Day One: A Four-Country Day!

Our journey today brought us from the front steps of Black Forest Academy to the Basel-Mulouse Airport, to Budapest, Hungary and finally to here, the Pensuinea Catalina in Oradea, Romania. Though it is easy to be in three countries in one day, from where we live at the borders of Germany, France and Switzerland, only a special day takes us to four countries! 


In this full day of traveling, we enjoyed the marvelous hospitality of Swiss Air, a windy walk along the Danube in Budapest and a journey across Hungary and into Romania by bus. The team spent the day getting better acquainted over card games, riddles and a late-night supper when we arrived in Romania.

Our team (Jay Adams taking the photo) gathered in the Basel-Mulhouse Airport, ready for the Romanian adventure!

We are thankful today for the support of friends, family and the community of Kandern, who have worked to hard in bringing us to this place. Thank you for your encouragement every step of the way!


Check again tomorrow for a few more photos of the journey and our activities Sunday before we start in at the work site Monday morning.

Pre-Trip Pizza and Planning

With our departure just around the corner, the Romania Partnership Team meets at trip leader Phil Peters's house for dinner. Together, we share an evening of conversation, community and learning more about Romania and the project in Oradea that we'll be working on together. 


Phil tells us that we'll be building homes for Valerie, Adrian and Maria, three young adults who have grown up in the orphanage in Oradea and now will have apartments of their own. All in all, the evening brings us closer together as a team, and makes us even more excited for the serving and adventures to come!

We gather to enjoy exotic "foreign" pizza: Dominos all the way from France!

Students interview one another, asking what excites and frustrates them

The team learns more about Romania by taking a quiz on the language, culture and Habitat For Humanity Romania

We finish the evening with ice cream and brownies, to the enjoyment of all!

Romania Team Goes to Zürich!

On Sunday, March 11, members of the Romania Habitat Partnership Team were invited to the International Protestant Church in Zürich, Swizterland, to present information about the project to build homes to a large number of children in their church service.


After showing a short video each Habitat Team member shared details about building homes for the homeless. The young children asked many good questions.

Romania Partnership students present to the children at IPC Zürich

"How can your team build a whole house in just one week?" one child asked. Near the end of the presentation another child answered the question for everyone: "I know how you can do it" she said, "TOGETHER!".

The teachers decided to hold a bake sale for the following Sunday, with the proceeds going to help complete the roof of the home that will be built during the week before Easter.

Everyone had a lot of fun!

A great morning of encouragement and connection in Zürich!