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Pastoral Pondering: Christian life
will be
easier when we behold a new heart
Their
mission is to
care for children |
Greg and Jerusha Shaffer sold their home, quit their jobs
and are moving to Romania to help orphans |
By Schellene Clendenin, Newberg
Graphic reporter
E-mail Schellene at sclendenin@eaglenewspapers.com
|
Although they have no children of their own, Greg, 28, and Jerusha, 26,
Shaffer want to devote the rest of their lives to caring for them.
The children they will care for are aged 3 and younger. Tiny, and starved for
attention, crammed into rooms with dozens of other children, many have never had any human
contact, except for scheduled diaper changes and feedings.
So on Nov. 18 the couple will pack up their few remaining possessions and hop
on a plane to Romania where they plan to volunteer to teach and care for children at an
orphanage in Brasov.
And except for short visits every other year, they don’t plan to return
— “pretty much indefinitely,” Greg said. “We plan on going over there
and living there.” Eventually they would like to begin a Christian orphanage of their
own.
The idea for the mission, said Greg, a soccer coach at Open Bible and
competitive coordinator at the Oregon Youth Soccer Organization, stemmed from visits he
and his wife have taken to the country in the past few years.
“We went there about four years ago,” Jerusha said. “When we
went there the first time I went to the big orphanage. I really felt drawn to those kids
and wanted to take them home with me. Since then I’ve been back twice to visit.”
The couple will both teach in a school there; Greg will work full-time while
Jerusha plans to only teach two English classes and spend the rest of her time with the
more than 300 toddlers currently residing at the orphanage.
Both are licensed teachers: Greg worked for two years at Open Bible and
Jerusha worked there for six until she quit to prepare for the move.
Jerusha said her sister joined them on their first visit to Romania and
decided to stay and help the children. Since that time, her sister has adopted two orphans
and is now living in a place that is pretty bearable by Romanian standards.
“We wanted to adopt these kids,” Jerusha said. “Last time we
went back we visited Brasov. We feel the Lord wants us over there. Our hearts are with the
orphans over there.”
When the couple decided to go they knew they would not be able to make much,
if any, money. They wrote a letter to the people of their church asking for monetary help
and prayers, Greg said.
So far they have received large one-time donations for the move from people
who are interested in helping these children. In addition, Open Bible Christian School,
Fellowship Open Bible church in Portland where they attend services and several family
members and friends will either provide the couple with funds every month or will pray for
them and the children they are helping.
“We were trying to sell the house,” Jerusha said, before they could
move. “This weekend and next we are having a huge garage sale. We’ve already
sent off nine boxes of things to Romania. We’re trying to bring over things to make
the new home homey, trying to raise support and talking and meeting with people supportive
of helping orphans.”
When they arrive in Brasov, they will live with family members and friends
already established there and they plan to begin adoption proceedings as soon as the
government there will let them.
“It all boils down to the fact that we feel that we as a couple have a
lot to offer to these kids,” Jerusha said.
Between the two of them they only know about 30 words in Romanian, so they
will have to learn the language quickly. Jerusha said on a prior visit she and Greg had
purchased a book and were trying to talk to the locals with its help, but, in the end,
decided to wait until they moved there to pick up the language.
“When we got over there people were like, we don’t talk like
that,” she said. Luckily for them many of the children are taught English in school
and can translate a little.
After they have lived in Brasov for six months, the couple will be allowed to
take children home with them, which is not the ideal situation for them because the
children can be taken back to the orphanage at any time.
“Right now all adoptions are halted because they are trying to reform
the system,” Jerusha said.
Orphanages in Romania are depressing places. Under Communist Nicolae
Ceausescu’s rule, birth control was outlawed as a way to populate the region with
people that could be placed in armies, she said.
Many children lie in the same diaper the entire day, they said, causing
bleeding rashes that are then stained with iodine. Some crave attention from anyone who
will come near, while others are withdrawn, avoiding eye contact and sitting quietly,
alone in their cribs.
For the last 20 years poverty-stricken parents have been encouraged to turn
their children over to the government-run orphanages. And although some parents return for
their children, she said, most do not.
“Now it’s something they don’t even think about,” she
said. “If they have a child they take them to an orphanage, because they don’t
have money.”
Jerusha is sure depression will be a challenge for her. “These children
are treated horribly at orphanages, and the workers are so deadened to these babies, they
are seen as objects,” she said. “It’s a horrible system.
“We want to take in babies for sure but teenagers drag on your
heart,” she said, adding that many of the orphans, once they leave the orphanages,
end up in prison or on the streets because they have already become institutionalized.
“We are hoping to help these kids. You don’t see grown up orphans
anywhere.” |
|
From Nov. 1,
2003, Newberg Graphic
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