Hi! My name is Alina-Sarai Gal-Chis, and since I’m always asked when I tell people my name, I’ll go ahead and tell you-you’re right, I was not born here- I’m from Romania. I was born in Oradea and through a miraculous set of events, my family and I were able to move to the United States when I was 5 years old. Being in America has given me opportunities that I could have never had otherwise, including the privilege of serving in several leadership roles, the possibility to attend Belmont University, and now, the honor of receiving the LUMOS scholarship.

I was given these opportunities because people decided to go the extra mile and show me love, and this sense of love and hope is what I desire to share with the orphan girls at Romanian Orphan Ministries and the Beauty from Ashes center this summer. When serving with Romanian Orphan Ministries in Oradea, Romania, I will be reaching out to the twenty or so orphan girls who live at the center, as well as to the wider span of orphans that ROM reaches out to.

Because I am fluent in both Romanian and English, I will be teaching the girls in the program as part of their schooling. I will also be living with and working alongside these girls, helping them develop a good work ethic and basic life skills such as cooking and the up-keeping of a home. My goal, besides improving their scholastic proficiency and teaching them basic life skills, is to love these girls and give them good support in their personal lives. They have never experienced a sense of community before, or of family, and we both have so much to learn by just doing life with one another.

I chose this project because I have a specific heart for these girls, whose shoes I could have easily been in, and it is an amazing opportunity to give of myself to others which is one of my biggest goals in life. It is going be a deep and purposeful experience and I highly await sharing it with you through my blog!