It all started as what had become a fairly routine morning in our lives- get up early, hop the train to Manchester Int’l Airport, and board a Lufthansa flight bound for Serbia.
How many times had we done this over the past few years…a dozen times or so? We knew the drill. Manchester to Frankfurt, or Munich, or Vienna, and then on to Belgrade. But this time was very, very different.
This was a one-way trip. No coming home to a cosy little flat in Southport – it now stood empty. No more driving on the left side of the road in a trusty green Nissan – it had been sold. Goodbye to church family at Shoreline, goodbye to friends, goodbye to yarn shops, and goodbye to a few favourite British pubs.
We boarded the flight with mixed feelings, a touch of melancholy, apprehension, and a growing sense of excitement. Just like that moment the roller coaster starts going up the steep incline. (I could hear the click-clack-click-clack-click-clack in my head.)
There were a million questions to sort out…maybe two million. Would all the boxes get from England to Serbia? Would we be able to manage life on a daily basis knowing neither the language nor the customs? How would we get around with no car? What if we couldn’t get bagels? Were there yarn shops? Oh, yeah…and just what would Propel look like when it grew up?
Sooooooooooooooooo much has happened since we landed in Serbia five years ago. We found a beautiful new flat and it was home for two years. That place was sold, but we quickly found a bigger place, and it has been home now for 3 years.
We have a new church family and many new friends. There are even a few favourite pubs. Yes, all our boxes made the trip (which is a whole other tale it its own right). We have learned enough Srpski to stay out of trouble (most of the time). The local bus service has replaced the car. We make our own bagels. There are yarn shops.
But what about Propel?
There is no doubt Propel had some growing pains, but through the rough times, we learned, we grew, we attained focus. Because of the love, support, prayers, and involvement of hundreds of wonderful people from the US, Canada, the UK, Nicaragua, Australia, New Zealand, and Serbia – Propel can look back at five years of rewriting futures and starting cycles of generational success. (If you are one of those number people…Interested in the stats <Click here>)
What next?
Looking forward we see three (maybe four) big scary dreams…
- We want to help more and more students. There are seven Roma (gypsy) villages adjacent to our city. We currently are working in only two. We’d love to duplicate ourselves. (Sound interesting? Might this be a challenge made just for you? <More here>) It would be beautiful to see students from every Roma village given the opportunity to decide the direction of their tomorrows.
- Replacing ourselves. We are far from ready to leave Serbia, yet we want to be prepared for when the day comes. Our hope is to find some other crazy people to move here, help us expand our current student sponsorship program, and to train them to take over the reins.
- Go multi-generational. Propel currently works with kids starting at the preschool level all the way through to high school. But our hearts ache for the moms and dads of our students, many of whom are functional illiterates – at best. We even came up with a name for this program-to-be: RALP@H (Roma Adult Learning Program @Home). We have no idea as to what this will look like, or how it will work, but the idea refuses to go away.
- With our plan on staying in Serbia long-term, we are thinking of buying a flat, or possibly a house. It would double as home and office (as do our current lodgings). We still need to look into how this process works here, mortgages, and all that fun stuff. Prayers appreciated.
One last thing, we often ask…you probably ask, too…is this all working? Are we making a difference? One of our students, sent us a Thank You Card. Within were these words: “You paint my dreams and make my life magic.” What do you think?
Paul and Mary Triller
We are running on faith, but we are not running alone.