Yesterday I flew back to Cluj-Napoca in the Transilvania region on Northern Romania. there is only one daily flight from the south of England, so it necessitated a 4:30 am departure from home to get to Luton Airport in sufficient time to catch the Wizz Air flight.
My previous visit was as much a discovery trip as an opportunity to speak and teach, whereas this occasion is with the specific objective of initiating a training and encouragement partnership with pastors and other leaders of small churches in villages in the area around Zalau.
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| Transilvania, Romania |
On Monday a group of guys are joining together for a three day residential conference (finishing soon after lunch on Thursday) where a number of the leaders of the local mission will be, with me, sharing something of our vision, and I'll be teaching on a variety of subjects to equip them with skills to nurture their own congregations and communities. The costs of the conference have been met by a generous gift from my church back in the UK, as in this very rural region the benefits of a post communist free enterprise system (and EU funding) have not yet been as apparent as in other places.
As a professional trainer I like to provide materials and an 'ambience' that sets the tone. (The last course I delivered, a week ago, was to staff from a big multinational in the Jeddah Hilton). So balanced with the need to 'cut the coat according to your cloth' I was a bit concerned about finding a source of flip chart paper, folders and notepads as the only stuff I'd been able to obtain last time were a mixed set of ring binders in a budget supermarket. So this time, knowing that once I got to Zalau options would be limited, I persuaded my host (aided by his son) to find a supplier in Cluj before we headed north. Braving a cross city early afternoon rush hour, they took me to a mall,on the west of the city where we had lunch in the food court, I changed my currency, and then we went to a stationery supplier. I was in trainer heaven!
Two flip chart pads, a ream of A3, some folders, A4 notepads and a few other items later (plus a text from our driver who thought that we'd disappeared into a black hole in the mall) we emerged equipped for the conference and comfortable in the knowledge that I don't have to carry as many bits and pieces with me next time I come out here.
But the relative wealth and availability of goods in Cluj did have the effect of driving home the variance in the economy as we headed north-west to the Zalau area. And it made me wonder what could be done - perhaps micro businesses - in this more rural area to help people in the village communities raise their standard of living.
But that's a secondary thought. Not at this stage what I'm here for, but something to ponder.
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