Portrait of a Roma Bible Club Leader: Ivetka Olahova, Slovakia

Education, Christian education, is very important to Ivetka Olahova. “My childhood was not good. I grew up without education,” Ivetka told me. “When I received Christ (at the age of 16 years), I was still single. I said to myself if I have children one day, I want my children’s lives to be better.”

Ivetka succeeded. One of her three children, Jesika, is now involved in education herself. Jesika works as a teaching assistant at the pre-school in Jarovnice, Slovakia. Jesika also translated for us during our telephone interview. Ivetka spoke in her native language (Romani). I spoke in my native language (English). Jesika can understand and speak both.

Ivetka now has 21 years’ experience in children’s ministry. She and her sister started in Sabinov, in a small church with just a few people.

 “We started teaching children about having a relationship with God,” Ivetka said. “If they have a relationship with God, their life will be different. They will have other options, and God will lead them.”

She and her sister taught in their own language right from the beginning. They continue to do so. Her sister is currently a children’s minister in Sabinov.

“Now, after twenty years, we can see many of the children in church. They are grown up. They have education.”

For the last eight years Ivetka and her husband Marek Olah have been ministering in a different village. They are starting a church in Jarovnice, a village less then 10 km southwest of Sabinov. About 5,000-6,000 Roma live there, making Jarovnice the largest Roma village in Slovakia. Ivetka continues working with children there. 

 “The same thing we did in Sabinov we started doing now in Jarovnice,” Ivetka said. She noted that “here the Roma people are a little bit different. Here we need to teach the children about education, about hygiene, about simple things.” Once a week they also provide a good meal for the children.

“We want to let them feel that they are loved and that God loves them,” Ivetka added.

 Note that Ivetka said “we.” She does not do this alone. Sixteen women work together in teams of four. All of the women have been carefully trained. They attended workshops to learn how to use the material and how to work with children.

A children’s worker “needs to help the children, be kind to them, show patience.”

Part of the training is learning how to play. Ivetka noted that adults often don’t know how to act with or teach children. “You can’t be like an adult. You have to be childish.”

The children’s workers put this training into practice. They watched and helped with the children for three months or so. When they felt comfortable in leading the lessons themselves, they were given the responsibility of taking their turn leading the children’s Bible club.

Ivetka has always taught Roma children in their own Romani language. She and her team continue to do so. They now use material called True Way Kids. More and more of this curriculum has been translated into Eastern Slovak Romani. They are available online at https://truewaykids.com/.  Ivetka likes the material very much, and not just because it is in Romani.

 “You have everything there, the lesson, activities, everything.”

Teaching in Romani is a definite advantage for the teachers as well as the children.

 “Because it is in the Roma language, the teachers can understand the lessons very well. We use the Roma Bible.” (Ivetka’s husband Marek working with the author’s husband Keith Holmes to record the New Testament in Eastern Slovak Romani, Sabinov, 2014)

They meet with the children twice a week, on Sunday and on Wednesday. Right now all 40-50 children meet in the same room. This new church does not yet have different spaces for different age groups. A typical lesson starts with prayer, then children’s worship. The children are given a chance to share. Some children read verses from the Bible. Some give testimonies. Then it’s time for the Bible story.

 “First we read it in the Roma language. Then we show them the story with pictures or we call some children in front and make a skit with them,” Ivetka explained. Then they ask if God spoke to them with the story. What did the children understand and how do they put that into practice.

 “Many times new children come. And they will say that they want to receive Jesus in their heart, so we pray with them.”

Then the lesson is reinforced with games, activities, a craft, and sometimes a memory verse from the Bible. Sometimes they end by giving the children something to eat—physical food as well as spiritual food.

When Ivetka accepted Jesus into her heart at the age of 16, He changed her life for the better. This prompted her to make sure her own children had a better life, physically, educationally, and spiritually. God used this desire to help her change the lives of many, many other children for the better as well. She has spent the last twenty-one years helping children have a better life.

 “We need to invest in them,” she said earnestly. “Serving the kids is difficult, but we need to do it with God and not to give up.”

Ivetka concluded our interview with these words of encouragement for other Roma teachers:

 “Never to give up. Be faithful. And you will see the fruit of this ministry. Because sometimes they will not see the results. But if they will continue, God will bless their ministry.”

