Trish Fraser reports back on her trip to Romania in November 2018
On 4 November, I joined a team of ladies from South Kent Community Church on a trip to Romania. A team of 4 goes every year. We stayed in a house in Vulcan, a small village 30 mins from Brasov. This is the base for the Aurora Christian Association which supports the gypsies and poor in the area. Irene runs it with the help of 2 girls in their twenties and other visitors from abroad. We go to help the Hospice in Brasov and then ACA.
The first day we did a mammoth shop at the cash and carry in Brasov, which was then loaded into an ambulance and taken to the Hospice called Casa Sperantei (House of Hope),where the goods were carried upstairs by a chain of workers and packed into 280 bags of groceries. Over 2 days, we made visits separately with a nurse and a social worker to Hospice patients in their homes taking the bags. I saw child patients, including a 3 year old girl with cystic fibrosis and others with cerebral palsy.
We also visited the Hospice Day Centre for adults (a lot of knitting) and older teens. A young man was enacting Hansel and Gretel for them, using various wigs and props. It was hilarious! Gaby the social worker translated but he spoke to us in English too. The teens were laughing madly – how good for them!
There are 5 churches in Vulcan! We visited the Pentecostal one on Saturday evening and the Baptist church Sunday morning. They are small in number but lively and Bible-based.
From Monday onwards we focused on ACA and helped with the children’s clubs and 2 kindergartens they run, mostly for gypsy children. They also have a canteen every day where people can go for a hot meal at lunchtime. We visited the gypsy village with Irene where ACA support many families.
We had time to socialise in the evenings, brilliant weather, meals out and a visit to Dracula’s castle at Bran. A good time!
Gateway Church Ashford, is a church in Ashford, Kent, and is part of the New Frontiers movement and within the Catalyst Network sphere.
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