Week #60 of our 78-week humanitarian mission to Slovakia and Poland is in the books.

"And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." - 1 Corinthians 13:2.

Poland fact of the week . . . Marie Curie, the woman who discovered Polonium and Radium, wasn’t French, but Polish. Her name was Marie Sklodowska before she married a Frenchman named Pierre Curie. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and only woman to win twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different sciences.

When World War I broke out, Curie realized that the radiation of X-rays could help doctors see the bullets and shrapnel embedded in soldiers’ bodies. Battlefield X-rays became commonplace and helped to save countless lives.

We want to thank two of our best friends of more than 30 years, Bill and Shelley Moats. They travelled to Europe not to vacation but to work with us to gain a better understanding how Latter-day Saint Charities is blessing the lives of those in need and to, as they say, "get their hands dirty." We visited numerous projects in both Slovakia and Poland. We cherish our relationship with the Moats family.

We travelled to the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava, to attend District Conference. District Conference occurs twice a year when all of the members of our church in Slovakia are invited to join together for a special meeting on Saturday night and then church services on Sunday. We had a wonderful time fellowshipping with members from all over the country, young and senior missionaries, and our mission leaders, President and Sister Skousen.

We experienced another 'God works in mysterious ways' and 'there is no such thing as a coincidence' this week. The story gets a little complicated but I will do my best to simplify it.

As I have blogged before, we are implementing an exciting project in Krakow with Fundacja Faros Elpidas Poland. The project is to renovate a commercial kitchen which will provide meals for 150 people per day and will train Ukraine refugees in food and restaurant related skills so they can gain employment. We will also provide Polish language classes to enable refugees to more easily assimilate into their local communities.

The location of this project was recently changed to a new center, Fundacja Freedom Space, which is closer to the refugee community and offers a much lower monthly rent. As we had our first visit on Friday with the center's director, Barbara Psiuk, she mentioned they were hosting an event the next day with another charity where they would be providing food and hygiene kits to 350 refugees. I asked Barbara if, by chance, the other charity was On-Life, a food pantry charity we have supported on numerous occasions over the past year.

She said, "How did you know?" I said because we are the charity who provided the funds for the 350 kits, and part of the reason we are in Krakow is to attend the event and volunteer.

The refugees started to line up in the rain early Saturday morning looking forward to receiving much needed food and hygiene supplies. The majority of the refugees were the elderly, mothers with young children, and the disabled. Piotr Kubiczek and Antonina Owsińska from On-Life once again worked tirelessly to get ready for the event. They are true humanitarians who have supported refugees every week since the war started.

We know there is an ongoing political debate about funding the war in Ukraine. What is not debatable is these displaced people who are suffering terribly as a result of the sociopathic and psychopathic actions of others continue to need our support.

The Roma population in Poland suffer from the same challenging issues that Roma face in Slovakia. Prejudice, discrimination, and exclusion from the government and institutions, and being shunned by individuals, is common. This project will focus on 10 interconnected Roma villages with a total of 1,100 residents.

1) Amnesty International reports that Roma have significantly more health problems, substandard housing, and much lower literacy levels than non-Roma, central Europe's Roma life expectancies are 10 years less than the average, and unemployment rates average 70%.

2) UNICEF reports that more than 70% of Roma children are illiterate and are too often segregated into ‘remedial’ classes within regular schools, a reflection of schools that are failing to meet their needs rather than any failure on the Roma's part.

3) The National Library of Medicine reports that 40.4% of Roma children are classified as underweight, stunting, or wasting compared to 4.0% for non-Roma children in Europe.

4) The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) reports that 80% of Roma in Europe live in poverty, compared to 17% of non-Roma.

During our week in Poland we had our Roma kick-off meeting with Harangos and Jududora. This is our largest Roma support project to date and it will address several critical issues including urgent and ongoing healthcare needs, education for children, tools to enhance employment, and nutrition. Kelly and Shelley made the first delivery of educational materials while Bill and I toured the village and interacted with members of the village. Although they continue to be persecuted and marginalized we are consistently inspired by the smiles and positive attitudes of the Roma people.

It goes without saying that the children and Kelly and Shelley enjoyed spending time with each other.

The SSI Boarding Vocational School was founded in 1983 and operates 50 schools throughout Slovakia and prepares young people with disabilities for the performance of trade professions. These professions include mason, painter, locksmith, plumber, culinary artist, florist and gardener, tailor, leather worker, folk artist, or social services nurse. SSI has an impressive 80% graduation rate. We provided funding to enable 110 marginalized youth to acquire the uniforms and protective gear necessary to function in their training and their chosen profession. The two young men show a before and after photo for construction work and the other photos shows the end result of what the young women in the seamstress-tailor program created.

We have driven by the Basilica of the Virgin Mary in Levoča on more occasions than I can count. We finally took the time to drive up the hill and it was well worth our time. An historic church in a beautiful setting.

We pray you are well and that you will have a wonderful week.