 

Portret van een Sinti bijbelclub leider: Anna Schafer, Nederland

“Onze kinderen zijn alles voor ons,” vertelt Anna Schafer me. Kinderen – neefjes, nichtjes, buurkinderen – lopen vaak de woonwagen binnen die Anna deelt met haar bejaarde vader. Ze ontvangt hen allemaal hartelijk. Anna heeft – afgezien van een paar kleine onderbrekingen – al bijna veertig jaar kinderwerk gedaan.  En toch accepteerde zij met tegenzin de roeping om een bijbelclub voor kinderen te gaan leiden. Ze vertelde me hoe dat ging.

Anna groeide op in de kerk. Haar vader was een van de oudsten in de  Leven en Licht gemeente die elke zondag bij elkaar kwam in het woonwagenkamp waar Anna en veel van haar familieleden woonden; hij preekte er regelmatig. Na de Tweede Wereldoorlog stond de Nederlandse overheid Roma, Sinti en Woonwagenbewoners niet langer toe rond te trekken. In plaats daarvan werden er specifieke plekken aangewezen (woonwagenkampen) waar mensen hun woonwagens permanent konden neerzetten. Op die manier konden (en kunnen) hele families toch dicht bij elkaar blijven wonen. Ze ondersteunen elkaar en kunnen gemakkelijk bij elkaar op bezoek gaan, van de ene woonwagen naar de andere. (Tekening: Roy Ann Cary uit O Drom kleurboek)

Anna’s woonwagenkamp is te vinden in een plattelandsstreek in de zuidelijke provincie Noord-Brabant.
Langs de twee wegen van de kamp, staan nu vaste woonwagens. Helemaal aan het eind, waar de beide wegen samenkomen, staat een metalen gebouw – daar worden de kerkdiensten en andere samenkomsten gehouden. Op zondag is er twee keer een dienst en door-de-weeks bijna elke avond. De prediking en een groot deel van de samenzang zijn in het Romanes, de taal van de Sinti.  Elke dienst wordt geleid door twee Sinti kerkleiders; de een preekt in het Romanes en de ander vertaalt in het Nederlands, of – als er veel buitenlandse bezoekers zijn – in het Duits of Frans. (Foto: het kerkgebouw, rond 1999)

Toen Anna een meisje van een jaar of 13, 14 was, begon een vrouw die Klara heette een keer in de week uit Belgie te komen om een ‘kinderschool’ in de woonwagenkamp te leiden. Anna heeft goede herinneringen aan deze kinderprogramma’s. Het was heel leuk. De liedjes die Klara hen aanleerde, kent ze nog steeds, zoals “Jesus Bids Us Shine”.

Klara deed dit werk een aantal jaren. 

“Zonder dat ik wist, werd ik helpje van haar,” herinnert Anna zich. 

“Op een dag vroeg ze me: ‘Zou je dit werk van me willen overnemen als je wat ouder bent?’ Ik durfde geen ‘nee’ te zeggen.”)

Maar het idee maakte haar niet blij. “Toen ik die middag na afloop van de club naar huis ging, kwam ik in tranen bij m’n moeder aan. Ik wilde het helemaal niet doen.”

Haar moeder had een sterk geloof en stelde voor dat ze er samen over zouden bidden. “We laten alles aan de Heer over,”  zei zij tegen Anna. “Als het Zijn bedoeling is dat je dit gaat doen, zal Hij ook het verlangen in je hart leggen.” (Foto: Anna’s moeder met een paar van Anna’s neefjes en nichtjes, rond 1999. Het kindje rechts, met de bel, loopt daarmee door het kamp, om de mensen op te roepen naar de kerkdienst te komen.)

Op een dag was Klara erg ziek en kon ze niet naar de wekelijkse club komen. Anna zat op haar te wachten, samen met de kinderen. Uiteindelijk, toen het duidelijk werd dat Klara niet gewoon te laat was, besloot Anna de kinderen liedjes te laten zingen. Daarna vertelde ze hen een verhaal dat ze van Klara geleerd had. Zo begon Anna het kinderwerk te leiden.

Na deze eerste keer hield Anna lange tijd elke woensdagmiddag een ‘kinderschool’ in het kerkgebouw in hun woonwagenkamp, ofwel een bijbelclub. Alle kinderen uit het kamp kwamen erop af, van de peuters tot de jongere tieners. Het programma duurde twee uur, “drie, als het goed ging,” vertelt Anna me.

