Yes! I’m back! I apologize for my delinquency in not writing a blog in over a month. God has taught me so much in Romania and over the next few blogs I hopeto share that with you.
Written April 2nd, 2011
And suddenly, Romania is over. I sit on a train with the extended family (team+Vali) headed towards Bucharest. From there we have a 1.5 hr layover, we’ll say goodbye to Vali, one of our contacts and board a sleeper train bound for Chisinau (capitol of Moldova) for two days of debrief.
I’m not sure where to begin.
If I left Nepal caputred by the incredible mountains and wilderness, I’ve left apart of myself here in Romania with the childrenin the Razboine neighborhood of Pitesti.
If you look closely, my clothes have drops of blue, pink, and green paint. My hands are chapped and dry from large amounts of paint thinner. My right thumb is scabbed from playing my guitar wihtout a pick. There are colorful smudges on my shirt; not dirt or paint, but makup carried by a flood of tears.
We had to say goodbye today.
We slept in until 9, which was a wonderful break from our normal time of 5:30 am. Actually my body’s alarm clock had been reset to 6:30 so I rolled around until 8:45, jumped in the shower and the rush began. A quick attempt at packing and a chocolate-filled croissant later, we left for the school. Kid’s were already waiting, they didn’t know we had canceled our normal 10 am program. This sort of news usually traveled quickly through the neighborhood. Several ladies from the church and the building manager were already there setting up the girls and mother’s room. We began to clean up the bathroom with its painted floors and newly colored tub and touched up the last bits of the murals.
Before we knew it, it was noon and the children had gathered outside, already in tears. We attempted to balance clean up and hugs, but kids kept starring into the windows sobbing. While the goodbyes had been difficult, this one broke my heart. One of my favorites, Georgana, ran into my arms, pressed her face into my stomach and sobbed. Part of me was suprised, but another whispered of the reality that these children face every day.
That until these six crazy looking world racers showed up, they might have never known this kind of love. Through smiles, laughter, song and a little discipline, the children experienced a little bit of heaven. That even though we wore the same paint-covered clothes every day, and didn’t speak their language, they craved our attention. They all showed this in different ways, the older ‘tough boys’ by looking through the window smoking (no older then 12) and giving us the one fingered salut, the youngest ones fighting to hold our hands. We played fooseball on Saturdays, taught them English throughout the week, took them to the zoo, and sang simplesongs about the endless love of their Heavenly Father. We laughed at their antics and tried not to get angry when they walked off with our possessions.
That with the help of our incredible contacts and new family we had turned the four roomsof the kindergarden into a safe place.
As we finished our cleanup and finished taking photos, we gathered them one last time to pray over them. As we locked the doors and turned to walk away, Cristi and Vali had to tell some of the kids not to chase after us. We went back to the hostel, turned in our keys, grabbed our bags and drove to the church. The people that had become our family over the last four weeks had prepared one last meal for us ( I love romanian food). A rushed meal and we drove to the train station, making one quick stop to say goodbye to more kids. Our church family helped us with our bags and after one last long goodbye, the train rolled east.
Romania has been an incredible month. We were able to work hard on some murals, love on some kids and found an incredible community.
