Last month I lived in the capital city of Albania and partnered with a church called IPA Tirana. This little church has a huge heart for Albania to know Jesus. We had the opportunity to do a variety of ministries alongside them this month.
My favorite ministry was our time spent with the Roma (gypsy) community. In Albania, the Roma are seen as the scum of society. One of our hosts shared that many Albanians view the Roma as little better than stray dogs, and some believe that the country would be better off if the Roma were rounded up and executed.
IPA Tirana has been building relationships with this particular camp of Roma for the last 5 years. In the beginning, they would go to the camp just to spend time with the people and get to know them. After they built trust with the people, they began to meet some of their practical needs. They help them get medicine, or clothing for the winter. Now, a group from the church goes to the Roma camp every Tuesday evening and they take a hot meal and hang out at the camp until dark.
Our first week, we hopped in the church van and went to the Roma camp. We turned off the main road and tried to avoid crater-sized potholes. When we walked into the camp, it looked like something out of a National Geographic magazine. Their homes are little lean-tos made out of plywood, tarps, and cardboard. There’s a little trickle of watery sewage running through the main thoroughfare of the camp. The children were filthy and the few clothes they had on were raggedy. As one little boy danced around, I noticed he wasn’t even wearing shoes.
The people were clearly curious about the seven American girls that had just entered their camp, but they hung back. The children peered at us from behind their parents. I pulled my poppy red nail polish out of my pocket and the girls flocked to me, each of them wanting their fingers painted. I held their dirty hands and smiled at them as I painted. We giggled as I showed them to blow on their nails. We sang Father Abraham, chanted Boom Chicka Boom, and did the Chicken Dance. Slowly, I watched them come out of their shells and warm up to us. By the time we left that first night, those children captured my heart.
One day at our children’s program, AWANA, I looked out the window to see my teammate with three little Roma boys in tow.
The woman in charge, Sarah*, ran to the door. She excitedly welcomed them and made their name tags. I noticed the other children looking at them with uncertainty, but Sarah was diligent in making sure the boys were included. After a few minutes, the boys began to let their guard down and jumped right into all of the activities.
We sang My God is so Big in Albanian and the boys sang and did the motions. They learned the memory verse and even volunteered to recite it in front of everyone. When we gave everyone their plate of snacks, they sat by themselves. Sarah noticed and went to sit with them. Their eyes lit up and they pushed their plates forward, offering to share their snacks. My heart melted. These children who have nothing and certainly never get special treats were the first to offer to share what they had.
We went to the Roma camp for the last time on Tuesday. The children ran to greet us with big hugs. I painted their nails. The other girls handed out stickers. We tickled them and chased them. Toward the end, we formed our familiar circle to sing songs. I looked up to see one of the Roma boys from AWANA right there with us! His face lit up and he started singing and acting out My God is so Big. My throat began to choke up and I couldn’t sing along.
These children are seen as nothing by society. They are dirty and uneducated. They spend their days roaming the sidewalks begging so they can have food in their tummies. They are ignored and looked down upon. But at AWANA and each week at the Roma camp, we looked at them, we hugged them, and we loved them. I watched a little boy transform from timid and downcast to silly and joyful as people treated him like he had value.
These are the people that the Lord loves. These are the people he died for. These are the people His heart beats for. He loves the Roma people just as much as the wealthy businessman and child prodigy. These are the people His heart breaks for and he’s breaking mine for them too.