Anna begon de voorbereiding voor deze bijeenkomsten altijd met gebed. “Geeft U me een verhaal, wijst U me de weg.” Dan kwam haar een verhaal in gedachten. Ze begon met de verhalen over Jozef, Maria en Jezus. In de daaropvolgende bijeenkomsten vertelde ze welk verhaal de Heer haar ook maar op het hart legde. Ze had boekjes met bijbellessen voor kinderen kunnen gebruiken, maar dat was niet nodig. Ze kende al deze verhalen uit haar hoofd omdat ze al van kinds af aan regelmatig naar de kerkelijke samenkomst ging.

Toen ze eenmaal de kinderclub begon te leiden, spitste ze haar oren als de prediker verhalen uit de Bijbel vertelde. Ze lette met name op bijbelverhalen die geschikt waren om met de kinderen te delen. “O, dat is ook mooi voor de kinderen!”, dacht ze dan. (Foto: een aantal kinderen, rond 2004)

Anna kende de kinderen ook. Ze zag en hoorde hen vaak als ze door het kamp liep. Op een dag viel het haar op dat de kinderen niet naar hun ouders luisterden, of hen niet gehoorzaamden. “Daar kunnen we verbetering in aanbrengen,” dacht ze bij zichzelf.

Daarom vertelde Anna de kinderen de volgende keer dat ze allemaal een beschermengel hebben. “Dat geloven we.” Die engel zit op hun rechterschouder en helpt hen om het goede te doen. Maar op hun linkerschouder zit een andere engel, een duiveltj. Die hen vertelt om niet naar hun ouders te luisteren. En Anna vroeg de kinderen: “Naar welke engel wil je luisteren?”

“Niet naar de duivel!”, vertelden de kinderen haar.

“Dus, wat gaan jullie de komende week dan doen?”, vroeg ze hen.

“Naar onze ouders luisteren en doen wat ze zeggen!”, was het antwoord.

“Goed.”

En Anna kon zien dat de kinderen zich inderdaad beter gingen gedragen.

Maar het ging niet altijd zo soepel. “Soms kwam ik na afloop van de club huilend thuis,” geeft Anna toe. “Huilend zei ik dat ik het niet meer wilde doen.” Maar de Heer gaf haar altijd wat ze nodig had om door te gaan.

Soms kwam het in haar op om de kinderen een uitdaging te geven. “Wie kan volgende week dit verhaal het best navertellen?”, zei ze bijvoorbeeld.

Op een keer gaf ze elk kind ook een bijbelvers om uit het hoofd te leren, afgestemd op hun leeftijd en vaardigheden. Dat leidde tot een zekere competitie: wie zou zijn vers de volgende keer goed uit het hoofd kennen? Deze tactiek bleek effectief te zijn. Twee dagen van tevoren kwamen sommige kinderen al naar haar toe om te vertellen: “Ik ken mijn vers al, luister maar!”

Soms gaf Anna de kinderen na het vertellen van een bijbelverhaal papier en (kleur)potloden of stiften. “Heb je goed naar het verhaal geluisterd?”, vroeg ze dan. “Kun je er een tekening van maken?”

Anna vertelt: “De kinderen vonden het geweldig.”

Het maakte niet uit wat ze precies tekenden, daar ging het niet om. Ze gaf hun hoe dan ook complimentjes. Ze gebruikte het tekenen ook om het verhaal opnieuw onder de aandacht van de kinderen te brengen. Bijvoorbeeld, met het verhaal van Noach stelde ze hun voor iets te tekenen wat in de boot zat.

Als ze zag dat een kind een vis aan het tekenen was, vroeg ze: “Waren er ook vissen in de boot?” Zo legde ze verband tussen het verhaal en de tekening van het kind.

Anna gebruikte vaak ook concrete voorwerpen (visuele hulpmiddelen) om de kinderen te helpen de verhalen te onthouden: kleine figuurtjes, een flanellen bord met bijhorende illustraties, allerlei verschillende voorwerpen. Ze nam bijvoorbeeld een stoel en liet zien waar Jezus nu zit, aan de rechterhand van God. En dan vertelde ze de groep: “Jezus hoort de gebeden van kinderen altijd. Hij zit vlak naast God, dus God hoort jullie gebeden ook.”

Deze woorden schoten wortel in de harten van de kinderen. Anna herinnert zich levendig hoe bezorgd twee zusjes waren over hun ouders. Die hadden er niet voor gekozen om Jezus te volgen en hadden de meisjes nooit meegenomen naar bijeenkomsten van de kerk. Maar door de lessen op de kinderclub waren de zusjes de boodschap van het evangelie goed gaan begrijpen. Ze waren erg bezorgd over de eeuwige bestemming van hun ouders. Maandenlang bad de groep samen met deze meisjes voor hun ouders, elke week. En God hoorde deze gebeden. Papa en mama beleden allebei hun zonden en gaven hun hart aan Jezus.

