Transylvania Revisited

October 1, 2006

READING:

Dear Congregation of Newburyport and everyone concerned with the Ujszekely-Newburyport Partner Church relationship,

When we think of our Partner Church relationship, first of all let me guide our attention to the field of theology and a lesson taken from the Bible. Matthew 25: 35-36, 40.

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. Truly I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.

Writing this letter around September 11, 2006, I would like also to evoke the memory of those who were lost in that monstrous tragedy. We will pray for all of them!

Although Communism was a quite different threat, we deeply understand the human condition of living under the pressure of the menace. This Transylvanian community also experienced for about 40 years the shackles of communism, being like galley slaves, sentenced to silence and hopelessness. Given this, I believe our mission with this relationship is to cooperate for the creation of peace, mutual appreciation of cultures, trust, and the condition of blooming prosperity for future generations. Unitarians believe that by helping the other we refine ourselves, multiplying our spiritual treasures. In a manner of speaking, we are storing up treasures in heaven.

Secondly, as I told you earlier, during our long lasting relationship we have experienced beautiful examples of friendship, gorgeous human relationships, responsiveness, and gratitude. I always admire the endurance, willpower, and desire for change whenever I meet our American friends. We Transylvanians used to react with acquiescence in these situations, a different cultural reaction than the one of the Americans. I would like to give only two examples from the visit of this summer. I remember that Max started to work restlessly again even in the afternoon when he came back from Kobatfalva, where he directed from early morning until late a group of Americans working on flood relief. It set a very good example. It is always good to learn from other cultures. It was also a good example for us, how young Unitarians from the US, Steph and Andrew—a theological student from Pittsburg—both quickly integrated with our rural conditions of life. I think the enhancement of the interactions between us and you will promote the useful experience of cultural exchange.

Thirdly, I would like to revive a vivid picture of our life scenes from Ujszekely, the natural environment and people. By this evocation we recognize that we humans are living a full social life, are open to being in contact with new peoples, to upholding friendship, and to mixing the agreeable with the useful. So hereby I strongly recommend to the Newburyport congregation, both youth and adults, to come and visit us. I promise it will be a unique experience.

Imagine a peaceful village closed between the hills of Transylvania, and crossed by the Kukullo River. There is living there a people somewhere in the middle between full modernization and old customs. However, they know what is happening around the world from the satellite TV they watch. They still practice the idea of a modest self-sufficient life, what the ancient Greeks called autarcheia. They grow different plants and animals for their food. The shepherd’s trumpet marks the beginning of the day. After that, the people go out in the fields to cut the dewy grass at early dawn, together with the rising sun. The sound of the ringing bell marks the noon, time for lunch, when diligent wives serve the home made food for their husbands. They smartly combine new and old sources of energy: electricity, firewood, burning waste, recycling empty Coca-Cola bottles, horse power. Although they appreciate the benefits of traveling, internet, TV, banking, and shopping, their life is ordered according to the cycles of nature and belief in God; around tradition, family, communal solidarity; devoid of the drive for excessive consumption and accumulation of goods.

I would not call this a backward or primitive society, since they have a complete life philosophy, and opinions about all the questions which put human beings in motion. Because it lacks a high degree of infrastructure and technology, this is a world which relies more on the skills of the jack-of-all-trades and solidarity of community. We do not have all kinds of specialists for fixing things whenever you contact them on the phone; instead, we have some craftsmen in the village and we are used to working with them, usually in the form of community work. I know that in some way the building of the guest house reflects these conditions. According to a Hungarian saying, any house mirrors the features of the face of its owner; and so does this guest house: it reflects the character of all those persons who worked on it, Szekler-Hungarians and Americans, too.

Finally, I strongly believe that the guest house will be finished soon as a good example of joint human efforts and will become a real bridge between us and you, two different worlds, a vanguard for exploration of Transylvania for you. In this spirit, I would like to thank all members of your congregation who have contributed morally or materially, for their generosity, effort, and presence. We would like to return your generosity with our hospitality and your trips here will be a very good occasion for that.

Yours sincerely,

Jakab Zsolt, minister of the Ujszekely Unitarian Congregation

SERMON:

For six weeks this summer I was on a mission or pilgrimage (now does that sound like I'm an evangelist or not?) that is what it would be called in Transylvania. This was my fourth visit to Ujszekely in the past five years. The first part of the mission of this trip was acting as one of two crew chiefs working on the Nyiko River Flood Relief Project sponsored by the UU Partner Church Council.

