To find what you need, try using the Site Map for now.
| Worldwide Trips > Volunteer Journal > Radauti, Romania Trip - Sarah's Journal Radauti, Romania Trip - Sarah's Journal Sarah Auernhammer - Financial Consultant, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Pre-Trip
Meet the rest of the team:
Brian Boyle, Team Leader, Financial Consultant, Santa Barbara, CA. This is Brian's first time leading a Thrivent Builds Worldwide trip. He has had considerable experience in world travel (33 countries) including 2 Habitat for Humanity Global Village trips to Guadamala and Ghana, Africa. His "Been there,
done that...will do it again!" type of attitude will make this trip a rewarding experience for all of us!!!
Debi Brace, Senior analyst, Green Bay, WI. Debi has volunteered and organized several local builds in the Green Bay area and is currently working towards her Horticulture Landscape Cerificate. Besides gardening, she likes to travel and cook.
David Francis, Head of Equities, Appleton, WI. Why Habitat? Dave feels it is good for the mind, body and soul. Intellectually: by living another culture. Physically: by pushing away from the office and working with our hands. Soul: by making someone's dream a reality!
David Gregg, Lead Integration Analyst in IT, Minneapolis, MN. Dave has worked on over a dozen Habitat for Humanity projects in the Twin Cities. He is a big fan of Habitat and loves to travel, so the chance to combine the two is “Awesome.” Dave has been our resource guide since we’ve formed this team. He has done research we have used in planning the trip and has continued to be our “go to guy” regarding sights to see, photo taking and use of his computer.
Kevin Petersen, is a Manager in New Business Service, Appleton, WI. He grew up on a dairy farm in Southeastern Wisconsin and is looking forward to an incredible opportunity to experience Romania and, better yet, improve the lives of others half way around the world. He is married to his wife Terry and has two daughters ages five and eight.
Kevin Schmitting, Senior Analyst in Small Cap, has been with Thrivent for 10 years and lives in Appleton, WI with his wife, Lynn and three children. He was able to “get a hall pass” from his family for 10 days for this trip and when he returns, will be going on a family trip where he will be sharing with his family his experiences in Romania.
James Smith, Senior Mutual Fund Accountant in Fund Administration, Minneapolis, MN. James and his wife, Michon live on three acres on a small lake in MN. This is his first “real” trip abroad after volunteering on many local projects. He was pleased that we incorporated a “no man left behind” rule as you’ll see below!
Don Stingle, Manager of Field Office Technologies, Appleton, WI. Don lives with his wife, Marily and four children in Black Creek, WI. Don volunteers through his church in bringing groups of older Russian orphans to America and matches them with potential adoptive families here. His youngest two are 10 year old twins from Russia and he has told me he wouldn’t mind adopting 2 – 4 more!! In his spare time while others are perfecting golf, he is perfecting his fluent Russian.
Day of Arrival Bucharest, Romania
Day One
On Saturday night we stayed outside of Brasov in a hotel called “Bella Vista” up on the hill, which accordingly had a beautiful view of the city.
Day Two The Black Church
Radauti, Romania Habitat is creating an entire neighborhood (20 houses) in the north end of the city, and several houses are already constructed.
The team worked on either interior painting or "taping and mudding" drywall on four separate duplexes. Debra and I were directed to one of the duplexes to paint. We met Maria and her daughter, Irina, recipients of the house. We instantly began working and with the language barrier and urgency to get going, there was no time to invest in relationship building. For a group of intellectual “pencil pushers”, the transition to “real” work is a test of our mettle!
We look forward to spending more time with the families tomorrow. Hopefully the rain will end and we will have nice weather.
Day Four The walk to the work site is about one mile from our hotel. We chatted about what we would experience during the day, while walking. Would we continue our previous day's work? Would we switch roles (painting vs. drywall mudding)? Or would we end up with our most feared job—digging trenches by hand? Everyone but Kevin, Kevin, and I painted, while we finished the drywall installation and mudding on Vasily's house. We were having fun with humor, but it was difficult to describe to our Romanian friends. Today was a transitional day for many team members, with relationships and bonds being created between team members and family members, as well as with Habitat workers. Kevin, Kevin, and I had much more communication with our Habitat work leader Christi (he is also a Habitat home owner) as well as with Vasily, the new owner of the home we were working on. This was also a shopping day, where we purchased tools for the local Habitat chapter with donations from individual team members.
