October 2011

It’s been the third time this year that a large team from the German town of Halle Westfalen visited the Bonus Pastor property in Ozd. Their aim was to learn more about the castle and its surroundings, as well as to do something for the renovation of the castle. The initiation of this program came from the Lutheran pastor Bernd Eimterbäumer, and it was organized in cooperation with the Bonus Pastor Foundation. The first volunteer workgroup came in 2009. At that time the team had “only” 45 volunteers, in 2010 there were 63 participants and this year 42 volunteers came.

Antecedents
The date of the program was settled for the period of the German fall holiday, when the students there are free for two weeks and are able to travel to Ozd in Romania. The team of volunteers is made up of specialists and youngsters. Usually they come by a big and a small bus, bringing the necessary equipment and tools with them including portable showers which they rent. Their work is planned and organized with Bonus Pastor beforehand. The objective of this program is to restore in small steps the damaged castle and also to experience the adventure of living in a castle for two weeks. It is true that the circumstances are rustic and primitive, but still--it’s a CASTLE!

2011
This year the volunteer group came to Ozd for the period of 23 October – 3 November. Of the 42 participants, 17 were adults and 25 kids or youth, between the ages of 9 and 76. They also brought skilled craftsmen with them: two bricklayers, two electricians, a gardener, three carpenters and a professional chimney sweeper. They had 13 girls and 29 boys or men in the group.

Activities
This year they succeeded in finishing the following work in the castle: they built wooden stairs so that people can safely reach the attic from the second floor, attached plastic foil to the attic floor, installed windows, attached water pipes, so the kitchen now has fresh and grey water plumbing, one bathroom is now ready, a second bathroom is half way done, the basement ceiling and the walls there were stabilized, the wooden floor in the big room is half completed, and the the area around the castle was cleaned up, including a big pile of dirt. They also restored the northeastern wall of the church in the nearby village of Bichis.

Leisure time
In addition to the work the volunteers also had interesting programs during free time. It was a precious moment for them when they have met the residents of the Therapy Centre. “The Centre, where the treatment of men with alcohol and drug addictions takes place, has been reaching outstanding results and it allows many people to find the way out from addiction to life.” – wrote one of the participants in his report. In one evening the attendants of the long term therapy program – the “residents”, as they are called – visited the work team in the Castle and were telling their life stories, the circumstances that brought them to Ozd, and to the Therapy Centre. A familial atmosphere formed during the evening when two youths from the German group also spoke about their lives. They closed the gathering with devotion.

Sunday was a full day of rest. In the morning they went to the small Reformed church in the village, then one part of the group went to Targu Mures to a swimming pool, another part went for a hike in the hills surrounding Ozd and a third part of the group participated in a football game together with the residents of the Centre--which is almost considered as a tradition, since in all the previous years similar “championships” were also organized.

This year during the period when the workgroup was here three Dutch volunteers also visited Ozd. They had a specific project related to the residents of the Therapy Centre, but they joined the Germans’ program too. They were invited for dinner in the Castle and had an opportunity to get to know one another and share experiences about being a volunteer in Ozd. The atmosphere was friendly.

What is it good for?
We asked them why it is good for a foreign youth to participate in such program. Their answer was that the common work for a common good can teach the great sense of being helpful and doing something worthwhile where the local possibilities are very limited. At the same time the youngsters could experience life in a poorer country and could see from a different perspective their own life circumstances. And finally they became acquainted with a variety of crafts – under the leadership of the professionals – and could try some of the work which they thought they might have a talent for.

“This workgroup is the biggest sign and hope for us that God has blessed our project!” – These were the farewell words of Dr. Levente Horváth, the President of the foundation to the volunteers.

We had our second work camp in Ozd, Romania, between 9-22 October 2010. There were 63 participants who expected to spend a pleasant time in a little Romanian village. After the 26 hours travel bright sunshine was awaiting us in Ozd and so some of us wanting to profit from the nice weather went on a short trip right away. Others started the work and began to shovel diligently. When the luggage truck had also arrived, we settled down in the castle comfortably and cozily. We took our places on the upper floor bedrooms, stocked the kitchen and set up the community hall. Since there weren’t any bathrooms in the castle yet, we were able to use the outside shower containers again for free, thanks to Gerhard Wellmann (from Halle, Germany). In the evening we had our first common dinner. Then we went to bed, tired after the long trip. Fortunately, we brought some space heaters with us which gave a little warmth, because there is no heating system installed in the castle yet.

