The Caleb Foundation was founded in 2001 by our dear missionary friends John & Suzie Fenlason who had an incredible passion for the Rroma in the village or Lazareni, Romania. Throughout the years John and Suzie have encountered many difficulties in their attempt to help the Rroma people. Nothing stopped them from showing their love towards the Rroma people in a way the Rroma people understood it. Like: providing food and clothing for the little ones, help most of them build safer little modest houses that were much better than the huts they had before, providing electricity for most villagers, providing a place where the kids could attend kindergarten and school, teaching the men to provide for their families, starting a little church where their faith was strengthened every Sunday. Due to health issues our dear friends John and Suzie had to return to the USA in 2011 when they entrusted the work in Lazareni to us, the New Life Christian Center form Oradea. One of their dreams came true in September of 2013 when we were able place on the property two units equipped with toilets and showers. During these years there have been four attempts to drill for water as the village never had drinkable water, or no water for that matter. Unfortunately each attempt had the same undesired result. The water issue is still unresolved however for the shower units we were able to put a huge tank in the ground and the mayor who has seen our desire to help the Rroma kids integrate in the public schools, will provide the water. We will continue to love the Rroma people in the same manner our friends did, as we’ve seen the incredible transformation of the whole village over the years. There is still lots of work to be done and with the help of God and people willing to volunteer, we dare to see a great future for the Rroma people of Lazareni! The Caleb Foundation’s main objectives are found in four different areas of involvement:
Social – Economical
Humanitarian
Educational
Moral – Spiritual
These Objectives are achieved by:
- Helping to create a better quality of life and living conditions and economic status for the marginalized minorities;
- Providing humanitarian aid for those not able to provide for themselves especially families with low or no income;
- Educate and integrate the minorities in order to help them earn a decent living;
- Protect the children’s rights using all legal means including adoption;
- Assisting the marginalized children, young people and adults in developing and improving their intellectual abilities through schooling, training, workshops, Bible study;
- Providing material aid as well as moral-spiritual support for those in need;
- Assist the young people to integrate in society;
- Organize camps, field trips, training sessions and sport events for young people;
- Raise funds in order to achieve the proposed objectives.
