Day 14 - Thursday, Aug. 6th

A bit behind in my updates, but here is Thursday!For our english class we taught numbers and time. What better way to learn than playing "What time is it, Mr. Wolf?"...

In our photography workshop, we handed back the photo they took from Monday. There was a lot of very creative shots and we found out they are very good at posing (Modeling)! The photography class not only let them explore the world and people around them but it is also a way to teach them to share (1 camera for 2 people) and how to take care of the toys and equipments they have.

We also gave out prizes for winners of 6 categories...

After our workshops, the team started to prep for the Chinese dinner that night!

I attempted to fried the chicken...I cringe as the oil bounce onto my hand...

Everyone waited as the food was presented...

... Explaining the food!

The ladies that cooked for us for the past 2 weeks...

What did we cook???

And of course there was BBQ PORK!!!

After dinner everyone waited while we cleaned up and get ready for the Gift presentations (The gifts from SCCEFC!!)

... playing Indiana Jones...

Vlery doing the summersault on the bar!!!!

The kids here love the outdoor!

These kids are pretty amazing... They build this secret club house for the girls... using blinds for door, brick laded floor (interlocked!) and hangers for their gospel bracelets!!

As we waited inside the hall Maxim show us his Juggling skill (a workshop we held this week)

Time to give out YOUR gifts!!!

After we presented all the gifts, the HOM staff gave us something really incredible... An original canvas painting by a local artist in Ukraine... Vlery got Tomson's passport early in the day and had documentations made to transport this painting back to Canada (we didn't know why he wanted Tomson's passport until that night)...

As our night ended, we took some pictures with the kids! They really love the gifts you all gave them!!!!

Day 13.3 - Afternoon in the city center

After our workshops our team left for Uzhgorod's city center...

... To avoid anymore citizens calling the Custom/border police, Tomson decided to wear his CANADA shirt...

Personally, this store caught my eyes...

We also picked up a ton of groceries in preparation for the next day's Chinese dinner cooked by us... We worked pass midnight in preparing some of the food!

Day 13.2 - The afternoon workshop

In the afternoon, Andrea led a Chinese painting workshop.

They learned how to hold the brush and painting techniques...

... Josef copied the chinese words from the brush packaging...

Andrea showed them 3 samples in which they can try for themselves...

Day 13.1 - Aug. 5th. Romani Outreach Event #2

On the 2nd day of the Romani Outreach I decided to bring my camera along. As we arrived at the site, we discovered the 3 tents were gone... It turns out the giant storm last night has wreck the tents and the people tried to save them... But even if we had the tents, it would not be able to cover all the children... The people decided to extend a giant tarp over the area...

... the rain was really pouring down that day!!!

Children started to arrive from the 2 settlements... We had approx. 170-195 people...

... Some like it in the rain...

After we packed them underneath the tarp, we started the program...

They loved the songs...

... Our awesome 2nd translator... because this group speaks hungarian we translate through Vasya to him...

Our local DJ.. The audio equipments were setup inside the church(speakers aim through the windows) since it was so wet outside.

Pastor Jon and some of the helpers!

Pastor Jon's daughter, Esther with Tiffany by the door of the church...

Pastor Jon's son, Joshua... I really feel for these Missionary kids, especially in this ministry. I told him I know God will give him and his family much blessings... And I hope he will see God work in his parents and in his life because of their sacrifice...

... Children getting ready for snacks... We had snacks before the other activities because most children come unfed...

... Prayer for the snack...

Snacks was a drink and fruit...

... There were many holes in the tarp...

Every so often they poke the tarp with the shuffle to unload some  of the water on top, the kids love to be under it...

The kids love to pop their juice box... Some even blow it up again and step on it for a few more times... The adults were no exception...

The children came wearing their BEST clothes... This boy was in a suit...

We moved the little ones into the church to color as the older ones play games...

Even the helpers want to color...

Outside, we modified our "Hot Potato/balloon" game underneath the tarp...

... when the music stops the first team to pop the balloon gets a point!

... Unfortunately some of the kids didn't understand they should only pop the balloon when the music stopped... During the last round of the game, this kid pop the balloon when it was passed to him and thought he won it for the team... We actually feared for his life...

After the game Crystal showed the Gospel flip book!

And there was a time for prayer and response...

We prayed that the seed is sow...

Afterward we did our craft. The color beads bracelet!

... Catching raindrops with the zip lock bag from the craft...

After the craft, their praise team sang a song while we waited for lunch to arrive... We were actually way early in our schedule and the lunch delivery truck wasn't arriving for another half an hour...We led a few more songs to keep the kids at bay...

... Lunch has arrived! Today was different than yesterday as everyone was crowded under the tarp. We did our best to keep the lunch process under control!

As our lunch reach the end, 2 older ladies walked in with a bucket. Left over food were deposited into the it. Food is very important here...

