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| VOSH-FLORIDA MISSION TO GYPSY POPULATION IN TRANSYLVANIAN ROMANIA APRIL 28-MAY 2, 2005 BY: SUE RUDLOPH, MISSION CO-COORDINATOR
We set up our clinic on the empty second floor of a rural church that was built for and is only attended by gypsies. The missionary we worked with has worked exclusively with the gypsies and has helped plant and build 7 churches. All of our translators were Christian Romanians and we were amazed during the whole week by their patience, understanding and hard work!
After two days of work, we celebrated Orthodox Easter, which is weeks after our European Easter. We spent two more long days at the eye clinic. We feel like we had a successful mission.. Our eye clinic, as always, is instant gratification. Watching the people, men, women and children, after they finished the eye exam and got a pair of glasses (most for the first time) is so awesome! They would kiss our hands and thank us and bless us. Watching them look at their hands or out the window and for the first time in a long time, or even in their lives, be able to see clearly is a huge blessing! We were able to examine and fit over 600 with glasses. Every time we are put in these situations where it is so apparent that we have way too much and they have nothing I realize that God wants us to share all the treasures He gives us, both monetarily and spiritually and yet we don’t share enough.
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We had a successful mission trip to Romania where we conducted an
eye clinic exclusively with the gypsies. They are known as Roma
in most European countries, but in Romania they are still basically
called gypsies and they call themselves gypsies. In Romania there
are over 400,000 gypsies. They are the poorest of the poor and hated
by almost everyone. We flew into Budapest, Hungary and then drove
7 hours to Simleu Silvaniei, Romania. It is in the Transylvania
Province. The weather is very similar to the Northeast in the U.
S. So even though it was spring and the flowers were starting in
bloom, it was cold, 50’s in the daytime, and low 40’s
at night. Romania is a beautiful country, lush green fields and
rolling hills. It feels like being in a time warp however, because
they seem to be living a hundred years or more behind modern nations.
We were staying in a small village, but even when we went into larger
towns, there were hardly any cars. Most people take horse drawn
wagons, or ride horses or walk. We never saw a tractor, all the
fields were plowed with horses. They raise lots of sheep and goats
and some cows, but there are no fences on the land, and a shepherd
stays with the flock while they graze. Just a mile down the dirt
road where we were staying was a 750 year old church, beautiful,
all wood, it has only been at its present location 200 years, it
was moved form another area. The caretakers let us go in and the
walls are all covered with frescoes, what a hidden treasure.
The
gypsies are heart breaking. Their history is also heartbreaking.
Condensing a long history, they were brought originally to Europe
from India as slaves over a thousand year ago. They have evolved
into a race with no home country. They have been stopped by laws
from being a nomadic people. Historically the gypsies depended upon
being nomads for their trades. They were excellent tinsmiths, coppersmiths,
herdsmen, horse traders, etc. Hitler attempted to eliminate them
entirely, beginning with the 1938 “gypsy clean-up weeks”
and culminating in the genocide at Auschwitz. The percentage of
the gypsy population murdered by the Nazis was as high or higher
than the percentage of the Jewish population killed. 
Our
heartfelt thanks goes out to Dr. Caroline Robinson, a brand new
VOSHer, who left her busy practice in California to go with us and
serve as our Clinic Director. Dr. Robinson put forth superhuman
efforts every day of the clinic. She was an inspiration to everyone
of us. The other VOSH participants in this Mission were Sue Rudolph,
John and Carla Gehrig, Charlie Covington, Rev. Cliff Morris, Susan
Jones, R.N., David Castor and Charles Doherty.