Mary Gorombey in Hungary

It has been taking a while for me to settle into my new position.  Part of the problem has been finding a place for me at the Reformed Church Aid Office.  Last week, I saw my new place but there is still no table and still no computer.  So I wait and continue to work from my office at Abonyi utca.

Last week I was asked by my new colleagues if I could help with a special urgent project.  I of course agreed.  There has been an “extreme” cold snap with record breaking cold, temperatures as low as  -25 degrees Celsius and snows of 30 cm in one day.    This may not be such a big deal for an average Canadian but it’s unusual here and it hit people unexpectedly.  In the past year, a lot of people have slipped below the poverty line and have been finding it difficult to make ends meet.  This means something different than your average Western European.  For them, the financial crisis has meant that they can’t afford to take a holiday abroad.  In this part of the country it has meant people losing their homes, unable to heat and provide food for their families.  It is THAT bad.

The Church Aid office began a firewood distribution project last week.  They were to support 30 needy families with 20.000 forints worth of firewood which hopefully help families through this cold snap.  My job was to call local congregations throughout the country to help with this project. Basically through various media channels we let people know of this help and intended to help all those who indicated their need.  Pastors were to help with arranging the actual ordering of the wood and its delivery, and Church Aid would transfer the cost of the wood into their Church accounts.  The pastors were very helpful and cooperative.  The odd one responded by stating after I told them the person who needed the wood: “But I don’t know this person, they don’t go to my church.”  To which I responded “This is the perfect chance to do some outreach!” and they answered by saying “Yes, you are right!” Most of the pastors, though knew us and had helped us before and were right on board.

Walking to work today, I got a phone call from one of the pastors.  She called to say that she had received the funds and had delivered the wood and the Roma families were very much  in need and were very thankful.  She thanked us for letting her help and was very grateful.  The pastor also asked if she could ask for help for two members of her congregation.  I gave her the information and although I don’t know if funds are available, I think I will try to help on my own.  Often in mission work, you don’t see the tangible result of your work but this was one occasion when I was able to see it and be a part of someone staying warm in these cold days.  All in a day’s work!

Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. – James 2:15-17

Dear Friends

It is a blustery cold afternoon here in Budapest but with the grey, there is always the hope and the waiting for the sun to shine.

As part of my new job of coordinating a scholarship programme for children of difficult circumstances, at the beginning of January I had the pleasure of  visiting Romania and Sub-Carpathian Ukraine.  I accompanied a journalist and a photographer to help communicate the project to potential supporters.

The word that came to mind a I reflect upon this trip is the word  “warmth”.  We visited a children’s home in Élesd (Alesd) Romania and were given a very warm welcome by the elderly couple who run the home.  Not only were we welcomed, but the children as they returned home after their schooling were greeted with a kiss and a hug.  Everyone of them was asked one by one as they arrived how their day was, what kind of marks they received just like a regular family.  It was heartwarming to see this and to meet the children, all of whom were either orphaned, given up by their parents or taken into state care.  The children were very friendly, happy and healthy but very much hungry for our attention.  We were offered a warm bowl of bean soup and walnut rolls.  After this lunch we travelled back to Debrecen where we had noticed the temperature had dropped suddenly.

I had left my scarf at home and was feeling the cold, so I ran out into the city to buy a scarf and some warm socks in preparation for the next day.  Until the last minute we didn’t know how we were getting to Beregszász and the itinerary for the day.  My colleague who was finalizing the details vaguely told us the arrangements on the morning of our departure to Ukraine.  We were to drive to the border park on the Hungarian side and walk across to the Ukrainian side where a dark coloured car would be waiting for us.  This all sounded clandestine.  As an aside, our crossing of the border was hilarious.  A tall thin female journalist dressed in a black coat wearing a red barret and carrying a red handbag, a unkempt looking dark curly haired art photographer and I began walking aimlessly looking for the passport control.  We didn’t see one for pedestrians immediately and continued.  In the meantime the photographer got a phone call and engaged in a personal conversation, something about a birthday party for a family member.  We were about halfway to Ukraine when a Hungarian border guard calls out after us and comes hurriedly toward us with a German Shepherd.  ”Hey, hey!  Has anyone checked your documents?”  ”That’s what we were looking for.” We said.  So we had to turn back and proceed to the booth where they handled documents for people travelling by cars.  Once that was done, we walked to the Ukranian side had our documents stamped and continued on to indeed a black car which awaited us.  It was cold thank goodness my feet were warm because of my new socks.  It was a few degrees colder in this part of the world, snow on the ground, hoar frost on the trees and a wind!!

