May 16, 2006

Dear Friends,

Warm greetings from a sunny spring in Berlin.

You may wonder why I’m writing a letter just a week after my last one. Though I have to admit I’m a little tardy with mission letters (and I need to pledge to improve) I wanted to tell you about a new Extra Commitment Opportunity (ECO) that the Self-Development of People has launched called “Self-development and Roma.”

The new ECO will take a different tack from most social welfare programs—it will assist Roma communities to identify their own needs and to find their own starting point. This is one of the key elements that seems to be missing in social and economical development efforts with the Roma, the involvement of the Roma themselves.

In 2004, I invited Clara Nunez of SDOP to visit Roma communities in Hungary and Ukraine, and we travelled with a small group of colleagues to see and talk to Roma communities in many places.

SDOP will work with groups of Roma who want to take charge of their own lives. Such a group must organize and must come to an agreement about what they are willing to do to produce long term change for their lives, families, or communities. The advantage of SDOP is that it gives hope, meaning, and purpose to people who for one reason or another find themselves in hopeless situations.

We visited makeshift Roma community centers and talked to groups that wanted to create jobs within the community instead of waiting for social benefits. We discussed options with them for their growing their own food or constructing their own houses.

Finally, a group in Debrecen, Hungary, and another in Komoroz, in western Ukraine, asked SDOP for an application and filled them out. Their projects were approved in 2005 and will be carried out this year.

Roma families in Komoroz, Ukraine, are generally not liked either by Hungarians or by Ukrainians, and they have difficulty finding and maintaining a job. Thus, having a plot of land on which to grow vegetables will be very helpful in meeting their needs. Some Roma families in Komoroz came together to apply for $8,000 to buy a plot of land and farming equipment to grow vegetables. They also decided to make two wells for the village so everyone can have access to water. (For more about Komoroz, please see my last letter.)

Being aware of the social and economic needs of the Roma and looking at these good examples, SDOP has decided to create a separate ECO in order to promote and support the self-owned “sweat equity” projects for Roma.

Please check SDOP’s website at www.pcusa.org/sdop. Tell your families and friends. Every little bit helps.

Thank you for all your support, your prayers, your insights, and ideas.

May the peace of Christ be with you all.

Burkhard

The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 178

To give to the new fund for Roma developmentonline, click the "give" button below.

Contributions by individuals to the new fund for Roma development may be sent to Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Individual Remittance Processing, PO Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700. Contributions from churches should be sent to normal receiving sites or to: Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Church Remittance Processing, PO Box 643678, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3678. Write the title (Self-development and Roma) and the ECO number on the subject line (E051602) of the check and put it on your cover letter, too. Send a copy of the cover letter to Self-Development of People at 100 Witherspoon St. Louisville, KY 40202-1396.