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We can’t claim December 1st 2008 has quite the same
significance, but within The Smiles Foundation, we are certainly
excited that December 1st has arrived because we’ve been
waiting for the new developments that come with it for sometime.
The rapid growth in Smiles since 2001 has increased the people served
to over 1,300 a month, operational projects to almost 20 with over 70
full time staff. This in turn has taken the financial needs to around
£1 million / $2 million a year.
This level of growth requires strong management on the ground to
combine with the inspired vision of the Foundation’s founder and
trustees. The Romanian management team - Maria Cimpoca,
Georgi Opreanu and Delia Bideran - are doing an incredible job under the leadership of
chief executive Kevin Hoy. This year, Kevin has spent 9 months in
Romania overseeing the completion of the Tileagd Complex, the visits
of nearly 600 Mission Trippers and the on-going management of the
staff and projects.
December 1st is exciting for us as we have
Marian and Dana Zaharia join the Smiles team.
Marian is to be our new manager of the
Smiles 200 Hope Club projects which includes the Family Care project.
The maturity and wealth of experience he brings to Smiles is very
exciting for us, as he will also join the Management team for overall
leadership input.
Dana is to fulfil
our newly created role of Senior Nurse Practitioner and will head up
our Medical work in the Family Care project as well as at the Clinic
in Tileagd amongst other duties.
Both have worked with another Foundation for the past 10 years in
Bucharest, in which Marian served as Director for the past 3 years.
 Their
thoughts on the transition are shared here and we ask for your prayers
for Marian and Dana in their new roles of leadership and
responsibility. That God will use them in mighty ways to further His
Kingdom’s Work in Romania.
When I’ve started working at the Hope Rescue Centre, the street
children project in Bucharest, I thought that I will be the one
blessing others, serving, offering. After ten years when I look back,
I realise that I was the one being blessed; I was the main beneficiary
of this amazing journey with God. Working with these sad people,
bringing joy and hope in their heart, sharing Gods love for the world
brings you in a school of characters, where you develop from a worker
to a son, from a son to a father and to a leader being able to
influence others.
 I
would always be ready to quote something that I’ve shared in the first
edition of the Hope Rescue Centre:
“Since the first day I started working at the Centre, I have been
fascinated by the mystery I see in the eyes of the children that live
on the streets. Eyes - that are at times tearful and beseeching – at
others, shining with joy for every tiny gesture of love given to them.
At all times, they carry with them the pain of their past, like an
identifying stamp on the children who never had a childhood.
 When I
joined the Hope Rescue Centre, I couldn’t begin to imagine how far I
would travel on this incredible adventure. It has been an adventure
filled with dramas and unsuccessful times, but also with deep personal
revelation. Sometimes, I have felt that, from every soul who received
a unique chance, I have been gifted with the power to float to heaven
– to where there is Someone who loves these children in a special
way”...
Now I am ready to move forward and to accept with enthusiasm to
discover more of His love for this world. I believe in Smiles -
because I know the One who can make every heart of the world Smile.
 I
believe that there are not too many people ready to step outside their
comfort zone, only to make the world a better place. Behind the heart
of a missionary there is God’s love for the human being. I’ve enjoyed
every second of my work in the streets, and I can see with the
passionate memories in my mind almost every face, every smile, every
tear… It hurt to remember the hundreds of dramas I’ve testified, but I
am excited by every single miracle that God made me a part of.
After these 10 years I could never be the same. The fact that He
trusted me to share His love, by making me part of His incredible work
of salvation, it is an honour but also a huge responsibility.
 I love
Smiles because I’ve found here the enthusiasm and the passion that
only God can bring and a new opportunity to serve others like I was
served by Him. |