The last stop was even more emotional and troubling—Vasily's home. He, his wife, and infant son live in a 1 room house with no running water, no bathroom, and worse yet, no other children. Their other 3 children need to stay at a parent's home 35 miles away due to the lack of room in the house. The one room is only about 9 X 12 feet. Vasily spoke about his feelings about working with us and his appreciation for our help. We feel like we have a new friend in Vasily.
The team closed the evening with a brief devotion and discussion of our feelings on the day's events. It is apparent that the family interactions, bonds, and friendships are creating deep feelings in team members and drastically changing our views of what is important in life and how that impacts our Christian beliefs and how we act on them.
Day 5 Radauti, Romania I had a chance to reflect on how powerful last night’s meetings really were. With our interpreter, we could feel how deeply grateful these families were for the help we were providing. Our interpreter, Adi was wonderful, helping Debra and I today as we worked side by side with Maria and her daughter, Irina. Before Adi arrived we had some difficulty as it seemed Maria was yelling at us as well as her daughter. She walked very fast everywhere she went (more like a march) and raised her voice as she talked and seemed to have a distinct way she wanted the painting to be done.
Pizza was enjoyed at lunch and we dined in the evening at another local restaurant, the "Antiqe Restaurant". Brian has continued to encourage us to go “outside” our comfort zones, to facilitate personal growth. We had a perfect opportunity at dinner, where many traditional dishes were tried, including cow brains and, as the daily special—wild boar.
Transylvania We took a break late morning for a "light" snack of Romanian pancakes, which are similar to crepes and filled with plum jam or chocolate! We all thought we would be losing weight on this trip…not so! Everything was so delicious! We were happy for this afternoon break where again we had the chance for fellowship and sharing in the minivan.
After one other monestary visit, we headed back to Radauti through the Transylvanian foothills of the Carpathian Mountains—the most green lush countryside I’ve ever seen. The team closed the day with a prayer, dinner and a team meeting. It was a welcome break and we are looking ahead to working on the homes again tomorrow.
Day 7 Radauti, Romania After breakfast, our Habitat coordinator and the Director of Radauti Habitat took us to the local open market. They were concerned and warned us of pick-pocketers and beggars. We apparently could be targets as we stood out a bit from the crowd. They again reminded us to keep our wallets and money close to our bodies. As we entered, the smell of fresh fruits and produce consumed me. I hadn't seen such fresh fruits and vegetables in a long time. It was a wonderful cultural experience and I loved the efficiency of the system. We bought some strawberries and sweet cherries to bring to the worksite for a snack.
Day 8 Radauti, Romania We had a wonderful afternoon picnic with all of the families! We played frisbee, ate great food and danced all afternoon. It was such a wonderful experience to see the families interacting and how excited they were getting to soon move into their new homes. We learned today they are also building a neighborhood playground which is something we hadn't seen the entire time we were in Romania!
Day 9 Team leader Brian Boyle reflects on the Thrivent Builds Worldwide experience
There are some people that I would like to thank for helping out on this trip. Sheila Crowley, Thrivent Builds Worldwide Coordinator, was an inspiration and a big help to me in planning and preparing for this trip. Sarah Auernhammer and Don Stingle helped a lot with the journaling, often staying up late to make it possible for us to share some of our experiences with others. Dave Gregg was there with the camera at every turn. Also a special thanks to all the people at Thrivent Financial who have built and maintain our relationship with Habitat with Humanity. I feel the relationship between Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and Habitat for Humanity is the perfect match. Both organizations focus on protecting and bettering the lives of the people in which they work with. I hope this relationship continues to grow and I am excited and looking forward to being a part of strengthening this relationship. To my team, thanks again for changing my live and working together to change the lives of some of the less fortunate in the world.
Enjoy the journey of life,
|
Introductions
Transylvania, Romania
There are some beautiful homes in Radauti, however, some of the housing in Radauti could be described as nothing more than shacks with rotten boards for sides and rusted tin for roofs. Some look more like a shed on a farm than a house. The standard of living for some is very poor, with the typical family earning, on average, $300 to $350 per month. Recipients of past Habitat homes in Radauti make approximately $100 to $150 per month, with monthly mortgages averaging approximately $30 per month.
The site foreman and Radauti Habitat Executive Director joined us for dinner. They presented us with a bottle of homemade “Palinca” (pa-lin-ka), a traditional Romanian spirit, as prolific to the Romanians as Vodka is to Russians. It is made from plums, and team members discribed the taste anywhere between tequila and gasoline! It is tradition to drink this prior to dinner to spur the appetite.
