Day 15: Final Day in Romania

Today we awaken once again to the gracious hospitality to the Smiles Foundation staff and the smell of fresh coffee, bacon and eggs. The staff translators and social workers lead us into the community immediately after breakfast to further share with the hurting community of people the hope that we each believe is still alive. Dr. Merrill Reese led a team to downtown Oradea to visit the homeless. He reported finding there a family of five children, the youngest of which were 2 and 3 year olds and two young adult parents. Expecting to hear from this family that their most grave issue was not having anywhere to call home, he said he was surprised to hear from the young girl that her most pressing issue was anger under which Dr. Reese shared with her is hurt. The team counseled with many homeless persons and families in the area before returning to the complex in Cihei. Dr. Harris-Keyes presented to teachers of the Smiles Foundation Tilead Primary School and Nursery and assisted them with professional consultation surrounding the issues connected to children’s response to trauma and how to overcome barriers to learning related to traumatic experiences.

Meanwhile, remaining team members visited the home of a Romanian woman, who along with her husband and 7 children was just homeless a few months ago until assisted by Smiles foundation staff in finding somewhere to call home. Since then the husband has found 2 days of work per week and she and the children have planted a garden to help her husband feed the family. After lunch the team visited the gypsy community at Tilead with many of the teachers to visit the children who are on summer vacation from school. Counseling and psychotherapy was available to a mother of 10 children whose husband struggles with substance abuse issues and who is the victim of domestic abuse, while the children of the gypsy village were delighted with interactive song in the community square. Dr. Ben Keyes and his team visited the Bratca Hospital which houses along term psychiatric patients and also has a short term geriatric unit. There the team provided counseling services to include play therapy, and individual counseling for mentally challenged patients and Dr. Keyes provided consultation for hospital staff. The team exchanged remarks today with each other and the founder and staff of Smiles as each person conveyed the transforming power of the ministry we have met here and the opportunity to have collaborated with such a dedicated team of Romanians. We came to serve this community and the staff here while sharing and utilizing our skills and training but will leave feeling that we have been the greater benefactors.

-R. LaVerne Washington

Day 14: Meeting Emotional Needs

It is hard to believe how quickly our time in Romania is coming to a close! Today the Regent team went out into different areas of the community to minister to families, provide counseling, and in many cases simply sit and listen to whomever is in front of us. Dr. Reese’s team spent time meeting with families and the homeless population in Oradea. While Smiles Foundation staff provided them with supplies to meet the family’s basic physical needs, Trauma Team members took opportunity to learn more about their situation and provide therapy for their emotional needs. Dr. Keyes’ team provided services at the Cihei Family Center, where they conducted play therapy with the children and offered basic parenting skills to the single mothers receiving services through the foundation. These children and single mothers are those whose histories include domestic violence, which is a major problem in this area and a major focus for the foundation.

Dr. Harris-Keyes’ team also conducted home visits through the foundation’s Family Care Project, a program in which families are sponsored by donations to receive food and hygiene products each month. The families receiving services often face the challenges of extreme poverty, unemployment, alcoholic parents, and other such related issues, therefore the team was able to assist these families with related psychological issues. Finally, R. LaVerne Washington’s group returned to the family center in Gepiu to join the village’s senior citizens for a monthly luncheon. The team conducted reminiscence group therapy to connect with the elderly before participating in a traditional Romanian meal. While many elderly people readily identify with the problems associated with aging particularly as it is compounded by poverty, this therapeutic technique is designed to balance negative bias and assist them with the resurfacing of more positive emotions. The team members were blessed by the delicious food (especially the sarmales), and enjoyed hearing the senior citizens sing hymns.

The Regent team, as a whole, accomplished many positive things in the community today and was touched by the lives they encountered. We have one day left in Romania before beginning the long journey home…but not before a short stay in Paris to cap off the last two weeks.