Next day we started the work. There were different work opportunities. We broke up the fourth wall of the Therapy Center and re-insulated it; we finished a storehouse which was in an almost completed state. We transformed the old barn into a gym hall. We replaced the floor in one room in the castle and have started to equip a bathroom. The joiners made different windows and doors. The electricians installed several electrical cables and provided us with light. The brick masons also worked at different locations. So we cleaned a chimney that was full of twigs, stones and ash. We let one of our group members down into the chimney with some ropes, partly upside down. He broke up the chimney, cleaned it and finally built it back. In this way we could install a fireplace which heated the community hall. We also built a small terrace right next to the castle. We undertook a new project of renovating a house in the village belonging to Bonus Pastor where one of the TC staff will move in. We renewed the electrical wiring, the bathroom, and re-plastered some parts of a damaged wall there.

Sunday was free. In the morning we attended the local service in the small church in the village. And we had more free time in the afternoon for recreation. A small group went to the swimming pool (in Marosszentgyörgy), others made a village and countryside tour on a horse cart. Others took part in a Romanian-German football game with great joy, when they matched their strength with the residents of the Therapy Centre. We had a chance to visit the Therapy Centre in the late afternoon, where we familiarized ourselves with the therapy program. Since there is never enough money, in the course of time they want to use the castle as a conference center so that the rent could partly cover the therapy costs.

In the evening we had another thrilling program: the residents of the Therapy Center visited us in the castle. We told stories from our lives to each other in an atmosphere of intimacy.

On Thursday the 21st of October the time came to say farewell. We packed up and left for home in the morning. We took a last glance at the castle from the bus, trying to follow it with our eyes until it disappeared behind the hills.

The work camp gave us such an experience that we will not be able to forget it very soon.

Daniela Minuth

October 2009

It’s been for several years now that an Evangelical congregation from a German town named Halle Westfalen started coming to Romania and organizing so called work camps there during the autumn school holiday. Our 45 member group consists of specialists and volunteer helpers, many of whom are adolescents. Our leader is Bernd Eimterbäumer who is the minister of the congregation. This year we came for the first time to Ozd to help around the Bonus Pastor’s Therapy Centre.

We first contacted each other one year ago. We had renovated the youth centre of the IKE (Christian Youth Movement) in Geoagiu-Bai and we finished most of the work there, so we were looking for a new mission. At that time we heard about the Therapy Centre and one of our specialists visited Ozd right away. Later on, during the year our minister and some of our specialists traveled to the place once again to plan our work camp and to get acquainted with the people there. Then in October our time came and we traveled to Ozd by a large bus and a minibus.

In order to have income for the Therapy Centre, there is a plan to transform the castle into a facility for a conference center. The work could be financed by European Union funds but this is a distant plan in the future. Until then, there are urgent restoration needs, which would stop the deterioration of the castle. Our team worked on this. We supplemented the gutters around the castle and put in more diverters so that the rain can flow away from the walls. We installed new electric cable to bring light into the darkness, installed new windows, changed the main entrance door and built new stairs inside the building. We dug a pit around the wet walls of the Therapy Centre, we re-isolated them and installed ground outflow pipes. In addition we built a water pump house and did some other minor work, too.

Besides the work we had several interesting meetings with local residents, among them the clients of course. On the third evening they visited us (in the Castle) and told us about their lives. On an other morning we met the clients again on the occasion of a friendly football match which was followed by having lunch together. On one of the evenings we recalled our nice memories about the work camps up to now by watching a slide show. We got acquainted with Brendon, who turned his back on his ten years of a successful banker career and moved to Ozd with his wife and five children to support the Therapy Centre with his volunteer work.

On one of the evenings the pastor of the Therapy Centre, Levente Horvath (the founder of the Foundation) visited us. He told us about a story when a former client once made a remark: there is only a one way road to Ozd, after Ozd there is no other road to go further. For him this symbolically meant that here lives took a 180° turn, radically changed, and this is the only way to get back home.

This is a beautiful simile – some things have changed in us too during the work camp. It was again a fantastic experience to be guests in Romania and we are already happy to plan seeing this place again next year. Because we would like with all of our heart to come back.