A short distance from Sighisoara, Romania, a beautiful historic town that dates back to the 16th century, are many villages where Roma people live in deep poverty.
The children here grow up in incredibly tough home environments and receive very little educational, emotional or spiritual guidance from their parents or wider community.
During the summer holidays, many of the children must get up very early to help their parents with work. Others travel to Sighisoara and beg for money from passers-by in crowded tourist areas. Unsupervised, some children get into trouble with the law – while others become easy targets for exploitation. For those children with any leisure time, there are very few ways of passing the long summer.
Cristina, 49, works for Mission Without Borders (MWB), supporting families enrolled on our family sponsorship programme.
She said, “I’d never before known poverty at this level. I had no idea of how much adversity and pain that people are carrying in these communities.”
Mission Without Borders' began running Summer Camps for the children from these villages – and now, there is a great deal of excitement and anticipation as summer approaches. As the children step off the bus at camp, it is the beginning of a week full of adventure, created especially for them; a safe place and a fun-filled refuge away from difficulties at home.
Swimming, ziplining, trampolining, fun activities and delicious treats help to create the most wonderful time of the summer. The Bible teachings have an incredible impact, with God’s salvation through Jesus Christ the foundation of all the teaching – and forgiveness, kindness, acceptance, friendship, prayer, obedience, joy, and love all emphasized too.