Hunedoara Orphanage

On July 15th, 2011, this building became a home for children.  I remember coming to the land before the first scoop of dirt had been moved for the foundation. 

Pastor Viorel had the vision to plant a church and orphanage in Hunedoara for many years.  The city gave the property with the condition that the foundation build on the property with a few years. 

A team from the US arrived just with a container of materials just a few weeks before the property was due to revert back to the city. 

On the first trip, they were able to get the building built, but it was left unfinished for several more years.  The second trip came in 2009 when the team finished and refinished the interior.  The interior design had to change from the original plans because Romania had passed a law requiring the orphanage to have four rooms for the kitchen area, rather than one.  One room for cooking, one room for washing vegetables, one room for storing meat and a bathroom for the cook to use.  There are no laws about smoke detectors, but you must have all these rooms in your kitchen layout!  My favorite crazy rule is that you are not allowed to dry laundry in the same room you wash it.  And no, there is no good reason for that...

Here is an after photo of the same picture above.  Since 2009, the building has functioned as a church on Sundays.  The church body is Hunedoara is growing.  The opening of the orphanage creates another challenge.  The government of Romania does not allow you to hold church services in orphanages.  Sooner than later we will have to find another place to hold church in Hunedoara.

  

These are the first lives to be impacted by the new orphanage.  The family on the left was about to be destroyed by the child protection service.  There is no father in their lives.  They were homeless.  The child protection service was about to take the children and put them in seperate foster homes.  The mother would have remained homeless.  Instead, the children and their mom have been delivered from an impossible situation by the orphanage!  The family on the right lived in a home where they were abused regularly.  With no place to go, they had no choice but to take it.  This orphanage has given them an escape from the nightmare of regular beatings. 

Soon there will be more children ariving.  What a blessing it is to know that you are a part of saving lives.