De investering in deze kinderen had eeuwigheidswaarde, en niet alleen voor de papa en mama van deze twee meisjes. Veel van de kinderen die naar de club kwamen, zijn nu zelf ouders. Velen van hen hebben hun leven aan Jezus gewijd en zijn gedoopt. Mensen die als kind naar de club kwamen, herinneren zich nog steeds de bijbelverzen die ze uit het hoofd leerden, de verhalen die Anna vertelde en de liedjes die ze zongen. Ze zingen deze liederen nog steeds.

Anna heeft ook kinderprogramma's geleid tijdens de grote tentbijeenkomsten waar haar kerk ’s zomers aan deelneemt. In plaats te proberen de aandacht van een grote groep kinderen vast te houden met een bijbelles, lenen deze bijeenkomsten zich meer voor een focus op het zingen van liedjes.

Anna komt uit een familie met unieke muzikale gaven. 

Haar vader is een begaafd violist. 

Haar moeder had een prachtige zangstem. 

Zij en haar zussen hebben allemaal zo’n sterke en mooie stem dat ze in opera’s zouden kunnen zingen. 

Maar dat doen ze niet, ze geven de voorkeur aan gospel en christelijke liederen met een levendige swing. Liederen die doen denken aan de ‘Gypse Jazz’ die gespeeld werd door Jean ‘Django’ Reinhardt (ook een Sinto) en het Rosenberg Trio (nauwe verwanten van de familie Schafer).

Anna en haar familie zingen nog steeds in kerkdiensten en tijdens de tentcampagnes in de zomer (zie foto’s hierboven: in een kerkdienst rond 1999 en in een tentcampagne rond 2021). Ook zoekt Anna nog steeds kinderen in haar eigen woonwagenkamp bij elkaar om liederen in te studeren voor Kerstmis of een andere speciale gelegenheid.

Anna weet van tevoren dat dit soort bijeenkomsten aanvankelijk nogal chaotisch zijn. Haar advies aan iedereen die met Roma of Sinti kinderen werkt is “om je te richten op de vijf kinderen die opletten en niet op de tien die afgeleid zijn”.

Bijvoorbeeld, dit jaar kwam een groep kinderen in haar huis bij elkaar om een kerstliedje te leren. Het stond op YouTube en werd via de televisie afgespeeld. De kleintjes waren lekker op de grond aan het spelen, de groteren leerden het liedje. Terwijl ze hiermee bezig waren, kwam een vrouw uit Anna’s familie en zij begon de kinderen uit te schelden, dat ze moesten luisteren naar wat Anna probeerde hen te leren. Dat werkt niet.

Wat wel werkt is beginnen met de kinderen die opletten. “Uiteindelijk gaan de anderen meedoen, zelfs de kleintjes – zij willen ook meedoen met het lied en de uitvoering. Ja, het vergt geduld, maar het werkt. En uiteindelijk genieten de kinderen er allemaal van.”

We kunnen allemaal iets van Anna leren. Hoewel ze met tegenzin het werk overnam dat Klara begon, blijft ze trouw. En ze werd beloond door de vruchten van haar werk te zien in de veranderde levens van kinderen en volwassenen. Mogen ook anderen geïnspireerd worden om te investeren in de levens van kinderen, vooral omdat, zoals Anna zegt, “onze kinderen alles zijn.”

door Mary van Rheenen; Nederlands bewerkt door Annelies Barth

 

 

Portrait of a Sinti Bible Club Leader: Anna Schafer, the Netherlands

“Our children are everything,” Anna Shafer told me. Children—nieces, nephews, neighbors—often wander into the woonwagen Anna shares with her elderly father. She warmly receives them all and has been doing children’s work, off and on, for nearly 40 years. Yet Anna only reluctantly accepted the call to lead a children’s Bible club. She described how it happened.

Anna grew up in the church. Her father became one of the preaching elders in the Light and Life congregation that met in the woonwagenkamp where Anna and many of her relatives lived. After W.W. II, the Dutch government no longer allowed Roma, Sinti, or Travelers to move from place to place. Instead, places (camps or woonwagenkampen) were set aside where people permanently parked their caravans (woonwagens). In this way, whole family groups can continue to live close to each other. They support each other and visit freely from one woonwagen to the next. (Drawing by Roy Ann Cary from O Drom coloring booklet.)

