Breaking the Cycle

Our team was greeted this morning by a Pacific Northwest type of day: gray skies and a light, endless rain. This turned to snow. At least one inch of the white stuff came down on the picturesque mountain city of Brasov, in Southern Romania.

Known formerly as Kronstadt due to the large Saxon population which lived here prior to and shortly after WWII, Brasov architecture reflects its Germanic heritage. With surrounding forested hills, the famous Black Church, and the well-known Bran Castle (once belonging to Vlad Tepes, aka Dracula, thanks to Bram Stoker), Brasov is a sure stop on any tourist’s agenda.

A short distance from Brasov, however, perched atop a small hill, is a village. In that village God is at work, using two people to bring change to a community. Our primary focus, of course, is kids and as such our reason for visiting this community was to reconnect with a small orphanage which we have partnered with for the better part of the last decade. 25 kids live here. Most are under the age of 10. Most are there because their parents either didn’t want them or couldn’t take care of them.

As we sat with the orphanage leaders, discussing various topics as we munched on schnitzel and potatoes, a story emerged…a brilliant story…a story which, if done well, has the potential of changing a destructive dynamic. A story that I hope will be replicated in many orphanages.

The story is called “The Dream of Kati’s Doll”. Boiling it down, this is a well-thought-through and concerted effort to teach kids about responsibility, family, and stick-to-it-tive-ness. The concept: little girls and boys from the orphanage are paired up (mom and dad). They are given a doll which they “adopt” as their own child. They make clothes for the doll. The “dad” makes a crib for the doll to sleep in. They pray with the doll and take it to church. They even take the doll on vacation. They work together to care for the doll, just like real parents should. After six months, Stage II of “Kati’s Doll” is initiated: the kids are given a second doll. Now the first has a sibling. Psychologists are monitoring the kids to see how they are reacting and responding. This effort is due to run for at least one year.

Why is this such a brilliant idea and effort? Because it is breaking a cycle! You see, most of these kids are in an orphanage because their parents did not own up to their responsibility to be parents. They walked away from a precious gift God had entrusted to them, leaving their child to live and grow in an orphanage. That destructive model of abandonment that the kids in the orphanage know…and unless re-scripted, that is likely the model that they will follow when they grow up and have families of their own.

The “Kati’s Doll” effort is trying to do just that: to re-write the hard drive in the emotional CPU of these orphan kids and to enter a different code, one which values family, togetherness, and responsibility, and which repulses at the thought of abandonment.

I sat there today and marvelled at this plan…and how God might (will!) use it to change the course of these kids’ lives, to create future men and women who understand what it means to be responsible parents, and to deploy a future generation of Romanian young people who are dedicated to, and value, family.

Wow. Brilliance. God at work: through gifted and sensitive leaders, in young and tender lives, and for a better and stronger next-generation.

Want to help? Why not say a prayer, right now, that God will bless the seeds that are being planted in the lives of these kids, that these seeds will take root and grow, and yield an abundant harvest.

“Kati’s Dream”. Great idea, God!