We were driven to a school where we met three young girls applying for the scholarship programme of the Hungarian Reformed Church Aid Foundation.  It was very touching to hear of their stories, their dreams and their wishes.  They were very sweet and apparently the top students in their school.

After this, the time was running late as we were to receive lunch at the Diaconal centre in Beregszász but there was one more story that we had to get.  A single mother of 4 had just been evicted from her apartment and was able to get a council flat but it was in very bad area of town.  We visited the flat.  It had no plumbing, no electricity, no windows and no heating.  We! Were freezing but were wondering when there would every be warmth in this flat for those young children.  When we asked this young girl  how she would spend the amount she would receive via the scholarship, she said she would save some of it for herself to buy small gifts for her family and the rest she would give to her mother so that she would buy them some food.  It was very touching.  The warmth in that family seemed to overcome the lack of heat in the dwelling.

We returned to Budapest that evening.  Touched by what we had experienced during our very short visit.  There is so much need and I am shocked and saddened at what Communism and Globalism has done to these families.  This woman’s parents’ generation knew how to plant and harvest, bake and heat their homes.  This knowledge has been lost we/they are dependent on a wage to survive, a job with an employer.  With the economic recession, factories have closed and now there is no work in this region. It is difficult for people to survive. I feel blessed that I have the chance to help improve the lives of these children through this scholarship programme I am working with through the Hungarian Reformed Church Aid Office.

Well, it has been a long time!!  I know, writing is not my strength and truth be told, I wanted to wait until I had things to write about.

I have undergone some transition in my work and life here in Budapest and wanted to wait until things had settled down before I wrote about them.

As some of you may or may not be aware of, I am no longer working with the Refugee Ministry of the Reformed Church in Hungary.  It was a tough decision to make but also a no brainer for me.  There had been so many changes that I felt I could no longer be behind the goals and aims of that ministry.  It was difficult to step away from 5 years of your hard work, but I think there are new opportunities out there and God will show them to me.

Currently I am working with a scholarship program of the Reformed Church’s Church Aid Office.  It is a program which supports those school children who come from disadvantaged backgrounds in attending school.  I am helping to administer the programme.  Right now, I am doing the not so exciting task of receiving applications and entering the data into the computer.  Eventually however I will be given the opportunity to go around and visit with these children.  Stay tuned!!

I am not able to completely give up my work with refugees.  Working with them is something I love to do.  It is where my heart is.  So I am pleased at the developments at St. Columba’s Church where I am an elder.  We are in the process of trying to find a way to help migrants and refugees in a way that is unique to our situation.  It is an exciting time.  Will write more later!

Despite many blessings in the past year, I would have to say that it was characterized by loss. The year began with a personal loss, with my grandmother going home to be with the Lord early in 2010. She was an important person in my life and her passing marked my entry into a new phase of life. To have someone who was “always there” suddenly not be there took some time for adjustment.

Also at the beginning of the year, our project co – ordinator, boss and friend, left our school integration program to pursue her doctoral studies full time. This left us with a considerable amount of uncertainty as Eniko was a key person in the life of our program. While she handed over her responsibilities to someone who seemed capable, there was a sense that things would not be the same. We soon discovered that management had changed and so had the attitude toward refugee youth. Mission and ministry became increasingly bureaucratic and impersonal. A sign of changing times?

Another sign of changing times was the national and municipal elections in 2010. The right-wing FIDESZ party won a 2/3 majority. Unfortunately their policy toward foreigners and refugees is not positive. So we have yet to see what new laws they will put into place. As a sign, they increased the number of detention facilities in Hungary from 7 to 14. One of the reception centres was turned into a detention facility, so this gives you an indication of the refugee policy.

On the positive side, several of our students completed their studies with us and were able to proceed on to bigger and better things. Our Nurses’ Aide student was able to find work at Bethesda Children’s Hospital. She is now continuing her studies to be eligible to become a registered nurse. An Afghan student completed his school-leaving exam and applied to community college. From January I helped him learn four school years of history because this is a compulsory school-leaving exam subject. He is an excellent student, and was able to do well on the History exam. Four other students of ours transferred to trade schools where they are learning heating and plumbing repair.

It was a delight to receive a small group from Melville Presbyterian Church in
late June. We organized a gathering of our young people to mark the end of the school year and this gave Rev. Ralph Fluit and his group a chance to meet with the young people I work with and my colleagues.