-Jason Boling

Day 13: An Impacting Presence

The teams returned today after visiting several different surrounding areas to include a gypsy community where the team led by Dr. Keyes spent their day counseling with families. The team members returned after hours of counseling to report one incident wherein they were touched by a gypsy father’s love story for his daughter that caused him to plead with her not to marry before time. Dr. Reese and team spent their day visiting families as well and counseled one family where they found issues surrounding a parentified child who is now 19, but since age 14 was left to care for her 5 brothers and sisters now ages 3-14 years old. Trauma team members addressed issues of depression and worked with the smaller children with a therapy consisting of the use of different size and color stones to draw from the children their stories from which valuable emotional assessments can be made.

Dr. Harris-Keyes lead a team of counselors and clinicians to the Gepiu Community Center where they met with young men and women about to graduate school soon to discuss academic career goals. During this time, the team was able to assist with personality type indication using various activities designed to help with planning their futures. The team led by R. LaVerne Washington spent the day involved in the Family Care project where they encountered countless numbers of situations to include those that required counseling and psychotherapy. One such situation involved 4 beautiful Romanian girls ages 3-14 whose father struggled with alcohol abuse issues and whose mother was likely a victim of domestic violence. Trauma team members worked with each child and the father individually to assist the family in addressing these issues and preparing a premise upon which the social workers could continue to best serve this family. As time draws near to depart Romania, the team is stricken by a sense of inadequacy as we look upon so great a need but are encouraged by Smiles Foundation staff that our presence has had greater impact that we may ever know and every seed sown will bear fruit. Though we may not be here to witness the fruit, we will leave content that He will bring forth an increase.

-R. LaVerne Washington

Day 12: Training, Part IV

The team spent a fourth and final day of training today with the Smiles Foundation staff. This morning, Dr. Keyes presented on sexual trauma and offered ways to approach survivors of sexual trauma in treatment. This is a problem the foundation’s staff has encountered on many occasions in the Gypsy communities. Following the presentation, the Regent team met with the staff in groups to process the information and discuss how it can be applied to specific cases. The afternoon session included a second presentation by Dr. Keyes on dissociative disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder), commonly experienced by those who suffered sexual trauma as children. The presentation included treatment approaches and offered Biblically based theories of counseling. As the teams broke into smaller groups with the staff, it was amazing to see how quickly the foundation’s staff assimilated the information and examined ways of applying it to the people they serve.

The Regent team will be spending the next few days working with staff and students at the educational support program offering services to the Tilead community, visiting patients at a local psychiatric hospital and offering individual and family therapy to displaced families and the homeless in surrounding areas. Therefore, team leaders assembled respective teams for strategic planning for the day ahead. Team members will be partnered with the foundation social workers and translators before going on these various assignments, so it was necessary to discuss the most effective ways to facilitate services for the oncoming day’s work. It is our hope that the training provided to the staff as well as the therapy and psychological services offered to the members of the Romanian and Gypsy community will continue to impact this population long after we return to the States.

--Jason Boling

Day 11: Training Day, Part III

Today the staff members of the Smiles Foundation gathered together for additional workshops designed to enhance their work with meeting the urgent needs of the impoverished families of Cihei, Oradea and the neighboring gypsy communities. Staff members included operational staff administrators, social workers, residential counselors and educational support staff, all of whom were excited to have the opportunity to develop the skills they have used to support and stabilize the lives of the people they feel called to serve. R. LaVerne Washington conducted the first presentation of the day as she addressed the rising problem of alcoholism in Romania, including a look at the cultural implications of the use of alcohol, the bio-psychosocial factors that predispose individuals to alcoholism and the treatment implications for this culture and its unique challenges. The workshop presentation involved interactive learning as well as focused group discussions, where the staff addressed specific cases and discussed various treatment approaches that can be utilized to stabilize individuals and families struggling with substance abuse issues.