Anna’s woonwagenkamp is in a rural region of the southern province of North Brabant. Now-stationary caravans line the two roads leading into the camp. At the very end of the camp, where the roads merge, stands a portable metal building where the church meets. Services are held twice on Sunday and many other evenings throughout the week. The preaching and much of the singing is in Romanes, the language of the Sinti. Two Sinti church leaders stand up to lead the services, one preaching in Romanes and the other simultaneously translating into Dutch or—if there are many foreign visitors—German or French. (The church building, ca 1999.) 

When Anna was a girl of 13 or 14, a woman named Klara started coming up from Belgium once a week to lead a “children’s school.” Anna remembers these children’s programs fondly. They were fun. She can still sing songs that Klara taught them, like the Dutch version of Jesus Bids Us Shine. 

Klara did this for several years.

“Without really being aware of it, I started being her helper,” Anna recalled.

“Then one day when she asked me, ‘When  you are older, would you take over this work?’ I didn’t dare to say no.”

But the very idea alarmed her. “When I went home from the club that afternoon, I cried to my mother about it. I did not want to do that at all.”

Her mother, a strong believer, suggested they pray about it together.

“We’ll leave it with the Lord,” her mother told her. “If He plans for you to do this, He will also put that desire in your heart.” (Anna’s mother with some of Anna’s nieces and nephews, ca 1999. Someone walks through the camp, ringing the bell, to call people to worship.) 

One day, Klara became very ill and didn’t come for the weekly club. Anna was there, with the children, waiting. Finally, when it became clear that Klara wasn’t simply going to be late, Anna decided to have the children sing songs. Then she told them a story she had learned from Klara. That was how she got started leading children’s work. 

For a long time after that, Anna held a children’s school (Bible club) every Wednesday afternoon in the church building in their woonwagenkamp. All the children from the camp came, from toddlers to preteens. The program lasted two hours, “three if it went well,” Anna said. 

Anna began preparing for each of these meetings by praying, “Give me a story; show me the way.” A story would come to mind. She started with stories about Joseph, Mary, & Jesus. Then whatever story that the Lord laid on her heart would be the one for the next session. She could have studied a printed series of children’s lessons, but she didn’t need to. She knew all these stories by heart because she had been attending church meetings since she was a child. 

Once she started leading the children’s club, her ears would prick up when the preacher shared Bible stories. She made a mental note of Bible stories that would be good to share with the children. “Oh, that would be good for the children.” 

Anna also knew the children. She would see them and hear them during the week as she moved around the camp. One time she noticed how the children were not listening to or obeying their parents.  

“We can improve on this,” she thought. So at the next week’s meeting, Anna told the children a story about their guardian angels. “We believe everyone has one,” Anna said. She told the children that each one of them has an angel sitting  on their right shoulder who helps them do what is right. But there is another angel, a little devil, sitting on their left shoulder, telling them not to listen to their parents. Which one did they want to listen to? (Photo:  some of the children, around 2004)

“Not the devil!” the children told her. 

“Well, what will you do the next week?” she asked them. 

“Listen to our parents and do what they say!” they replied. 

“Good.”

And Anna could see that the children did, indeed, change their behavior for the better. 

Things didn’t always go so smoothly, however. 

“Some days I’d come home after the club crying,” Anna admitted, “Crying, I don’t want to do this anymore.” 

But the Lord always gave her what she needed to continue. 

Sometimes she was inspired to give the children challenges. 

“Who will be able to tell this story the best next week?”

Once she also chose a Bible text for each child to memorize, depending on their age and ability. This led to a bit of competition—who would and who wouldn’t know their verse at the next meeting. No one wanted to be outdone. This tactic proved to be effective. Two days ahead of time children would come up to her, saying, “I can say my verse. Listen to me!” 

Sometimes after telling a Bible story, Anna would give the children paper and (colored) pencils or markers.

“Have you listened well to the story?” she’d ask. “Can you draw something from it?”

“The kids thought that was fantastic,” Anna recalled. 

It didn’t matter what they actually drew.  She would praise them, no matter what. She also used this to re-emphasize the story. For example, with the story of Noah, she might suggest they draw something that was in the boat.

If she saw a child drawing a fish, she would say, “Was there a fish in the boat, too?” That way she’d make a connection between the story and the child’s art work. 

