Bringing Smiles to Romania Part 5 of 7

Castle on the Hill 


Well... I don't think I'll need that gym membership by the time I get home!! We all worked very hard today with the sun's rays glaring at us - the heat weighing down on our shoulders. Plastered in layers of suncream, sweat and insect repellent, we worked from 10am - 5pm at a new centre that Smiles are constructing in Dezna. It was an old project which unfortunately fell apart but now it is being resurrected by Mission Trip teams! The centre will be a retreat for children's outreach camps, conferences and may have a wing for those living without their hearing or without their sight.



Motivated after a snooze on the 2 hour bus ride and after hearing the disappointment that the team felt at the project's fall in 2006, we got straight to work upon arrival. The labour was hard. The sun was persistent. I think everyone came away with blisters or sunburn (if not both) but it was worth it. By the end of the day, the land at the back had doubled in size with overgrown bushes having been cut back significantly. After some intense scrubbing, the marble patio was visible again. Two rooms with rotten floorboards had the old timber removed ready for fixing. The windows were all cleaned inside and out. The plumbing was fixed to allow toilets to flush and access to clean water from taps. This abandoned, neglected project which had fallen into disrepair, was starting to come back together again. We left the centre with a sense of pride and achievement as the potential for something good became a realistic vision once again. 






We are being rewarded for our hard work tonight, staying in a local hotel which looks like it's stepped out from a fairytale. It's a like castle in the mountains surrounded by forestry. We are eating dinner on a wooden terrace  with a glass of cider in hand listening to the sounds around us. Little birds are singing, the crickets are chirping, the stream is dancing down the mountainside and the breeze is whispering through the thousands of leaves surrounding us. It's heavenly.




This evening has been very peaceful with an acoustic sing-along/worship session and a walk around the other resorts in the area.





I feel calm and rested after the long day of work, which I definitely needed. This trip has given me a sense of purpose as tomorrow, we head back to Dezna to finish the work we started, so the grounds are prepared for construction to continue from 12 years ago...

NPK X




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