GEPIU
Report
The village
of Gepiu is approximately 18 miles from
Oradea
and a village one would normally just pass through on route to the city of
Arad.
But for Adriana and Mihai Ciopasiu, Gepiu was much more and proved to be
the location God called them to with a wonderful ministry to share the
Gospel with young people suffering from poverty and limited education and
employment opportunities.
Adriana
worked in the village during studying for her degree in Oradea. Having
obtained her degree in Theology and Social Assistance, and having married
Mihai, an accountant from the beautiful city of Brasov, they approached
the Smiles Foundation to support them in continuing the work with the
young people of the town. No secondary/high school in the town often means
parents can’t afford to send children to school after age 11. This merely
serves to continue the cycle of poverty but Smiles is trying to change
that.
The
outreach programme provided in Gepiu provides educational classes for all
grades to help those in school do better, and those forced to leave school
continue learning the basics required to progress in life. We also provide
a number of opportunities to learn life skills and specific projects are
being established to provide work and income support. These includes a
Chicken farm for meat and eggs, a horticultural project for vegetables and
basic construction skills.
A house was
initially being used but in June 2005, the Gepiu Children’s Centre was
started and progress is being made due to generous support of donors
around the world.
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
The Chief
Executive usually receives 50-60 e-mails a day requiring attention and
decisions of a mixed kind. The job is inevitably demanding and
challenging. Every now and then, an e-mail arrives that makes it all worth
while!
On
February 20th 2005,
one such e-mail was received.
“We want to tell you some wonderful news! This week,
fourteen young people accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. We
believe that this is a result of your support of this work and the prayers
of many. We will now begin the preparations for a summer baptism by
teaching a catechism class starting next Sunday. We hope that you’ll pray
with us for this preparation – for their decisions and that God’s word
will be planted in good soil in their hearts. This will not be an easy
time for them as they prepare for baptism as many of them do not come from
Christian homes.
One of these teens decided to follow Christ after coming
to our meetings only four times and to our great joy, he has begun to be a
witness in his family. All of these things are a great encouragement to
us and we’re glad to be a part of God’s plan for this village.”
Adriana and
Mihai Ciopasiu
Smiles
Chief Executive addresses the Baptismal candidates and celebrates with all
7 baptisms.
News, such
as these decisions for Christ, emphasised the need for the planned Day
Centre which was finished and opened in September 2006. The two storey
building provides classrooms, meeting rooms,
showers and sleeping accommodation. Up to 50 children a week are involved with daily programmes for education, social programmes, work
opportunities and outreach. It is also providing meals for the elderly
from the village who enjoy their time of fellowship and good food.
The Centre
cost £94,000/$170,000 and was primarily built by locals
in the village, including the young people, helped by Mission Trippers.
The Foundations, Walls and Roof were undertaken by a construction
company.
In
November 2006 Mihai and Adriana decided to emigrate to Canada. But the
work at Gepiu continues at quite a pace, now under the leadership of
Catalin and Lavinia Bakai. Catalin studied engineering at Oradea
State University before completing a second degree in Theology at
Emanuel University. Lavinia is a nurse by profession, but currently
enjoys being a ‘mum’ with 16 month old Trisia Rebeca. As Rebeca allows,
Lavinia looks forward to working with Catalin serving God through the
Gepiu Project.
A lot of support is still needed for daily operation of this project,
but the work in Gepiu is at the heart of Smiles - meeting the daily
needs of the poor and oppressed by sharing the Love of Christ is a
meaningful way.