Anna also often used concrete items (visual aids) to help the stories stick in the children’s minds:  small figures, flannel graph figures, different objects. She’d take a chair, for example, and show where Jesus was sitting, at the right hand of God. “Jesus always hears children’s prayers,” she would tell the group. “He is sitting right next to God. God hears your prayers, too.” 

These words took root in the children’s hearts. Anna vividly remembers two sisters who were really concerned for their parents. Their parents had no commitment to follow Jesus and had never taken the two girls to any church meetings. Through the lessons at the children’s club the sisters clearly understood the Gospel message. They were deeply worried about their parents’ eternal souls. Together, week after week, the group prayed with these girls for their parents. And yes, God heard those prayers. Both mama and papa repented and gave their hearts to Jesus.

Investing in those children had an eternal impact, and not just on those girls’ papa and mama. Many of the children who came to the club are now parents themselves. Many have made a commitment to Jesus and been baptized. People who came to the program as children still remember the verses they memorized, the stories Anna told, and the songs they sung. They still sing those songs.

In addition to the weekly children’s club, Anna also led children’s programs at the big tent meetings that her church participates in in the summertime. Rather than trying to capture and keep the attention of a large group of kids through a Bible lesson, these gatherings  lend themselves more to a focus on songs. 

Anna comes from a family uniquely gifted in music. 

Her father was a skilled violin player. 

Her mother had a beautiful singing voice. 

She and her sisters all also have voices strong and beautiful enough to sing opera. 

However, they prefer to sing Gospel and Christian songs with a lively swing reminiscent of the “Gypsy Jazz” played by Jean "Django" Reinhardt (also Sinto) and the Rosenberg Trio (close relatives to the Schafer family; photo in church ca 1999). 

Anna and her relatives continue to sing during worship services and at these summer tent meetings 

(photo in tent ca 2021). 

Anna also continues to gather the children in her own woonwagenkamp to prepare for Christmas or some other special occasion. 

Anna knows ahead of time that in the beginning there will be a lot of chaos. Her advice to anyone who is working with Roma or Sinti children is to “focus on the five who are paying attention rather than the ten who are distracted.” 

For example, this past year the children were meeting in her home to learn a song for Christmas. They were learning it off of YouTube, so the TV was on to the song. The little kids were just playing around on the floor. A woman in Anna’s family came in while all this was going on and started scolding the children, telling them to pay attention to what Anna was trying to teach them. That doesn’t work. 

What does work is beginning with the kids who are paying attention. “Eventually the others join in, including the little ones who also want to be part of the song and the performance. Yes, it takes patience. But it works. And the children all end up enjoying it.” 

Anna reluctantly took over the work that Klara began. She was faithful and was rewarded by seeing the fruits of her labors in the changed lives of children and adults. May others also be inspired to invest in the lives of children, especially since, as Anna said, “Our children are everything.”

 

Countering Chaos

What do you do with a group of children who create chaos? This was a question a group of Roma young people put to a friend of mine. She had offered to help teach the children literacy. The young
people noted that the kids needed to learn order and discipline first. These are tips from experienced teachers and missionaries.

Have the kids run races to burn off energy and get them tired. Alina Molla, who led Bible clubs in Roma villages in Romania, used to do this first. She worked with groups as large as 75-100 children. Cornelia Sbirecea has also found it useful, and Marleen Schonthaler did the same thing with Dutch school children.

Get to know the kids to see whether they have underlying issues. Crista Smidt has over thirty years' experience first as an elementary school teacher and then as a guidance councilor. After having the children (or child) run races to settle down, Crista Smidt sits down to talk with them. Do they have trouble at home? Does a learning disability like Attention Deficit Disorder play a role in the child's behavior? Not all of us have the training that Crista does. She has a masters in social work. We can all take the time to understand the children better.

Especially in the beginning, use activities and races involving a line. "It's good for the children to experience that there is a line, a boundary," Marleen noted. "Since boundaries will be new for some children, they actually need to physically experience an actual line." 

For example:  all the children stand behind a line. At a certain signal, they all run to the other side (of the room, of the field, of a line on the far end of the play area), touch something, and run back. When a child is back behind the line, they put their hands in the air and start cheering.

This is the simplest. The next step would be to have the children divide up in groups and run relays. There are endless variations of this (run backwards; skip; balance a book on your head . . . ). The best ones are the ones the children think up themselves.