The latter part of the training day involved a workshop presentation by Dr. Merrill Reese on grief and loss. Time was delegated to allow the Romanian staff to share the many cultural differences surrounding the issues of grief and mourning. This laid a foundation for members of the Trauma Team to build upon, while attempting to assist them in their understanding of the various emotional states associated with grief and loss and in gaining the valuable insights surrounding the concept of mourning. The presentation included various treatment approaches intended to empower individuals struggling with complicated grief issues using different integrated therapeutic methods that could be implemented in assisting those who experience loss. Members of the Trauma Team exercise their leadership skills by facilitating these various focus groups and offering consultation on specific challenges surrounding specific cases. Our Romanian colleagues did not hesitate to share how different the concepts are in light of their cultural stance and tendency to see expressed emotions as a sign of weakness. However, the members of the foundation staff readily embrace the new concepts and continue to gain insight into how they can be more effective in their work of assisting persons who experience loss return to emotional health and wellness.

--R. LaVerne Washington

Day 10: Church and Rest

The Regent team was again blessed to attend church in the village of Tilead this morning. Unlike last week, however, the team members contributed to the service by reading scripture and leading the congregation in praise and worship. Dr. Reese preached an excellent sermon on reconciliation, based on the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well, found in John chapter four. Following the sermon, the team was treated to a performance of the Tilead children’s choir, who had just returned from a two-week tour of the UK.

As a part of counseling and clinical training, the trauma team has been constantly reminded of the dire need for self-care. This afternoon, the team enjoyed a leisurely afternoon of free time. Some elected to go into downtown Oradea, while others chose to lounge by the pool or catch up on sleep. It was a time of relaxation and rejuvenation, as the team prepares for another week of training, presentations, and time of sharing in the community.

--Jason Boling

Day 9: Day Off

It’s Saturday and the team is excited to get some well needed rest and relaxation to include a chance to explore the nearby tourist attractions. The staff of the Smiles Foundation has graciously offered to be available to guide members of the Trauma Team to visit the city of Oradea, for tasty treats of traditional foods, and where the market is filled with Romanian dishes, arts and crafts, or especially for the ladies of the team, to browse Romanian shops and boutiques for bargain shopping. Many team members opted to take the 2 hour drive to the Bear Caves discovered in 1990, which boasts of being one of the most interesting sites of rock formations unique to this area and a legendary story accompaniment of more than 185 bears trapped and fossilized here discovered by the archeological find and many other interesting aspects of archeology during the tour through the park located there.

Of all of the trainings received by this team, the one that is usually most difficult to convey to missionaries and other care providers involves the matter of self-care. Under the direction of Drs. Keyes and Reese, the team is often reminded of the need to care for one's self emotionally, physically and spiritually in order to be best fitted and prepared to offer help to others. The team enjoyed a wonderful day of self-care and returned to the foundation complex each excited to share the sights and sounds of Romania with the others. It has been a wonderful first week and it has been good to enjoy the day together.

--R. LaVerne Washington

Day 8: Again In the Field

As we come to the end of the first week, the Regent team spent a third day in the community, interacting with the Gypsy population in and around Oradea. Today proved to be one of the most challenging and in many ways the most rewarding day for many of the team members. The team was again split into four groups and went into four different areas of the community, meeting with a wide variety of people. The youth from the village of Gepiu benefitted from a presentation by Dr. Harris-Keyes on career and goal setting skills. Dr. Reese’s group conducted play therapy with the children at the Cihei family center and provided individual therapy and parenting skills with the mothers that attended. In the Gypsy village of Salard, Dr. Keyes’ team met with the families and provided them with basic household supplies, along with conducting individual and family therapy. R. LaVerne Washington’s team conducted a home visit with a family in Oradea, and also met with several homeless groups throughout the city that the Smiles Foundation staff has been in the process of working with and with whom they have built relationships.

While the teams were effective at their individual sites, it is clear that the extreme level of poverty is a constant struggle in the both the Romanian and Gypsy communities. The Regent team has worked this week to assist the Smiles Foundation staff in providing basic needs to the Gypsy population, while at the same time offering therapy skills while working to alleviate emotional concerns and increase basic coping skills. After a long week, the team is looking forward to having the weekend off to rest and recharge in preparation for next week.

