WEEK SEVEN

We started the week by traveling to Žilina to meet with the Foreign Police to be officially recognized as a temporary residents.  We might have felt a little intimidated but the police officer who interviewed us made a nervous situation much easier. Taking Marilyn’s fingerprints has always been difficult and this police officer experienced the same situation. After multiple tries, he was finally able to get her prints.  He then asked Marilyn what profession she had before coming to Slovakia.  Thinking this was official business, she stated she had been a school teacher.  He let out a roaring laugh and made a sweeping motion with his hand as if he was swatting someone on the head like that must be the reason her fingerprints were so worn down! Do you know any teachers that swat students on the head these days? :)

While we were in Žilina we met with an Implementing Organization that the Church has worked with for the past several years.  Our predecessors, the Kozak's, had worked on a project at a school called Špeciálna základná škola.  The schools in Slovakia are interesting.  Most special needs schools are run by private organizations and get very little funding from the government. The principal of this school told us that millions of Euros get allotted by the government for education each year but very little of it actually makes it into the schools (Corruption seems to be everywhere). These schools are constantly asking for money from municipalities, churches and other philanthropic organizations to keep their doors open.  

At the beginning of the school year, families are asked to provide certain hygiene supplies to last for the  entire school year. The school's objective is twofold: 1) To teach the students proper hygiene techniques using those items which they do not traditionally learn at home, and 2) to have the hygiene items for use in classrooms during the school year.  The  Roma children especially needed  hygiene items with the school providing support by teaching them the proper use of these items. Although not directly related, but to show how this concept of providing your own necessities is common in Slovakia, hospitals require patients to provide their own toilet paper, towels, soap and other necessities during a hospital stay. Due to the lack of financial resources these Roma families were unable to provide the necessary supplies for their 81 children. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provided kits with the necessary hygiene items for all 81 students. 

When we met with the school directors, we asked what their most urgent need would be for the school.  Most organizations are so grateful for any help they can receive and always are so conservative in their requests.  We were interested in learning that their greatest need was to replace 40-year old chalkboards with new magnetic whiteboards.  They are currently using the old-fashioned green chalkboards you probably recall from your grade school days.  We hope we can begin a project soon to help them obtain the needed whiteboards.  

We have been so impressed with how well the schools are maintained.  Some of these schools date back to before communism, they may be old and outdated but they are immaculate and well run.

On another day we travelled to Sočovce to close a project which was also started by the Kozak's.  This was one of their favorite places to visit, and we can see why.  The Centrum pre Deti a Rodniny Sečovce Center was established in 1960 for the purpose of providing care and establishing legal guardianship to 109 at risk children.  Most of the children are placed into the facility by court order,  mainly because families did not have the needed financial resources or ability to care for a severely handicapped child. 

The organization provides care for children who suffer from multiple conditions, including congenital abnormalities, genetic disorders, cancer, lung and respiratory problems, mental and emotional disabilities.  They also provide care for low functioning autistic children and children who have been the victims of sexual abuse.  It was heartbreaking to see, but also heartwarming to see how these children, including babies, are so lovingly cared for by the amazing staff.  These children are so, so loved.  The Church provided hospital beds along with other medical equipment for these young long-term care patients.  We hope to begin a project to help this organization provide a safe and healthy outdoor environment to help in the long term rehabilitation of these young patients.

One of our  favorite Implementing Organizations Representatives is Darina Barančiková.  As you recall she is the government director of Slovakia Roma Villages.  She made arrangements for us to visit two Roma villages in the Eastern area of Slovakia.  We first met at village called Ondavske Matcasovce.  We met with a group of Romani women who had developed a council  from the Roma village  that worked hand in hand with the adjoining municipality.  This is one of the few Roma villages that works in harmony with the local mayor and municipality. Most mayors refuse to spend municipal funds to help Roma villages.  The main concern is that the village has no water. Can you imagine living in a home with no water access?   The Slovakia government is working on a major multimillion dollar project to bring fresh water into the village.  We met with this group of women to talk about  their greatest community needs and what the Church could  do to help.  Once again their request was  modest in comparison to our standard of living in America.  They were asked if we could supply 1 sewing machine so the women in the village could use it to make clothes for their families and also to produce products that could be sold on in neighboring towns and villages.  They have done a beautiful job of refurbishing a donated building to be used as their community center.  This group was one of the best examples of Roma villagers working tirelessly in improving the relationships with the local municipality to improve their quality of life.  These wonderfully hospitable women provided a nice lunch for us even though they have very few resources themselves. It was a pleasure to meet them and we hope to be able to help their little village.

We next traveled to a Roma village in Petrovce and met with the Romani Council in this Village.  Another example of how the Roma are working hard to build relationships with the municipalities.  We met two brothers, good young men who by sheer will, pulled themselves out of the poverty and the mindset of their village to get an education. Now they both have jobs with the Community Center.  The amazing thing is that they still live in the village and are trying to improve their whole community.

We asked the council what their  greatest need was in their village and their response was...managing the garbage.  We drove out to the village and to observed how serious the issue was. It was unbelievable and we've seen it in nearly every Roma village we have been in.   It is disheartening when some of the community residents have a desire to clean things up, while others are totally oblivious to the seriousness of the problem.  These are the types of issues that take a tremendous amount of time to--first; get everyone on board with a plan and second; keep the project going through continual training and monitoring.  Tim, one of the brothers, is working with the local municipality to come up with a plan to teach and train the residences on how important it is to keep the garbage cleaned up and in many cases recycled.  We are not sure how we can help, but with the determination of these young men and their committee we know that an ongoing project will have a huge impact on everyone in this  Roma village.

We love and miss you all!