For the Romas, one house at a time

By Rachel Pritchett, synod communicator

TACOMA — Tom Geary of Fox Island recently returned from his fourth trip to Romania, where he has been building homes to replace substandard, crumbling ones thrown up during the Communist era.

"It was excruciatingly painful. We had to do all that from scratch," Geary said. His Habitat for Humanity team arrived in August to find no more than bare farmland at the building sites.

While the Northwest team had come at the invitation of the national Habitat Romania, there was no local affiliate to prepare the sites. No building materials or local labor were waiting for Geary's team. They had to search out every scrap of material and recruit helpers from a church in the village of Baltesti.

But in the end, the member of St. Mark's Lutheran Church by The Narrows and his team built 10 houses, many of them for the disadvantaged Roma population, for generations at the fringes of Romanian society.

Geary first saw the cramped and drab living quarters made of concrete in the early days of the post-Communist era, when he was stationed in Bucharest as a U.S. Air Force colonel. He learned the complex Romanian language as part of his work assisting the U.S. ambassador to Romania. On retiring years later, he felt called by God to return and use his special skills to help provide better housing.

"I feel like it's a calling. This is an opportunity for me to do something to help," Geary said.

It's been a roller-coaster of emotions for everyone during each of the four trips back.

During the first, in 2005, Geary saw the rows of substandard housing, much more deteriorated than when he was stationed here. Geary was able to easily communicate with the locals, but Roma occupants were skeptical when he told his Habitat team was there to build them new houses. Their government had let them down.

"I think they felt like this was just going to be another disappointment," Geary said. When they gained trust and saw the new homes that would replace the squalid surrounding they had endured, they cried with Geary.

At 63, the longtime local leader with the Tacoma-Pierce County Habitat for Humanity hopes he can return to Romania for a fifth time, even though the Habitat duty is double-tough there.

And overwhelming, too.

"One person might not be able to declare victory, but at least you're making an effort," he said.

Pictured top to bottom:

Tom Geary of St. Mark's Lutheran Church by The Narrows pauses with Emil Constantinescu, president of Romania from 1995 to 2000 and now board member of Habitat for Humanity International.

Geary hauls block in Baltesti, Romania, this past trip. He lost 22 pounds and "feels great."

Tom Geary relaxing on his return.