WEEK EIGHT

 

This beautiful Catholic Church, Co-Cathedral of St Nicholas, is on the Námestia in Prešov and we walk past it nearly everyday.  This church dates back to the 13th century and at one time is considered one of the most perfect hall churches in the former Kingdom of Hungary.  Now it is the oldest historical building in Prešov.  At night it is amazingly beautiful.  We feel lucky to live so close to it.  Our little Church meeting room is directly across from it.

We had an appointment in Snina, Slovakia this week. Snina is about 1  1/2 hours directly east from Prešov through the most beautiful rolling hills.   In Snina we met with Jozefina and Daniel Obšitniková,  who founded the Nadacia Pro Futura Foundation. The Church has partnered with them on many major humanitarian projects. They have a wonderful after school program and encourage Roma kids to attend school.  Their building is a safe place for the kids to come to socialize, play games and have activities. As a reward for attending school that day, kids get to choose a candy bar out of a basket. Many Roma parents don't want their children in school. They would rather have them out begging or finding food.  The Obšitnikovás are doing all they can to help families understand the importance of an education. With the help of the missionaries as our translators, we had an interesting discussion regarding their foundation and the many projects they have created to assist the marginalized citizens of their region.  We discussed several projects and hope to begin working to develop another one in the near future.

The Obšitnikovás then took us to visit Spojena Skola Internatna. SSI is a boarding school for disadvantaged or disabled teens which prepares them through vocational training for jobs in service industries. We are in year 3 of a 3-year project (kudos to the Kozaks) providing the necessary clothing and protective gear associated with the type of vocational training path the student has chosen. For instance, a hard hat and boots for students in the construction program, uniforms for students in the food services industries, etc.  We will complete that project this year.

After visiting SSI, we traveled back to Humenné and stopped by VALLE n.o., a non-profit senior citizen center which provides 24/7 care of the elderly. The Church provided much needed beside tables, dining tables and cardiac armchairs. We also helped provide for a cover over the front entry.  We were able to inspect the equipment and will be closing this project soon.

In our humanitarian training meeting this week, our Directors shared with us an interesting survey which was done in several major cities in Eastern Europe.  The results surprised us.  This survey was done randomly on the streets and was designed to focus on the major concerns of East Europe people/families.  The number one concern and interest is the need to "Strengthen the Family".  We were pleasantly surprised to see that many Eastern European mothers and fathers are concerned about the welfare of their families. With our mission assignment including Self Reliance, we hope to begin facilitating some of the topics in this valuable program.  You can see the other results of the survey above. 

We hope you have a wonderful week.  We miss you and love you all!