There are four people in my life that showed me the way to Transylvania. First of all, my sister Uli, who travelled to Székelykeresztúr many times during her participation in the youth work in Bautzen. She travelled there in summer and in winter in order to visit the children and teenagers in the orphanage. Within my family these journeys were seen with changing interest because Romania was far away and what my parents really concerned was: When do you get back home safely and healthily? Once, in year 2001 there was a Hungarian group from Romania visiting Bautzen, and Uli, my sister, invited me in order to present some of her friends to me. Since that day I’ve been wishing to get to know their home country.

Then there was Ricsi, which is Hungarian for Rüdiger Steinke, who asked me last year, if I wouldn’t like to come along to Turia because they where still looking for drivers. This was my opportunity and with the best expectations I agreed. After this I spent two wonderful weeks in Romania that changed my view on the things completely. I admired the beautiful landscapes, the hard-working people and their rich culture. When I went back to Germany I promised to my new Hungarian friends to come back next year and to resolve speaking their language the moment I’d see them again. Back in Germany we dealt more extensively with our experiences and kept them on the website www.turia.org. Some time later, Rüdiger asked me if I could imagine participating in the executive board of the Romanian Initiative group. I wrote them a letter, explaining how I imagined my work, so they invited me to their circle and the general meeting chose me as a member of the executive board.

In November, my first business journey led me to Keresztur, where I met Mateffy Hajnalka and her husband Wolfram Hesse, as well as Judy Erdman, a 70-year old lady from America, who was just working there as a very special volunteer and I got to know Imre Robert and Jana, the parents of the family house. As a first project I developed a homepage for the youth project with the address www.feherlofia.org. I had two wonderful weeks, I felt sheltered and I had the impression of being at the right place at the right time - a feeling I’ve been having since then.Back in Germany, Judy and I visited Noemi Gal in Pirna, a young Hungarian girl from Marosvásárhely in Transylvania, who was just doing a social gap year with an initiative against right-wing extremism. I don’t remember if it was Judy or Noemi who asked me if I could imagine working in Keresztur voluntarily, but I remember that my answer was no, because I was a “computer-worker” and not a social worker.

But I kept thinking about it. Some days later, Hajnalka and Wolfram announced, they were waiting for a baby and so they wanted to live in Germany for a while. Therefore Hajnalka would have to leave the youth project in Feherlofia, which she had initiated and conducted. So one afternoon in December I suddenly had something like an intuition: I had to go down to Romania to work there as a volunteer. The next day I told my parents about my decision, then my sisters and brothers, my closest friends and finally I told it to Rüdiger Steinke and the executive board.

The Christmas-transport was awaited. Many people in Bautzen had made packages and there were more than 400 presents. Our chairman, Lutz Pesler had given me lots of advices, all the necessary papers and the cash box of our trip and so we started our trip together with Andreas and Jonas Natuschke and Thomas Schwarzenberg. Again everything went very well and we had a wonderful time, full of hospitality and cordial encounters. In Keresztúr, in front of the RIG office I met Matthes Schmidt again, a German carpenter, who has been working for DOMUS for one year now as an instructor.He offered me to found a German flat-sharing-community because he still had an empty room left in his flat. So I didn’t even have to worry about my future place to live.

In January I had my preparation-time for the service. I’m very grateful to Mátéffy Hajnalka for having me presented to the adolescents and all the important people, in order to make it easy for me to begin my work. At the end of January she and her husband moved to Dresden and since that time I’ve been responsible for the work. As a volunteer I offered three weekly programs: German- and English-lessons as well as sports. Every Friday we rented the gym of the former orphanage and so we played either volleyball or basketball. I liked doing this as well as giving lessons. What’s most important to me about my proposals for the adolescents is to face them with patience and respect. At the beginning they tried hard to find my weak points. If you get insecure then, or even aggressive, you’ve lost. So I always stayed friendly and relaxed and as time went on, I got to develop a very good relationship to them.

In February I was lucky to have a very special kind of business trip. Via Budapest I flew to Vilnius in Lithuania, to take part in a coordination-camp for international volunteers. Mátéffy Hajnalka had developed the partnership with a multilateral network for volunteer-exchange, which had been founded by a fellow student of her studies in Dresden. The project serves Fehérlófia in order to send two disadvantaged teenagers of the former orphanage abroad to work as European volunteers. Now I should be in charge of this as well. It was a very impressive and instructive time for me, to develop the plan for this year’s volunteer-exchange together with twelf other co-operators of European civil organisations. By now, after the application-time, we’ve found our volunteers: Lévai Géza went to Lithuania this summer for 6 weeks in order to help with youth camps for disabled teenagers; Csutak Enikö, called Csuki will start to work in the youth-centre TIK in Bautzen for 5 months in September, where she can bring in all her talents and creativity. For the Romanian adolescents, the international volunteer-service is a great chance for their lives, because they can learn a foreign language and get an insight into life in Western Europe. They also get used to an independent and autonomous life. It makes me happy to accompany them on this way and I’m going to turn the volunteer-exchange into a focal point of my work.

In May a group of Germans visited us with Hajnalka as a leader, who wanted to return for two months to her working place again. Ulrike Heinitz called it in her report: „My first visit to Keresztúr”. As a result of this trip we’re going to offer an educational trip to Transylvania in autumn. After three months of working abroad I returned to Bautzen along with this group.
On Whitsuntide we went to Romania again. Now we could experience the pilgrimage to Csíkcsomlyó, a wonderful, holy place of the Hungarians.

For the following week, Hajnalka had prepared a special youth-trip. We went to Gyergyóremete, in order to learn how to build a traditional yurt by an experienced master. Hajnalka had paid special attention to the choice of participants and so seven hard-working adolescents of the former orphanage learned how to build housing on their own. We slept in the hay, lived with the master’s family on their farm and finally we could take our new-built group-tent home with us. After that we started the preparation for the summer-camp. Many people contributed to turn this camp in Turia into something unforgettable for the almost 80 participants. For me it was the happiest time of the year because I felt like being part of the Hungarian group and honoured my promise to come back and speak their language.

Now there’s a new and different time imminent. In September I’ll move to Keresztúr again for one more year and my tasks will be different ones. We’re waiting for two new volunteers from Germany, whom I’ll be in charge of. Together with our new social worker Gergely Kinga we’ll be a powerful team and offer lots of proposals and projects to the youth.

One of the focal points of my work will be the establishment of a coordination-place for international volunteer-services. Therefore we’ll extend the language lessons and introduce the adolescents to a basic education in their particular language. In the course of the eastern enlargement of the EU Romania will turn from a candidate country into a member of the European Union. That means, among other things, that a lot of money from EU-programs will be donated to the youth- and social work. We’re going to dispose the association Fehélófia in a way that will offer us the possibility to be in charge of further tasks and receive the necessary funds.This work needs a long-termed and consistent engagement and I’m ready to take the responsibility for that, because the way of the heart led me to Transylvania and to the people there. I feel especially committed to the adolescents of the former orphanage.

In order to do a successful work we need the contribution of many people. Even you can help us, either by donations in kind or money or by you contacts and recommendations, which we would use in the welfare of our entrusted adolescents. Please keep associated to us.

Your sincerely, Peter Großmann

You can contact me via e-mail to peter@acado.de or by telephone from September in my office in Keresztúr, Romania at the number: 0040 266 242777.

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