--Jason Boling

Day 7: More Field Work

Today is the second day in the field for the Trauma Team and we are all excited to see what the day holds in the way of opportunities to share the gifts, talents and skills acquired during the many months of training in preparation for this purpose. The Emergency Housing Unit was visited today by the team led by Dr. Keyes as they counseled with victims of domestic violence and their children. The team offered individual therapy for these mothers who have had to flee their homes in the face of violence either threatened or perpetuated against them and their minor children. During the latter part of the day, some members of the team engaged the children in play therapy while others worked with the staff in consultation involving needs assessments and interventions of best practice for this population. Members of the team led by Dr. Harris-Keyes spent their day in counseling at the Tilead Community Complex with parents, children and adolescent youth. They offered workshop presentations for the adults on family issues such as parenting, anger and conflict resolution and engaged them in activities designed to help them better understand and make practical application of the key concepts.

On the far side of the same area, a team led by Dr. Reese offered their services to the Family Care Project where families have found retreat from homelessness. These mothers and their children were offered individual counseling to address some specific emotional needs specific to persons facing the impact of shifting economic times that have impacted their lives and left many to face poverty. The last of the four teams was led by R. LaVerne Washington as they offered Reminiscence Therapy to the elderly residents of the Dumbrava Nursing Home. Many of the residents have been rescued from various situations ranging from abandonment to near starvation. The individual attention they received today will long be remembered by both the residents and the staff of Dumbrava. The students return at the end of a long day to share the many challenges and learning experiences. In the midst of all of the cultural differences we have encountered they are outnumbered by the many similarities, one of which is the fact that everybody needs love.

--R. LaVerne Washington

Day 6: Out In The Community

After two days of training with the staff, the Regent team went out into the community. We were split into four teams, each one going to a different Smiles Foundation project. The locations and the people the teams served were varied, but we found many converging themes of hardship, poverty, and abuse. The first team, led by R. LaVerne Washington, visited the Gepiu Family Center, where they spoke to a group of teens about relationships, and self esteem. After each presentation, the teens were separated by gender in order to process the topics more fully. While many of the teens participated and shared very openly in the groups, it was clear that the concept of self-esteem was virtually nonexistent, especially in the female groups. Many of the teens come from homes where alcohol and abuse is common, and access to education is very limited. The Smiles Foundation has worked very hard over the last several years to target the younger generation of this gypsy community in order to break the continuing cycle of abuse, poverty, and alcoholism. It was a privilege to come along side the Smiles Foundation staff and help continue their mission.

The other three teams went to different locations in and around Oradea, the nearest town to Cihei, and conducted home visits. Dr. Harris-Keyes’ team met with the seniors of Tilead, mostly widows, and conducted reminiscence group therapy. This style of therapy is especially beneficial to elderly populations as it allows the group members to share stories of the good times in their lives. Following the groups, the team played wheelchair tennis at the Tilead community center. In Romania, and especially in the gypsy population, people with disabilities are seen as liability and are often a source of shame for the family.

Dr. Keyes’ team also conducted home visits with families with which the Smiles Foundation works. One family that the team met with consisted of a single mother with 9 children, one of whom showed signs of being sexually abused. The team worked with the children and conducted art and play therapy with them, to which the children responded very positively. Other meetings with Romanian families who have lost providers through abandonment and domestic violence, and psychotic clients attempting to self-sustain kept this team busy throughout the day.

Finally, Dr. Reese’s team visited an apartment building outside Oradea. These single room flats typically house families of 3 to 10 members. One particular family the team met with consisted of a single mother with two children whose husband had left her during her pregnancy. Because of the divorce and the shame that came with it, this mother was disowned by her parents and ex-communicated from her family’s church. Through the therapy session the team did with the mother and the play therapy they did with the children, the mother indicated she was open to giving church another try and will consider attending the Smiles Foundation church service this coming week.

The team as a whole was touched by the lives they encountered today, and will not soon forget the stories they heard. We were able to see firsthand the Smiles Foundation mission and how hard they work with the impoverished Romanian and gypsy population. Indeed, the foundation’s staff is dedicated to serving “the least of these” among them, which has made the Regent’s team experience in Romania all the more inspirational.