Use activities where all of the children are actively involved. The ability to wait will take a while to develop. So instead of playing the Davar Start Game called Statues, put a line down the meeting area. Half of the children stand one side; half on the other; with at least 1.5 meters or yards between. Each of the children on one side freeze in an unusual position—maybe one has their arms in the air; another stands on one leg; whatever. Each of the children on the other side chooses one child to mimic and tries to copy exactly how the "statue" they chose is standing.

Try to work with smaller groups. A large group of fans at a ball game is easier to work up and keep worked up than a handful. The fans feed off of one another. The same is true of children. Even in a group as small as 10, unmanageable behavior will tend to escalate. This tip also came from Crista. 

Many thanks to everyone who contributed ideas.

Do you have any tips on this topic? We'd love to hear them!

Portrait of a Roma Bible Club Leader: Vasilita Cobzaru, Republic of Moldova

 “She looked so happy. That’s how I saw her. Happy to meet with the children,” a coworker described Vasilita Cobzaru. 

It is fitting, then, that Mrs. Cobzaru is the first person profiled in this series on Roma and Sinti children’s teachers. 

In many ways, Vasilita Cobzaru is a typical Roma woman from the Republic of Moldova. Like many other Moldovans, she grew up in a village with unpaved streets and no running water. Like many other Roma, her first language (Usari Romani) was not the language used in the village school. Still, Vasilita got a basic education there in everyday math, reading, and writing—in the Cyrillic alphabet. At that time Moldova was part of the Soviet Union and instruction was in Russian.

Also, very typically, Vasilita married a boy from the same village and had four children more or less one right after another (photo:  Vasilita hand-sewing skirts for her young daughters). This, however, is where Vasilita’s story begins to differ. 

Her husband’s father was the first believer in this village. Night after night people would gather at his home to hear Bible stories and to sing Christian songs together. Many of those people repented, believed in Jesus, and were baptized. Vasilita and her husband Anatolie (Nicanor) were among those people. 

(Nicanor with two of his children and his father. You can hear Vasilita’s father-in-law tell his own story here How the church in Vulcanestibegan - YouTube, Romanian with English translation.)

“Twenty years ago when I became a believer, I wanted to do as much as I could to teach children about God,” Vasilita recalled. She mentioned the name of adults, now newly born-again. “ I put the small seed in their hearts.” (Vasilita, far left, with one of her children at an outdoor service, 2000.) 

For some of them, it took a long time for that seed to sprout. Vasilita and her husband also had ups and downs in their faith journey. At times they found it tempting to make money-related choices that would not exactly honor their Lord.  They came through those rough times with a renewed commitment to their Savior and their local church, Bethlehem Baptist. In an outpouring of love for Jesus, in 2020 Vasilita spontaneously organized a children’s choir in the church. 

Meanwhile, a Sinti pastor in Germany, Brother Kennedy Laubing, had felt led to invest in Roma in Moldova. He discussed different possibilities with Petru Ciochina, the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist. They agreed that an afterschool tutoring program would be very helpful. Would Vasilita be willing to turn her choir into a children’s club? Yes, she would. 

Would she be willing to add tutoring, perhaps basic literacy? Vasilita did not feel comfortable doing that. She learned to read and write in Cyrillic. Now the village school uses the Latin alphabet and teaches in Romanian. Vasilita can read in both alphabets but did not consider herself prepared to teach reading like that. 

Okay, then would Vasilita be willing to add a Davar: Bridging to Literacy game to each Bible club meeting? These fun, simple games teach and practice skills that we all need to succeed in school. Yes, Vasilita would definitely be willing to do this. Especially if her friend Alina Molla would coach her in leading these games.

Alina Molla is an experienced educator from Romania. She came to Vasilita’s village several times over a span of nearly ten years as part of small volunteer teams. Local believers like Vasilita and her friend Katea (both in photo at left) served side-by-side with these volunteers to share Bible lessons in Usari Romani, lead praise songs in that language, and prepare dramatized Bible stories. 

A couple of years earlier Katea  and a young man from the village had also volunteered to start a children’s club using Davar: Bridging to Literacy games. Alina, who had helped develop Davar, came to their first meeting to show them a few games.  The young man found the club too much to continue on top of his other responsibilities. Katea, who is legally blind, could not continue the club by herself. 

Katea was, however, as eager as Vasilita to help the children in the village. Together they faithfully led this new year-long children’s program. Alina met with them every week online to pray together, discuss the upcoming lessons together, and go through the Davar activities for week. 

