Movement 124

I'
.t'$'..
worldview
news from SCMs
around the world
t"t
to-
{ wscF ?
b Eurepo gt
,4
t t a-ar.rc
The Worlcl
Student Christian
Federation
links together
stLtdent Christian
movements all
over the world.
The UK SCM has
funding available
for ntentbers to
attencl WSCf
events and
conierences - see
\rywl /.tnovement.
org.uk/wscf
I was a strangler,..
A report from WSCF-Europe's solidarity conference on
homelessness and poverty housing
I had never been to Eastern Europe before, so I
jumped at the chance to attend a WSCF-Europe
conference in Romania. t arrived in Bucharest on 3
May, a place where I always imagined the CIA and
KGB meeting in the Cold War era. When I arrived
there was no such action, but a lot of work going
on all over to improve the infrastructure. There is a
ctock in the city centre counting down to the date
of Romania joining the EU.
The same night I caught a train to Cluj, and arrived
at the conference venue in the early morning. I was
amazed and refreshed by the serenity of the venue,
on a lake with hills and valleys in the distance. The
conference began with ice-breaking and orientation
games, which started conversations that went
on for six days. Every day started with morning worship,
varying in style and approach from Protestant
to Orthodox. A true ecumenical diversity!
There were talks and workshops by people from a
diverse range of cultures and backgrounds including
Belarus, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Norway, Sweden,
Finland and myself representing Bangladesh.
The beauty of WSCFI We heard from Habitat for
Humanity lnternational, an ecumenical organisation
working worldwide to alleviate poverty housing.
Father lonut Tutea from a Romanian
Organisation called ARCA
(Ark) talked about refugees
in Romania and in Europe in
general, and about Romania's
underprivileged communil.ies
of Roma or gypsies.
We heard from Stephanie
Roth, a Swiss activist, about
Rosia Montana, an area of
the Apuseni Mountains in
Transylvania where a Canadian
company plans to build
an enormous open-cast gold
mine. Stephanie, with the support
of a Romanian NCO, is
fighting to preserve the unique
cultural and environmental heritage
of the area
and to stop the
project, which is
supported by the
Romanian government
itself.
Other talks covered
the history
of the ecumenical movement, and stories from the
World Council of Churches General Assembly which
was held in Porto Allegre, Brazil earlier this year.
The most interesting of all the talks for me was by an
Orthodox priest who contended that the very high
abortion rate in the Romania was impoverishing
the country, and the same all over Europe! He also
spoke about how the Orthodox church is working to
promote having babies, as well as seeking solutions
for the shelter of the large number of orphans created
by past Romanian social policies. He seems to have
been very intrigued by a back issue of movement
with the theme 'women in the church'!
Anyway, it was not just all talk! There was delicious
Romanian food which is spicy but not hot - they
haven't heard of chilli!There was an excursion to a
salt mine, a visit to a Magyar village, walks around
the old quarter of the town, a film night, and drinking
beer with friends from 10 different countries
in an authentic Romanian pub! There was also a
cultural night where we learned Russian dance, listened
to Polish poetry, participated in a Hungarian
quiz, and sang Norwegian and Bengali songs.
Also we went to work with Habitat for Humanity.
We visited the houses that they have built for lowincome
families in previous years. Some of us dug a
hole for water storage, and the rest of us assembled
wooden frames which will be the walls and floor of
a future house. We worked hard, sweating under the
open sky. There was a barbecue after the work to
share with members of low-income families.
Everythingcomestoan end, butsix days of conference
seemed to have passed too quickly. The conference
provided in-depth knowledge on homelessness in
Europe and other parts of the world ranging from
refugees to the poor, oppressed and dispossessed by
greedy capitalist structures. Working with Habitat or
expressing solidarity with the people of Rosia Montana
are just two instances of how we could join the
bigger fight agai nst homelessness.
ln Romania we were challenged to recognise that we
are all responsible for fighting to alleviate homelessness,
as we read in Matthew 25:35:'For I was hungry
and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and
you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and
you invited me in.' ln the end I stayed for only six
days in Romania, but the extraordinary hospitality
and friendship that I received from Romanian people
and WSCF friends will stay with me for ever! O
John Probhudan was SCM's Office Administrator until
August.
movement