--Jason Boling

Day 5: More Training

The Smiles Foundation staff of caring professionals is engaged in their second day of training and is involved in focus groups with members of the Regent University Trauma Team, which were designed such that they were able to glean specific psychology counseling attending skills. Domestic violence and related issues were addressed with various presentations by Drs. Keyes and Harris-Keyes and Dr. Merrill Reese, and processed in groups designed to specifically to address particular current challenges routinely faced by the Smiles Foundation staff at the facilities currently housing women and children who have fled domestic violence situations. The students of the Trauma Team led these focus groups utilizing the skills they acquired over the course of the last year. In addition, they demonstrated tremendous leadership skills as they collaboratively worked alongside the foundation staff. During these group sessions, the Romanians convey cultural perspectives that make such issues especially challenging for them, including the issue of male dominance in this society, the customary church perspective, and the absence of laws sufficient to protect women in such cases.

Attention was then turned to domestic violence and its relationship to substance abuse and psychological treatment for the traumatized family. Traumatized families would include those families forced to respond to various natural disasters, tragic accidents and illnesses, poverty and issues of substance abuse and domestic violence. All of these all issues have in common the required need for normal people to respond to very abnormal situations and a common symptomology as well. The presentations and group process were designed such that these issues were exhaustively explored and the psychological treatments indicated to address such symptoms were presented and conveyed in practice via the group process. Discussions followed that surrounded cultural perspectives, challenges and treatment implications relevant given cultural barriers and the current societal fabric concerning such matters. The atmosphere is filled with excitement as Romanian and American professionals and scholars address very relevant issues and seek out culturally sensitive approaches to very dire needs and problems faced in this area.

--R. LaVerne Washington

Day 4: Training

The team spent today in training with the Smiles Foundation staff in order to better equip them for their ministry. The morning began with a presentation by Dr. Keyes and Dr. Reese on compassion fatigue and self-care when faced with traumatic situations. Dr. Keyes explained the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and secondary PTSD, which mental health workers often experience when working in the field. The results of secondary PTSD often result in compassion fatigue, also known as burn out. The team then broke into groups with the Smiles Foundation staff and processed the information that had just been shared. The stories ranged from experiences dealing with extreme poverty, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and substance abuse. One staff member, Dan, shared how deeply he hurts when he processes the photographs for the foundation’s website that show the extreme poverty the people of Cihei contend with. What a privilege it was to hear their stories and to affirm and address the toll trauma and secondary trauma inevitably takes on those in the helping professions. It became apparent through the group sessions that more cultural similarities exist than not between the Regent team and the Smiles Foundation staff when dealing with the realities of compassion fatigue and trauma.

The afternoon session consisted of a presentation by Drs. Keyes and Reese on attending behaviors and basic counseling skills. The Smiles Foundation staff was receptive and caught on quickly to the reflective listening exercises, paraphrasing, and asking open-ended questions. Even the professional staff (social workers and counselors) were appreciative of the training, as it served as a good reminder how powerfully effective basic listening can be to someone who is hurting. It has become clear, even in this first day of training that the Smiles Foundation staff is high caliber, very passionate, dedicated to their work, and appreciative of training the Regent team provided. The relationships that were formed today with the staff will certainly continue to develop and deepen as we go through each day.

--Jason Boling

Day 3: Getting to Know Romania

An early rise on Sunday morning, and just after a wonderful breakfast prepared by the hospitality staff, the Trauma Team travels by bus to worship services at Tileagd Community Church. We are greeted by the very friendly members of the Gypsy community dressed in beautiful and colorful garments typical of Romanian Gypsy culture. These new converts represent the fruit of the labor of love in this area. As everyone begins to sing together various familiar worship songs in Romanian, the musicians provide the accompaniment on guitar and accordion. Adults, youth and the elderly alike all worship together as families arrive together for the service where the preached Word is shared by Pastor Titus. The excitement is high and the team is welcomed by a people we find quite warm and receptive. These we are told now serve to assist in the mission effort to aid the Gypsy community at Tileagd as the work continues to help them to recover from their plight with poverty. We experience their warmth and respond in kind as we exchange Christian embrace with a people whose eyes and hearts are filled with hope. Members of the Trauma Team are looking forward to returning to this community during the coming weeks to share in the humanitarian effort to instill hope for a future by working with these traumatized families utilizing psychological first aid.