This new children’s club began meeting several times a week in an activity room at the village school. The children responded positively--so positively that the school director became angry. More children came to this children’s program than came to school. Why did they come to the club and not to school, he wanted to know. 

Vasilita told him the club was from God. “God does that, that’s why they come.” 

A usual session consisted of prayer, the Bible story, and the games and Biblical truths Vasilita and Catea had discussed over the phone with Alina. In the first few meetings, Vasilita read the

Bible story from a children’s Bible in Romanian. She soon decided it worked better to tell the story in her own words. 

“Telling the Bible story in your own words makes it more interesting,” Vasilita noted. Since her own words were in Ursari Romani, it also made it easier for all the children, even the very youngest ones, to understand the stories and lessons.

Vasilita wisely used the games as extra motivation for the children to listen to the Bible stories.

“Listen to the story first,” Vasilita would tell them. “Then we get to play a game.”

The children really enjoyed the Davar games. They had no idea they were practicing school skills while they played. Everyone also liked acting out Bible stories. The children’s club did this at Christmas, acting out the story of Jesus’ birth. 

As much as Vasilita enjoyed working with the children, at the end of the school year she felt led to focus on outreach to women. During the Pandemic, the church had moved their weekly women’s meeting from face-to-face to online. God really worked through this. Many people from the village go abroad to earn a living. The online Bible studies provided a way to stay connected, even when people were spread from Siberia in the east to the coast of Holland in the west. The pastor’s wife had started the face-to-face meetings. Sometimes she led the online Bible lessons, sometimes the pastor did, and Alina was also invited to do a few. At the end of the school year, Vasilita asked Alina join her in starting an additional online women’s group designed for women who are not yet Christians. Alina leads these Bible lessons, choosing topics that the women request. The women then go on to sing and pray together for an additional hour . . . or two. 

Vasilita Cobzaru, a typical Roma woman, understands how to reach other Roma, whether they are children in her village or women scattered across Eurasia. She uses songs, prayer, and Biblical truth anchored in stories that are told rather than read. Most importantly, she sees God working through community. She led the children’s Bible club in the context of community—Catea in Moldova, Alina from Romania, Brother Laubing in Germany, and many others who prayed with and for her. Vasilita continues to organize online women’s gatherings in community with others to foster community among others.

This community is especially precious to Vasilita since she and her husband, like so many other Roma, have now gone abroad to work. She still looks happy, happy to plant seeds of faith and to join in Christian community wherever her Lord leads.

 

 

(Photo: a very young guest visits Vasilita and one of her daughters 
at their temporary home in the Netherlands.)

 

by M. VanRheenen

 

 

 

One-two-three Clap!

 Rhythm--clapping, tapping, stomping--did you know all that fun lays the foundation for doing math? I sure didn't. My friend Marleen Schönthaler, the educator behind most of Davar: Bridging to Literacy, had put rhythm games like
Repeat the Rhythm into Davar Start Games. I thought those games just had something to do with listening and concentrating. 

They do. But they do even more. When you repeat a clear rhythm, you are unconsciously counting. Kids who have never been taught to count can still accurately follow a rhythm like this one:  clap, clap-clap, pause, clap, or even far more complicated ones. This calls for a sense of how many, for a sense of--you guessed it--numbers. It is math preparation.

So while these kids are clearly having fun, if they were following a set pattern they would also be practicing math skills. 

Much more fun than drills like multiplication tables. Though there are Davar games that help with that, too . . . .

Series: Learning from Roma and Sinti Teachers who teach Roma and Sinti Children

 “Our children are everything,” a Romany* Bible club teacher told me. 

Another said, "I feel like my calling is to work with children. I haven't done anything else in my life since I was twenty."

This series will profile a few of these dedicated Roma and Sinti teachers. The teachers come from different countries (Moldova, Slovakia, the Netherlands . . .). They have different levels of formal education. They come from different church backgrounds. They speak different languages.

They have in common a commitment to serve God and make a difference in the lives of children.  "We started to teach children about having a relationship with God . . .. After twenty years, we see many of the children in church."

All of these teachers also have a deep understanding of the children they teach and the communities they come from.  

"We can understand their background, so we can speak on the same level, the level of their struggle, of their difficulties," a Roma  leader said. 

I have learned much from talking with these Romany brothers and sisters in Christ. I hope you will learn and be inspired through this series, too.

And if you know of a Roma or Sinti Bible club/Sunday school teacher who would be willing to share about their experiences, please contact us! (via comments or on our Facebook page)

Mary van Rheenen