With one week left to go in Romania, I went home.
I went back home to a family who embraced me with open arms.
I went back home to see hope thriving.
I went back home to a village whose unemployment rate is 100%.
I went home to the little village of Tinca, Romania.
The first time I was in Tinca, home to one of the largest Roma communities in Romania, was in the spring of 2009. I was a freshman at Lincoln Christian University. I later returned for another week-long trip, and then for a whole summer as an intern. I remember on that first trip how much my heart was broken for the Roma (Gypsy) people group.
The Roma have no homeland, they drift from place to place. Young girls from the ages of 9 to 15 are either sold into trafficking or are placed in marriages. Children are taught how to steal around the same time they are taught how to walk. The majority of women are in marriages that are abusive. Physical and sexual abuse are far too common within a home. The Romanians want nothing to do with the Roma because of the stereotype that comes with them: thieves, dirty, bad people.
Forget-Me-Not Ministries started so that the Roma people could have a chance. They have a daycare-like program where 11 children can come and be children. They get to eat a meal, get a shower, learn about Jesus, have a tutor help them with homework, and get loved on. It’s been amazing to see how much this ministry has grown in the past few years. They now have outreach programs for the men in the village with a football ministry and for the women they have JoyBeadz, where they can learn the trade of making jewelry, earn a living for their family and have a Bible study after. They’ve also recently started Seeds of Hope, which is directed towards the teen moms of the village. Their big dream is to construct a building big enough to be able to include 200 children in their program. If you want to learn more about this amazing organization I encourage you to check out their website – www.fmnministries.org.
Because our ministry site this month was only a few hours away, I had the amazing opportunity to go back to this place that is my home away from home. It had been two years since I had been back so I was pretty anxious to see how much the kids had grown.
While I was on my internship there, one of our main goals was to get Alex, the sweetest little 8 year old you’ll ever meet, to walk. He had been kept in a stroller for too long when he was younger so his legs never developed properly. When we picked him up on Tuesday morning I was so excited! AND HE WAS WALKING!! This is one of the most amazing miracles I have ever seen.
It was such a blessing to see all the kids and see that they remembered who I was! It was also super encouraging to see Rachel, Dave, and the rest of the FMN team. These people hold such a huge chunk of my heart so seeing them was like seeing family. It literally felt like I came home two months early.
Here is a video of our time spent with FMN! Enjoy!