It has been a wonderful morning and after lunch we are given a tour of various community projects where we will give our assistance and begin using our training and skills. These projects where we will offer our assistance include the Cihei Children’s Center where play therapy will be used to address the issues of children who have been abandoned and orphaned; the Smiles Farm, where the people who would otherwise be fatal victims of poverty for lack of food will now have the opportunity to plant and harvest crops of lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers. The soil in Romania is rich in nutrients and fruit bearing trees line the farm’s acreage. We discover the largest fields of the most brilliant sunflowers we have ever seen and are suddenly reminded of the promise of abundant life and how we now have the opportunity to offer it to others as we live before them the Life that called us to this place.

--R. LaVerne Washington

Day 2: The Journey Continues

The team arrived in Paris after a seven-hour flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Although many of us were tired from not being able to sleep on the plane, we were happy to have the second leg of the journey completed. It wasn’t until we made it through security and found the correct gate that we realized we would have to spend the next three and a half hours in an un-air conditioned terminal, with temperatures outside approaching the low 90’s. Despite this, the team managed to stay positive and make the most of their time in Paris by catching up on sleep, reading, and checking in with family.

Except for being slightly delayed, the flight to Budapest was mostly uneventful. We discovered at the baggage claim that the airline had left one of our team member’s luggage in Paris, which they are working to correct. We then met Octavia, the missions coordinator for the Smiles Foundation. She welcomed us and directed us to the passenger vans that were waiting. The team was able to have a quick dinner at a nearby KFC before starting the three and a half hour drive to Cihei, Romania, the team’s final destination. Many of the team members utilized the drive to catch up on sleep. We made it across the border, from Hungary into Romania, without any problems, and arrived at the Smiles Foundation’s Mission Center at about 1:30am. While we are still very tired from the trip, we are glad to be at the mission center, to have a warm bed to sleep in, and to finally be able to take a shower! We are excited about the work we will be doing in Cehei and looking forward to the people we will be working with.

-Jason Boling

Day 1: The Journey Begins

Now finally after many weeks of training and preparation, the Trauma Team of Regent University embarks on a journey to serve the people of Cihei, Romania. Led by the Dr. Benjamin Keyes, Director of the Center for Trauma Studies at Regent, 18 graduate students of Psychology and Counseling, his assistant, Dr. Merrill Reese and Dr. Kim Harris-Keyes, Adjunct Professor of Regent are excited as all gather to pray God’s blessings upon this mission trip. Two 15 passenger vans, fully loaded with supplies for the Romanian people, carry a team of graduate students dedicated to utilizing their skills and training to honor those whose lives have been devastated by the transition from Communism to Democracy. The team looks forward to the opportunity to share with the Romanian Gypsies who are poorer still, and whose impoverished lives are exacerbated by the exclusion they experience daily. With both excitement and humility filling their hearts, the members of this team realize that no amount of training will heal the brokenness or breach the void they likely will encounter, but grace coupled with empathetic hearts can, as they reflect the love of Christ. It is a 3.5 hour drive to Dulles International Airport. The team arrives in Washington, DC, refreshes themselves and dines at a local restaurant, since they will be flying Air France for more than 7 hours. Then off airport where the first leg of flight will place them in Paris, and where connections will be made the following morning for the flight to Budapest, Hungary. This is where they will be met and transported by the team with which they will be collaboratively working. Staff members of the Smiles Foundation, a long term missionary project targeting the homeless and gypsy population of Romania, will receive the team and travel 3.5 more hours by bus to their complex in Cihei, just a few minutes across the Hungarian border. The team is escorted by news anchorman Effram Graham, of CBN, and things are running as smoothly as a “well-oiled machine”, as this well prepared team moves with cohesiveness that makes travel easy.

-R. LaVerne Washington