As we ended our Romani outreach events, we came back with a lot of learnings. We learned alot about the people and the culture, but we were also humbled by the people who are willing to commit their time and their lives into these people...

Day 12.7 - A passport saves the day!

After our visitation that day we were invited to Valery's home for dinner. As we arrived at his house we notice there were a uniform officer and some unfamiliar faces. Vasya smiled and ask if we have a passport, all of us thought Vasya was joking as everyone was laughing. Then we found out somebody in town reported us to the border/custom officers (they reported Ivan's license plate; he was driving us to visitations), people thought we were illegal immigrants. As it turns out a lot of Asians travel through these mountains on their way into europe. And harboring such individuals here is a big (black market) business... It doesn't help when the punishment is only $30 for harboring one...

Thankfully Andrea kept her passport with her... the officer only need 1 passport to make sure we are legal travelers...

... back to the BBQ...

... the most popular summer drinks (of all ages) here... It taste similar to beer (made from barley/wheat?), but no alcohol.

Mark and Amie took me to the back yard to show me the big dog... oh dear...

This sums up our adventure of the evening... As night approach and thunderstorm came through...

August 4, 2009 Romani Outreach Camp

God is awesome!   We praise God for His provision and protection for our Day 1 Camp at the Romani Settlement.

We got through the first day without any incidents.  We arrived early to set up the tents to provide some shade for the children while the local pastors and helpers setting up a big tarp over the side of the church to provide shade for the stage area.

We worked together and all our tents were up and can stand against some strong wind.  Children started to show up at around 10:00a.m.  Slowly more children from the Romani settlement show up.  Then 2 mini-bus load of children arrived.  As the excitement builds up, we were trying to keep the children in order.

Thank God for the local helpers and pastors.  They know how to manage their children (i.e. speaking their language)  God also provided body guards for us.  There are a few helpers were in the front carrying big stick to "control" the crowd and block any children who got too excited and trying to come up to the stage area.

He provided a sheet of white cloud on top of our meeting area.  This provided a much needed shade for us  and the children so that we can carry on with our program.  We have songs from us and the local praise team.  The children were very excited in singing songs along with actions.

We then took a break for snack and drink.  Then local pastor preached on Daniel Chapter 3. The Three friends that did not bow to idol....

Children were very excited about the sermon as we can keep hearing Amen..Amen.  We have to use double translation, but we try to keep it simple and allowing mainly Ukrainian and Hungarian.

By the time we are eating lunch, the sheet of cloud is moving away.  Blue sky without cloud = hot under the sun again.   Time to go.

Day 12.6 - Visitations....

As we headed out to visitation that day we found many of the kids wasn't home (out to the river as it was a hot day...)

The older children was away today in this home... only the parents and the younger ones were home... note the giant hole covered by fences at the door...

We headed to our last stop of the day (Traffic was insane today as one of the road closed...)

And the children were home!!

As you might have noticed, they have a lot of kittens...

After we left we asked why do people have so many children? We found out parents receive  more and more money with each successive child. The parents can leave the children at the state orphanage but retain their parental rights and still receive monthly financial aid from the state. The money don't follow the child... We have heard stories where father gives up his baby for money to buy a horse... and mother who had a child only to give them up to receive money to fix their house...

Day 12.5 - Tuesday, Aug. 4th

We spent the morning and noon at the Romani settlement doing Outreach event #1! I didn't bring the camera because I wasn't sure what to expect, I needed all my concentration that morning. God very much over-delivered on His promise of good weather and crowd control! We learned alot that morning!In the afternoon we continued with the lessons/workshops.

The English lesson (Alphabet and Animals today)...

And the older group with their Jonah book study!

After the lessons we left for more visitations!

Some more photos of kids at HOM!

Josef, built this from scratch (house)... forget legos, this is the real thing!

Day 11.2 - Visitation #2

The 2nd family had a few children in our camp. They live in a room at the back of their relative's house...

At the door to their room is one of the craft we did last week...

We tried to take a photo in the small space... They showed us their leaking roof which was also destroying their floor...

Outside the yard was a half built house... which the father originally started... but a bad accident stopped him from continuing... An interesting observation here with dogs. Dogs here are scared of human... I hear a lot of dogs crying here in Ukraine...

As I took this photo her mom kicked the dog away... Alot of dogs here are treated quite differently... I can see why they are scared of us...

Day 11.1 - Visitation #1

During the afternoon we visited some of the kids and gave them some photos of them during last week.We arrived at Kristina's home through a small alleyway. She is being cared for by her grandmom. She lost quite a few family members to TB.

Most of home we visited there's just 1 room with beds all around. Usually there's 7-12 people living in one place...

Kristina put up her pictures in the shelf behind her...

Her grandmom explaining to us her daughter that died from TB...

As we were leaving, the uncle of Kristina showed Vasya photos of his 8 children. All are in State orphanage 'cause he can't support them... I can hear the sadness in his voices as he flip through his photos...

