Projects
HCI Children’s Village in Dorohoi (Romania)
From vision to mission: When the Iron Curtain fell in 1989 and the borders to Eastern European countries opened, we saw images of neglected, hospitalized children in Romanian children’s homes on our screens. The impression of the abandoned and orphaned children moved several women from Germany to travel with aid teams to the far north-east of Romania – to the town of Dorohoi – and bring help for these children. After a few visits to Romania, it was clear that nothing had remained of the aid that had been provided the last time until the next visit.
It turned out that the only way to provide effective help was to look after the children locally. So two of the women decided to move permanently to Dorohoi (Romania) and take in children in an apartment, live with them and show them that they are loved by God.
Over the next few years, these beginnings gave rise to a children’s village with 28 children in four families, a kindergarten and a school. The circle of children and families cared for has long since grown. The children come from all over the area. Today, 70 children attend the kindergarten and around 200 children attend the Cornerstone School.
We – the “Freie evangelische Gemeinde” in Saarbruecken – have been supporting the HCI Children’s Village since 1999. Over the years, several teams from our congregation have been on site for various aid and work assignments – and we always look forward to seeing the children and mothers again.
Further information can be found on the HCI International website.
Linguistic research in the context of Bible translation in Cameroon
According to Wycliff, a non-profit, internationally active Christian organization, around 1.5 billion people do not have access to a Bible in their own language. For 180 million people, there is not even a single Bible verse in their native language. Wycliff’s vision is to end this Bible poverty and give everyone in the world access to the Bible – God’s living Word.
Dr. Rahel Beyer has been living and working in Cameroon (Africa) for several years. She researches local languages and linguistic situations of ethnic minorities in order to prepare the actual translation of the Bible or to make it possible at all.
Imagine if the Bible only existed in a language that was foreign to you. How would you feel if God didn’t speak your language? How could you even get to know God? These questions prompted us to support Rahel Beyer and her important work in 2022.
Further information can be found on the Wycliff website.