After a bumpy ride through the rolling hills of Northwestern Romania, the Convoy of Hope Europe team ascends a steep road into a village outside Dicanesti. The rumble of the vehicle’s engine draws children who playfully welcome the team.
For the past three years, Convoy of Hope Europe has partnered with churches in the area as part of its Adopt-a-Community Program, which fosters relationships between churches in the United States and impoverished communities across Europe, helping those who are poverty-stricken and hurting.
“We have partnered with churches from the Northeastern corner of the United States (Bethany Church from Wyckoff, N.J., and Bethlehem Assembly of God from Valley Stream, N.Y.),” says Albert Walsweer, chief operating officer of Convoy of Hope Europe. “In the past three years our teams have completed a wide array of tasks, ranging from laying a concrete foundation for a community center to the distribution of hygiene products. But on this trip we want to bring clean running water to this village.”
To do that, members of a local church borrowed a backhoe to dig a trench and lay pipe. It was a group effort that saw members of the visiting churches teaming with the members of local churches and community leaders. Today, the village has clean running water at the twist of a knob.