Day 11.0 - Monday, Aug. 3rd

I decided to split this day up in a few post because half of our day was spent with the HOM kids in various workshop / lessons, and then other half we went to visit some of the kids that came to our camp last week. The latter half is a story on its own.We started off the morning with singing!

Colin... you've been replaced...

Tiffany, Lisa, and I were in the English class.

Afterward we had a "Photography" class... They are learning to "Frame" a shot...

They also have to learn to share as they partnered up.

At lunch we met Pastor John, we learned so much from his experience as he talked (he know some english) about why he came and some of the incident that scared me... He was once beaten up quite badly by a few Romani teens while he was looking for a settlement on his bike. Ivan found him bleeding on the road and took him to the hospital. After he recovered he went back, some of them ask for forgiveness. He's also here with his family, a young son daugther whom we met today at the Outreach event. Tough being Missionary kids, especially here...

One thing he also speak on is how important to develop Leaders in the settlements instead of coming to do events. People expect food and supplies from foreign groups, but what they really need is leaders to change their thinking and lifestyle from within.

Day 11.4 - Visitation #4

As we head into our last visitation of the day we found one of the girl who only came for the first day of the camp. She was sick and could not be with us for the rest of last week... There's approx. 10 families in this hidden "compound"...

We then found Valek and his sisters, but his brother Sasha just left for the market...

... where her mother works and sells these we think...

But as we were about to leave, Sasha came back! We really wanted to see him!

We finally got to take a group pictures with all the kids!

An interesting story with this family, they were going to be evicted last year (A giant crane nearly killed them when it came crashing down one day...) and a new condo/supermarket was going to be built on that land. The team from last year pray over them throughout the year and God answered with the GLOBAL RECESSION. Because of the recession, constructions was halted and many families was able to stayed... They would have no where else to go if they are evicted...

gp methan 10

Day 11.3 - Visitation #3

One thing we found out is beneath the nice streets and shops hides much poverty and oppression... As we headed down a small alley way across from a big shiny store we find a family of women and their children.

We gave them the pictures along with some food aids...

Vasya explained their condition to us... Their house is ready to collapse and their land is slowly being taken away by people with bigger power... Fundraising is being done in Norway to help this family fix their roof...

We all say our Good Byes at the end of the alley way...

Day 9.0 - Saturday, Aug 1st

Before we left for the settlement on Sat. afternoon we celebrated another birthday! Maxim's!

The girls lifted him this time! On the first try he fell off! But they threw him back on right after!

The adults decided to one-UP the girls! They threw him up high... till he touch the sky!!!

We also saw Vasya's baby, Timothy! But I was told to show the picture much later as a surprise?

Day 9.5 - Saturday, Aug. 1st

Going to skip the morning(for now) and go right into the most challenging experience of my life.Yesterday we left for the Romani settlements to assess the location of the 2 outreach events. I wasn't sure what to expect and in my mind this next week should be easier than the first...

As we left the city and into a smaller town we learned that Romani settlements usually plant itself just on the outskirt of a town/city.

As we entered into the settlement I knew right away this is going to be the toughest challenge I have ever face. Physically, mentally, spiritually.

We got off infront of a building under construction. The local pastor told us they are building a bigger place of worship, because...

Their current church (in a shack) was too small... understatement of the year. I was standing in the back of this small room with a wide angle lense. This place sits 50 people. Its probably one of the nicest place in the whole settlement. I was in shock by then and I completely blanked out to the hundreds of flies around me... I only knew because some of my team members were slapping my back to get rid of them... If you look closely the roof is at my height.

The local pastor took us around and show us a well/hole where they get the clay/mud to make the bricks for the new church.

As we walk our way around the area a few children followed us around. One of the boy waved around a broken toy cellphone. And as he walk infront of this house he pretend to take a picture with his phone. I turned around and saw what he was "taking" a picture of...

This picture haunts me...

I have seen news, I have seen pictures and heard story... but nothing compared to being put into this place which forces me to confront my comfort level with this reality around me. At that moment I can't reconcile what I was seeing... I was traumatized and in shock...

We left this settlement and headed to another where the outreach event will take place. They had a small field and a church.

Inside the small church there were many pictures on the wall... of previous camps hosted by other european countries... There was also a picture with a S.Korean pastor. It seem he has been here for many years. I can not imagine the love he has for these people...

... Finalizing plans for the 2 days...

The picture below summed up my experience that day. Everything was blurry and distanced. Not that the camera can't focus... but I can't focus. . In my mind I was asking... how can I serve 250 of these children when I can't even hold 1 child's hand. I was very disappointed at myself. And throughout that night my mind wrestle to reconcile why I am here. They are the same as us in the eyes of God. We are all just as dirty. We are all just as loved. If Jesus can eat with sinners and touch the sick, why can't I?  I knew I have 2 days to make it up. And I pray that God will help me move pass my weaknesses and do the work of Him who sent me.