I do not know if you are aware that on the night of August 23rd, 2005 a flash flood hit the upper Nyiko River Valley. It was caused by a tremendous thunder storm in the mountains surrounding the valley considered a once in 100 years event. In some areas a ten foot wall of water came roaring down the valley and wiped out 1000 homes. If you think of photos of Katrina's aftermath, perhaps you can imagine watching your house, barn, animals, bridges and crops being swept away. Twenty-four people were killed. Approximately 95% of this part of Transylvania is of Hungarian heritage and most of the people are Unitarian. The father of of Zsolt, our partner church's minister is building a home in one of the villages, Siménfalva.

The Partner Church Council had raised over $65,000 in flood relief funds for the area. In addition, they sponsored a work group from UU congregations in the US. The workers ranged in age from a teenager from Reading, MA to a great-grandmother from New Mexico. Sixteen in all including Steph Steeves, Maxine and Bert's granddaughter from our church, and Andrew Webber, my co-crew chief from Pittsburgh. Andrew and I had worked in Hungary for Habitat for Humanity a few years ago. It was great to work with him again. It was a huge benefit that he speaks fluent Hungarian. I had hoped for a more enthusiastic response from the American UU congregations but you know Unitarians they seem better at giving money than giving up their vacation time to do heavy labor.

What earthly good could such a small, unskilled, and diverse group of individuals do in an area of such devastation? To begin with, I believe that the villagers appreciated our presence and willingness to help. It isn't often that they see a group of Americans in a small village in Transylvania working on intense labor projects. It was discouraging that only a few villagers joined us in the work but we must realize that their livelihood is based on subsistence farming. They were busy working in the fields. Nearly everything they eat or use comes from the land or is homemade.

Despite our small numbers, we did accomplish some meaningful tasks. On reporting to the selected village of Kobatfalva the local Flood Relief Committee comprised of local Unitarian ministers and businessmen were happy to see us but seemed pretty disorganized. They could benefit from some of the Habitat for Humanity organizational skills. They had several suggestions of how we might help them in the flood relief. How would you like to paint fences, scrape mortar between the brick walls of a schoolhouse, clean the auditorium floor of the cultural center or paint a room with white wash using a brush usually used for hanging wallpaper? Better yet, would you like to build a flood control dam out of wire cages and large rocks? If these are jobs that you'd love to do, you missed an inspirational and inspiring experience. Not to mention the spiritual rewards of being with fellow Unitarians from around the country.

I think the highlight of the work was helping to build the flood control dam. No backhoe, bulldozer, or trucks. If you're familiar with some of the walls built along our major roads, heavy metal cages filled with rocks, you know what I'm talking about. The wire cages were built by a local contractor in the next village. We placed the cages across the banks of the river, a small stream now, by hand and then filled them by hand. The rocks were delivered either by horse and wagon or tractor and wagon.

That's it, throwing rocks all day from wagon to a cage---a thought evoking process, particularly if you think maybe someone is in the cage that you dislike---maybe President Bush.

Picking rocks out of a wagon and throwing them in wire cages---what fun! It was during this particular project that I began wondering why I volunteer for these projects. I was reminded of an email conversation that I had with Harold last winter when I was working with an evangelical group in New Orleans cleaning up after Katrina. I was questioning my religious tolerance and why I was there. Harold's reply, "It's the right thing to do"! If nothing else, I'd like to think that I'm a role model for the young and old.

There was a bit of excitement one day when we were working on the fence around the community cultural center. A drunken gypsy, who had been drinking all morning at the local pub, across from us, ran into my car with his excited horse and wagon. Perhaps only in Transylvania would you find 30% of the traffic on the road is horse and wagon. It's actually Zsolt's car but I do own 35% of it. As to why I'm part owner, that's a story for another day.

A final thought on my experience in the Nyiko River Valley. I had spent several months working in Shreveport and New Orleans last winter, doing clean-up and rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. You know the state of affairs there. After a full year, only 1% of the damaged houses are usable. In Transylvania, I was impressed by the ingenuity and industry of the people there. Relief funds had been generous from Europe and America. Volunteers from Hungary, Romania, and other neighboring countries have made a huge impact on this Relief Project. Romania was hit by several floods last year and a tremendous effort was made on their behalf. If one had not been aware of the flooding and its impact last year, the extent of the devastation would not be apparent less than a year later.

The other half of my time in Transylvania was spent working on our partner church guest house. Five years ago when I started working on the guest house, it was a garage/feed storage building with a floorless loft. Today it has a kitchen, bath, large living room, and sleeps seven in the third story loft.

My first year there I started emphasizing the need for a new septic system for the parish house. The one in Zsolt's home was barely adequate for his family, let alone a guest house or visitors from Newburyport and other places.

The guest house was planned with the hope that some day it will be filled with travelers thus providing income to the church and Zsolt's family.