Team member Don Stingle shares his thoughts on today’s Thrivent Builds experience
The day ended emotionally, as we participated in home visits with 4 families. We collectively brought several gifts for the children and presented them as we visited each family. These visits were clearly the most emotional part of the trip, observing first hand the types of housing that these families live in and the struggles that they face. The first family we met lives in a two room flat (kitchen, living room, and tiny bathroom. The entire flat was less than 300 square feet and the 10 X 10 living room also served as bedroom, dining room, etc. for all of the family’s activities. The couple has two daughters (12 and 9), with a baby on the way.
Today was another long work day, as the weather was warmer (mid 80's) with less wind than yesterday. Our group is bonding well. The physical labor is tapping our reserves and the group is really beginning to lean on each other for help and support.
With Adi interpreting, we received a whole different perspective. Her loud and demonstrative actions were really signs of her passion for how proud she was and how perfect she wanted her new home. As she talked through Adi waving her hands and raising her voice, she was her telling us how were were like a ray of sunshine for her and her family. She was so greatful and wanted to work just as hard in her new home. Because of this chance at improving her life she wanted everything to be just perfect. She needed it to be done very quickly as new owners are taking over where she currently lives and she is being evicted. She said we were like a bouquet of flowers in her new home. Debra and I laughed as we sure didn’t look our best in our paint splattered work clothes!
Meanwhile, at the house next door, there was a different experience going on. Brian, James, Dave Francis, and Don had a miscommunication with staff over the installation process of the floors. During the discussion with Habitat staff, one staff member left the house in anger. It turns out the instructions were not being followed on the product label—however, our team members were following them. We learned that it is very easy to miscommunicate directions, commands, or questions on these types of building projects where multiple languages are spoken. In the end, however, this was a positive growth experience for all that were involved.
Our first stop was in the Orthodox monestary in Rasca, which was about 1 hour south of Raudauti. This was a very unique cultural visit for all of the team members. At the monestary, we were treated to a wonderful multi-course meal, prepared by the monks who reside there. It was a completely vegetarian meal, due to the fact that we are currently in an Orthodox Lenten period. All of the food was grown at the monestary, and the wine and spirits were prepared there. One of the monks, of the 20 who reside there, spoke perfect English and was able to answer our questions regarding the Orthodox faith, as well as explain the details of the various frescoes and artwork in the church. Several services are held each day, with the main worship starting at 10 p.m. and continuing to 3:00 a.m. The monks sleep from 3:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.
The monestary, which was built in 1542, had the exterior fresco work completed in 1550. In 1830, all of the frescoes were painted over in oil-based paint. The church is currently undergoing restoration to recover the hidden frescoes. This process will take about three years to complete. We were able to see areas that were exposed to the original work and it was beautiful with very vibrant colors!
Today was another full work day; however, we were on a slightly changed schedule from “normal”. There are lots of tired muscles, and team members are each feeling the stress of a long week with late bedtimes.
We had a great workday! Today I learned how to install parquet flooring. We changed partners and Don Stingle and I were teamed up. We laughed about the big strapping Midwest boy partnering with the California girl. He showed me the ropes on how to lock in the floor and I even learned how to use a jigsaw. His "Git er done" attitude made me work even harder. Meanwhile next door, Debi Brace and Dave Francis knocked out some serious work themselves. We took a break and had a little fun crowning Debbie the mud/parquet queen with a duct tape sash and all, as she and Dave made a lot of progress in a short period of time. This was my most gratifying day work-wise as everyone on our team bonded like never before.
Today we worked in the morning. Again a great day as all the team members rallied to get the flooring done. The site supervisor indicated he was very impressed by our hard work and dedication. The last morning task was to complete one of the floors in the living area of the house. It was neat to see all the team members gathered around to click in that last piece of flooring!
Ten homes are nearing completion, and the dedications should happen at the end of June. All that is left on most homes is final touches on flooring and paint, and then the installation of trim, cabinets, and fixtures. Our team was very instrumental in getting the building schedule back on track—one that was slipping in weeks preceding our arrival. It is very gratifying to see these homes near completion and the excitement and anticipation on the faces of the families—especially the children. All of the team members bonded in a special way.
As the leader of the team to Romania, I just wanted thank the team for a wonderful experience. The team was made up of an incredible group of individuals that worked well together and with the local people. Throughout our trip the team made me proud to represent them, Thrivent Financial, Habitat for Humanity and the American people. It was a life changing experience for a lot of the team, including myself.