Chris picked us up at the apartment again this morning. No out of the way “sightseeing” today as he went straight to Hotel Porin without detours. Chris and his wife, Karen, live just about a block from the hotel. The 5 women are usually picked up at their apartment by Pete. The three men and the Monteblancos are now taking a different route and a different tram. They are able to get on a tram that goes a different route and after a longer route they get off about 2 miles from Porin and wait at the KFC (yes, fried chicken) for both Pete and Ashley to pick them up.
Upon arriving at Porin, we were greeted by several of our new friends. Isuf, who has cerebral palsy and walks with canes, particularly wanted to know where Vito was today. After all 4 groups had arrived we went to the basement to have our morning meeting and get our supplies together. It has been so hot in the different areas we work in that we bought some stand fans. We got those put together first thing.
It took several trips to get everything from the basement to the first floor. And, in about 2 minutes or less after we put our first load of supplies (which included 4 of the fans) on the floor one of the fans “walked off” as we stepped away from the main room. With over 300 refugees in thiss building there is no way to find out who took it. We’ll need to be more attentive to everything.
Now, to us who are from the United States first floor is the ground floor. But, in many places including here ground floor is the first one you enter into. First floor is what we would call the second floor. Today’s work is basically the same as yesterday. Prepping and painting. Right now all the painting is on the first floor but we have started cleaning and prepping on the 2nd floor. We have decided to do each floor a different color. The main room on the first floor is blue with the two hallways being a pale gray.
During the morning Jenni had been asked to teach an ESL class normally taught by a different NGO. She and Dana went to the classroom but, instead of teaching, observed how the teacher taught the students. In this refugee center there is an opportunity for all the residents to take both English and Croatian classes. One refugee told us they came from so many different language background that they needed one common language in order to communicate. English is the chosen language.
Just before noon I heard that a second fan had walked away from the ladies who were cleaning on the 2nd floor. Two down, eight to go! So, at noon, when all the rest of the team went to lunch Jenni and I stayed with all the supplies on 1st floor to guard them. When the team came back to work we went outside and across the street to eat our sandwich that Chris & Karen had provided us with. We are not eating in the hotel restaurant today because of the way it is funded. They couldn’t figure out how to document it on the books and charge us. After lunch we went back to work. Most of us to paint while Dana and Hadyn went to the Unicef Children’s room to do crafts. They had several children and even adults come and make bracelets with yarn and beads.
Our new Palestinian friend, Ali, worked all day on the hallway ceiling lights and got most of them working and replaced. At 4 p.m. Jenni & Dana went to the 3rd floor ESL classroom to teach. Chris normally teaches this class but we are doing it this week. At 4 also, Ashley took some of us on an errand and then to the lady’s apartment for dinner. At 4:30 the rest of the team finished work for the day and then were taken to their different locations to clean up. Brayden met the center city guys and traveled with them by tram to the lady’s apartment. Everyone was there by 6 p.m.
Tracie and Wonda, along with Ashley and Lial, spent the day shopping for food and cooking our Syrian/Texan evening meal. And it was delicious!! We had a chicken, a rice dish with eggplant and hamburger, mac & cheese, enchilada casserole, taco salad and two different chips & dips (guacamole & a garlic dip). And, Wonda’s brownies for dessert. Yummy!
After a time of just relaxing and visiting we all loaded up either in Ashley’s car or on the tram and went to the “end of the line”. The one Croatian Nazarene church is located in Zagreb at this location. The site was formerly a bakery but is now the church. It is called “the Hub”. It is quite small. And with the approximately 20 refugees who attend and the approximately 20-30 Croatians it can be quite crowded. It had only been in existence for about 1 year, even though the Church of the Nazarene has had a presence in Croatia since the late 1990’s. After seeing the church we all got back on the tram to travel to our different housing areas for the night.
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