Most of the funds to build the guest house have come from the our Christmas Eve church service. You have also contributed through donations at our Transylvania dinners and the sale of crafts from there, as well as some generous contributions from individuals.

I can tell you that the congregation of our partner church in Ujszekely are very greatful for your generosity. Life there is not easy but it is good, as described in Zsolt's letter.

This years effort turned out more ambitious than I had planned. Since my first visit I had complained about the septic system. It frequently overflowed in the back yard and was only 15 feet from the kitchen. You don't need to much imagination to guess what the smell was like. All visitors were asked, usually by me, to use the out-house when possible.

Last winter the church installed a new furnace, also with financial help from our church, for the parish house. They chose to put the furnace room where the out-house stood. This meant either a new out-house or the old septic system had to be redone. I designed a system that would handle both the parish house and the guest house. Then I had to convince Rev. Zsolt and the church officials that it was necessary and that it would work.

So, what do I know about septic systems? Practically nothing, however over the years I've had built several septic systems, and watched the building of many others. I might not meet the requirements for US laws and regulations but in Romania today I believe that I qualify as a pseudo expert.

Our big problem was that tools and materials are not readily available. One must improvise with what is available. Zsolt did find a backhoe in the next village and persuaded the owner to come one Saturday to dig the holes---what a relief---I thought the villagers and I would have to dig them by hand. If you ever used a Romanian shovel, you wouldn't want to be doing that.

In a couple of villages not far from Ujszekely we found a plumbing supply stores with a good assortment of plumbing supplies. Incredible to anyone who has ever been there and shopped for building materials. This meant that we were able to replace all the old plumbing in the parish house and put in the new system for the guest house.

Building the septic system itself required lots of labor and ingenuity. Concrete rings for catch basins were used for the septic tanks and concrete blocks for the seepage tank. I asked Zsolt where we would get the sand, gravel and stone needed to make these tanks. From the river bed of course---shoveled out by hand and transported by tractor and wagon.

When I left Ujszekely on August first the system was not quite completed but I understand that it is finished and hopefully working well.

You might wonder what all of this costs. It was 40,000,000 lei, scary sounding until you learn that it equals about 1500 US dollars. If the same system was being built in Massachusetts, it would cost from $20,000 to $30,000, not a bad deal huh?

There is a photo display of the construction in the parish hall next door where you can see it during coffee hour.

Andrew Webber, the other crew chief on the flood relief project, stayed with me at Zsolt's and was a great help in this work. I must not forget Steph Steeves who also spent time with us and was a great trooper. Willing to help with whatever was needed. One of the highlights of the trip was the joint birthday party for Steph, Zsolt's son Benes, and Istvan, the son of church president Joseph and his wife Suzie, you may remember them from their visit here last year. Good food and fun for all.

I would like to publicly give a special thanks to our partner church minister, Zsolt and his wife Borika, and their boys Benes and Able for putting up with me for six weeks. You might laugh to hear that the boys call me the old witch. I can't imagine how they came up with that! Zsolt's family has become like my extended family for me, I love them like my own children.

Zsolt's brother Denes cannot go unnoticed. He was, as usual, a big help with the guest house work and translating when needed. You may remember he visited here with Rev. Zsolt and his wife Borika last year.

My Hungarian is non-existent except for two words, num (no) and egan (yes). This makes conversations with Zsolt interesting. He understands about 50% of what I say, and I understand about 50% of what he says. Using a lot of hand signaling and drawings we get along very well and accomplish a lot. One of the most interesting experiences in communication occurs when we set out to purchase materials for our projects. A process of translation, interpretation, negotiation, and Palinka.

As a special gift to this church and its congregation, we are preparing a Kopajafa, a wood carving in memory of our partner church. I say we; this summer I've had the pleasure of having two young Transylvanians working at my farm. Annamaria, a friend of Denes, and Andras, a younger brother of Zsolt and Denes. They have worked hard and been a tremendous asset to our work crew.

It happens that Andras is an accomplished artist and wood carver. He has offered to carve us a Kopajafa. A Kopajafa is similar to our Native American totem poles, usually carved in memory or honor of someone or an event. I hope that we will have a dedication in the coming weeks. It will make a beautiful addition to our churchyard.

I feel that participation in the partner church program is important. It draws closer two congregations, Newburyport and Ujszekely, geographically and culturally a half a world apart. Through our exchanges we encourage communication and understanding. The projects that I and other members of our congregation have worked on provide the working tool for this communication. Living and working with Zsolt and his family for a few weeks each year in their beautiful little village has opened a new world for me. I believe it would do the same for you. I urge you all to try it. It's fun.

There are only two things certain in life, being born and dying. What happens in between depends mostly on you.

Amen

Max Russell