translation is: "You who, more or less, one time, you will go, anxious over our heels, we were of the generation of December 89, a single thought: Romania"

This is on the front of the Opera House, where the Romanian Revolution in 1989 started.  This revolution was much like the one in Egypt recently where the people were angry at the communist government and finally banished Ceausecu from power.  You should look it up in Wikipedia.  

Memorial to those who died in the revolution.  A few were run over by tanks.

This boy on the right is the son of a very friendly Romanian family who lives on the first floor of our apartment block.  This family is the one who helped us settle in and this boy would always run to us and play with us whenever he saw us walking around.  We caught him and his friend playing soccer.  

At the deaf school.  They let us take pictures!  This is Suraj, the first deaf orphan we met.   His situation is a sad one,  but we are happy that he is in a deaf school and is able to communicate with ASL.  We have more information of his situation and a video of him signing, but will share that later when we finish our DVD!  

Deaf children!  All very smart and friendly!  They are not orphans - just normal residential children.  This was our second visit so they knew us and we played in the rec room.

The second deaf orphan we met.  This one can't sign, and we don't know his situation.  We are going to find out more about this.  He is a very cute and sweet boy.  

Ping pong!  The children are actually better than Alex, beating him half of the time!

Szaby Mate, the deaf ministry leader, came with us.  The kids look up to him - and it's good, because he provides a deaf role model for the children.

Alexa with the children comparing signs for animals in Romanian and ASL!

Waiting for the bus after the fun school visit.  We were there all afternoon/night!

Sunday morning.  The deaf church group.  

On our way to the coffeehouse to do our blog, Alexa spotted this "birdman" and took a picture of him.  

That's all for now!  Our next destination is Oradea, a city that's around two hours north of Timisoara and still on the West side.  We will be visiting a hearing orphanage there, a deaf church, and hopefully get some leads on where deaf orphans might be in Oradea.  

Happy Valentine's Day!  

It's Sunny in Romania

Us at the front of the church where we meet with deaf members.  Beautiful church!

Our backyard view. 

Our reading.  Alex just finished Wizard of Oz, and Alexa is halfway through "IKTMIT"

Outside our apartment, we found this horse-drawn buggy!  There's a few around here.  Romania!

Visiting the deaf church leader, Szaby Mate.  He's the key to our feeling welcome in Timisoara - we can't imagine being here without him and his wife, Angela.

At the Mates' home.  Bible verses are written on the wall, in Romanian language!  We brought apple pie with vanilla ice-cream - very American food - and they loved it!  That's Szaby's wife!  She's a teacher for deaf kids at a deaf school here.  Next blog will have more information on that deaf school.

En route to visit a family 2 hours away from Timisoara, They have 5 deaf children and are very poor. The Mates' always bring them food so they asked us to join them this time. The drive was a bumpy one!

Finally out of the city

Jesus is loved by many

Ema, the Mates' daughter.  Playing on our iPod!

Ah, another horse-drawn buggy!  On a highway full of speeders.  

The town where the family lives, its practically right next to the border of Serbia.  

Stuff we bought for them, their daily needs which consists of potatoes, plenty of oil, flour, sugar and of course, candies for the kids. 

Shy, but friendly.

One of the houses.  Most of the houses in Iam looks like this.  

Haulin' food!

All the kids are deaf.  They are very sweet.  They are not orphans, but they are very poor.  Iam is a very isolated village, and they eat maybe one meal a day.  When we came here, we really thought of how blessed and easy we have it in the United States or Canada or even Timisoara.  Are we thankful for the country we were born in and the kind of life we had growing up?  

The five deaf children. Four of them go to school and the last one on the right does not but we saw that he was being encouraged to go by Szaby so we hope he does decide to go back to school.

With their dad, on the right, and another hearing sister and her baby, on the left.  The whole family lives in a single room with two beds and a stove to heat up the room.

Saying la revedere.

Their front door.  The house is in bad condition, and might fall apart in a few years.  If you want to help this particular family out, e-mail us at aa@odeafo.com and we might be able to make arrangements with the Mates for them to be able to deliver extra food or supplies.  

The long road back home.  Very bumpy.  You can see the dirt road.  Restrooms?  Outside!

 That's all for now!  We just visited church and it went well.  We are visiting a deaf school tomorrow, but we got word that it might be difficult to take pictures of the kids, but we will try our best to do that.  There are two deaf orphans in that school, so we are excited to meet them.  

God bless!