There was more loss in late summer when we were informed that our 2011 grant application to the European Refugee Fund was not successful. We would not have the financial means to continue our work. This made the latter part of the year incredibly stressful, with the indifference of management adding to the stress. It was disheartening to listen to empty reassurances literally until the final hour. It was only in the middle of December that I suggested we approach the General Synod office to cover part of the wages of our colleagues until June 2011. Literally in the final hour, after much lobbying, the synod agreed to provide a small bail out. One of our colleagues, an Iraqi Christian was unfortunately let go. The amount of the bail-out was not enough to cover wages, so I helped out with donations I have received over the years. Thank you!

We began the 2010 school year with 30 young people. The majority are from Afghanistan with a few from Somalia and Iraq. I worked with some of the Afghan boys who wanted to learn English. I also tutored some Iraqi children who have been in our program for a few years, helping them with history, English and whatever else they need. The fall is always a time full of challenges. It is a challenge to get older students used to going to school regularly. The laws in Hungary have become stricter, forcing youth to leave the refugee reception centre once they reach 18. These youth often have no place to go. We tried to assist as many as we could so that they wouldn’t end up on the streets. In Hungary, these young people are eligible to be housed in school dormitories if they attend school full time. While this option is not available for school breaks and holidays, it is better than nothing. I look ahead with uncertainty, not knowing what will happen after June 2011. Refugee numbers have not declined. With the events in North Africa and the Middle East, and with Italy and Greece’s practice of not registering asylum seekers and allowing them to move on, more people will stumble into Hungary seeking asylum. I hope the church will see the need and step up to help, and I pray for God’s leadership and guidance in knowing what to do.

It was a hot summer day in August when we met with a young family from Palestine. My colleagues and I were in the process of selecting the children and youth we would accept into our program for the 2010-11 school year. Thankfully or unfortunately, I don’t know which, we could only accept a few new students. This is because we had to carry on with the youth we had worked with previously (this is a good thing) and we could only expand our program to a maximum of 30 so we only had about 8 spaces left. (more…)

I look forward to Sundays. It’s my favorite day of the week. Ok, I know it means that tomorrow, Monday is the start of a new work week with new challenges and concerns. But that part doesn’t bother me. I like what I do and feel blessed that I have a job that I love to do and I look forward to Mondays. But I’d like to write to you about Sunday.

Being a missionary overseas, one of the challenges can be finding a spiritual home away from home. A place where you can hear and learn from God’s word, understand what is said and be nourished for the following week. It’s also a place for community; a place where you can meet fellow Christians and worship together but also share and encourage one another. Finding a new Church home can be difficult for missionaries. There are language barriers, cultural differences and differences in tradition and liturgy. It took me a while to find my spiritual home here in the big metropolis of Budapest. While churches are abundant and thankfully for me, language is not a problem being able to worship equally well in English and Hungarian, it still took me a while. I still alternate between a Hungarian congregation and an English speaking congregation.

The latter, is one place I call home on Sundays. Most people may look forward to Sundays because it can be the one day where they don’t have to “deal with” work. But Sundays at the St. Columba’s Scottish Mission are about meeting with the colleagues and refugees I work with and truly enjoy community and fellowship with them. Here, it is possible to discuss the matters of our school integration programme children with their parents, it is possible to hear about a refugee brother’s search for work, a rejected asylum claim, a search for housing, landlord matters, legal matters, discouragement at the continued separation of family members and joy at reunions. But it is also possible to worship, to see these brothers and sisters participating in worship collecting the offering together, singing, praying and hearing the word together. After worship I am given a little image of what it might have been like among Christians in the early church, after the service we break bread together.

A time of community

Within minutes of the after church coffee and tea mingling time, tables are arranged, chairs placed, plates, cutlery, cups appear on the table and are swiftly placed at each seat, people take places and grace is said.

Each week someone, a family, a group of friends a couple, offer to cook the Sunday lunch which we all are encouraged to enjoy together. Here refugees have a chance to give; to be proud of their traditions of their heritage, of their cuisine. Here, Hungarians or other ex-pats have a chance to cook with refugees. There is no separation in the kitchen or at the table, not by outward appearance, by language spoken or by spiritual maturity. Everyone is made to feel welcome. We are all one.

In a busy weekly schedule, on a bad week, I find myself rushing through a city, pushing through crowds, hurrying to catch buses while answering numerous telephone calls, simultaneously always watching that my personal belongings are safe. I deal with whiny teenagers who think they know everything, I am stood up by students who forgot to tell me that they decided not to come to tutoring, and I can become frustrated at reviewing the same material for the nth time.

But this time on Sunday offers me a time of community, sharing with a spiritual family, meeting with those same teenagers in a setting filled with God’s grace and mercy, being with those who know me, care for me, who I can know and care for. Although it may seem to some a continuation of work, it really is a great way to spend a Sunday, my day of rest.