| Friends and Projects we Support in Romania |
Page 1 of 4  Columbia – One of the poorer areas of Cernavoda, just down the hill from the Orphanage was Columbia. We spent three mornings and five afternoons working with 20-40 children and on the last Saturday afternoon there were 60 children. We had a lot of fun with the aid of puppets and drama, telling bible stories such as the Prodigal Son and Good Samaritan. We also did numerous crafts, face painting, singing songs and playing football, basketball, water balloons games and many other games. It was especially great when one of the children brought us an album of pictures he had drawn to show the story of the Good Samaritan which we had done the previous day.  St Laurence’s Hospice – We spent the evenings with the young people from the Orphanage. We enjoyed fun and fellowship together singing songs, drinking hot chocolate and playing uno. We joined them on two evenings on their camping trip by the Danube River, where they fished, played games and had a barbecue. We also spent some time during the day with the special needs group at the Orphanage and played parachute games, sang songs, did painting and played with the puppets.  The trip was a very successful one and everyone worked very hard. Although it was tiring due to the busy schedule it was very rewarding working with the children and seeing their happy faces as we spent time with them during the week and taught them more about Jesus. We hope to send another group to Romania next year and your continued prayers for the children and staff in Cernavoda and Seimeni are appreciated.
Mark Inkpen
Report of holiday in Cataloi
Pat Naylor, Ian Roberts, Ingrid Cooney, Maddee Smits and Jean Langford were in the team and we are all involved with children and young people’s work at St Christopher’s Church, Southbourne.
The team helped everyone to take part in the sports, which meant wheeling, carrying or helping many of the children with the races. The mothers joined in the fun as well. This is Raul (left) in one of the races.
Alexandru, (right) aged 11, cannot walk or speak but he held out his hand and his eyes lit up each time we approached him. Here he is with Maddee. It was wonderful to see Mihai (left) having fun! We were asked to help at a Bible Holiday Club, which was being run by the Baptist Church for children living in the village. Ian and Jean went out into the village with a translator to invite the children. They thought that it was something of a novelty that English people were inviting them! It was anticipated that about 20 children would attend the Club but more than 60 children and young people aged from 6 – 17 years turned up each evening! This was very promising in an area where the Orthodox Church dominates peoples’ lives. They enjoyed sports, games, crafts, learnt memory verses and sang songs.
It was very difficult to say goodbye to the children on the holiday, particularly as we felt that some of them with special needs would benefit so much from treatment, help and support in Britain. However, it was a real privilege to have shared the holiday time with them and we shall never forget them. |
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In August a group of 10 people travelled to St Laurence’s Hospice in Cernavoda, Romania, with the aim of spreading the Word and the love of God to the children and young people at the orphanage and the surrounding area. The group then split into two groups on the Monday and one went off to Cataloi whilst the other stayed at Cernavoda to work with Pastor Claudiu and his wife Corina in his two churches in Seimeni and Cernavoda and a local area called Columbia. 
During our stay in Romania, five of us travelled to Cataloi to run a 5-night holiday for children with special needs, their mothers and the children’s siblings. The holiday was based at Casa Valentin, a purpose-built centre owned by the British Charity called the Sunflower Fellowship. There were 21 children in all on the holiday.
During the holiday, we used puppets and drama to tell the stories of the Lost Sheep, the Good Samaritan, Fishers of Men and the Creation. The puppets were very popular, although they did get mobbed! Both the mothers and children joined in the action songs with great enthusiasm. Everyone drew round their hands and we stuck them together in the shape of a cross, with a red heart in the centre. The cross was put on the wall in the Baptist Church in the village. 
We organised a programme of activities for the children including games, crafts and went for a walk on the hill near the centre. 
Some of the children and young people at the Bible Club with Pastor Adrian Popa.