“You will be working with an orphanage in Romania”
That’s what my team was told.
Then we made it to Romania, and discovered we’d been misinformed. No, we weren’t at an orphanage. We were working with something better; a family.
When I think orphanage, I picture a building full of parent-less kids with a few adults around to take care of them. Yet these few adults can’t give each child the love and attention they need. Then, when the kids turn 18 they are on their own.
That’s not what Caminul Felix is. Caminule Felix is a collection of houses. Each one houses a family, comprised of a married couple who have chosen to be mother and father to up to 15 children who formerly didn’t have parents. These families may be larger than most families, and come together differently, but they last forever. My team discovered that on our very first day of ministry.
On our first day we didn’t work with kids like I thought we would. Nope, we helped build a house.
This house was built by volunteers associated with Caminul Felix, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. It was built for three young adults who’d grown up at Caminul Felix and were now ready to be out on their own.
When the kids who grow up at Caminul Felix turn 18, they’re not just shoved out of the home to fend for themselves in the world. No, they leave the home with the full support of a family behind them. A family who helps them get their first “apartment” by building houses that these young adults can rent for less than half the price of renting a smaller place elsewhere. Not all the kids who grow up at Caminul Felix choose this option – some choose to get their own places farther away – but what a blessing it is to have this option!
Many of the people who grow up in one of the families do eventually move farther away or school, jobs, and to start their own families, but they come back to visit. The first week we were at Caminul Felix my team met several different people who had grown up there, moved away, and were back visiting for a “sister’s” wedding. This slightly non-traditional family they grew up in didn’t end with their childhood, but instead is held together forever by love.
Not all the kids who grow up at Caminul Felix can move out and easily get jobs when they turn 18 – a lot of the kids who grow up in these families found themselves here because they have special needs, making it nearly impossible for them to find jobs. Well, a family does not abandon it’s own, so the Caminul Felix team figured out a solution. They started a dairy farm, wood working shop, and sewing business to provide jobs and salaries for the special needs members of their family.
On our second day at Caminul Felix my team got a tour of the dairy farm. It was right in the middle of calving season and we got to witness a birth! Calving season equals extra work, so the farm crew was happy to give my team jobs to do. One morning two of my teammates and I got to help milk!
On our third day at Caminul Felix I found the place where I belonged for the month – the sewing room! I spent my month working with these lovely, welcoming, people. I was able to use my sewing skills to help them add new products to their shop.
A family– people who love you unconditionally and will be with you through thick and thin. That’s what every child needs, and that’s what Caminul Felix provides.
