Real Break
Spring Break is a much-needed break from rigorous college classrooms, hours of required reading, and ordinary daily activities. This week long break has become known as a time to travel to exotic places and "live it up." OCF's Real Break gives you an opportunity to really live it up and be a light to the world! For over a decade, OCF has organized trips all over the world, sending college-aged young adults to serve the needs of others.
Your Real Break experience will challenge you in many ways, physically, emotionally and spiritually. You will walk away with a life-transforming experience that will not only re-charge your batteries for school, but it will feed your soul and allow you to better understand your own vocation or calling in life.
One of the most important items that you will need to bring with you is a positive attitude. It will make or "break" your experience. It can be the biggest difference between a nice trip that helped a few people, and the trip of a lifetime that not only changed and improved the lives of others, but changed your life as well. It may be difficult to see now, but this experience really does have the potential to change your life. Let it do so! Open your heart to God and be open to all that He will show, teach and reveal to you.
Some other items you'll need to pack for this trip . . . patience! Some say it is a virtue, however, to succeed in serving God, it is a must. It is a fact that when people are trying to do God's work and grow in their spiritual lives, the evil one will do all he can to prevent it from happening. There may be times on your trip that may be frustrating and testing, but it is very necessary to be patient and remember that, as gold is purified when it is put through the fire, the human person is also purified when he patiently endures trials!
Another important item is prayer. Communication with our Lord is essential for any serious Christian seeking to grow closer to Him and experience His love. By taking the time to pray for your trip and continue in prayer during your trip, both alone and with your group, your heart will soften to see Christ in each person that you serve.
Please note that the following information may change from trip to trip, but is given so that you may better understand the ministry you are about to begin. Oh, another item to bring . . . flexibility!
Real Break Team
Each Real Break team is made up of a group of college-aged young adults and a priest leader. At times, an experienced layperson may assist in coordinating the Real Break team. The activities and projects are organized as a group and not individually, because Real Break is about sharing Christ's love and having fun as part of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12).
Each day, you will gather with your teammates to "debrief" the day's events and come together in fellowship and communal prayer. The priest will lead the team in this sharing and will offer tools to assist you in your journey.
2012 Real Break Destinations
Click on Destination for More Information
Constantinople - Ecumenical Patriarchate
Team's Mission
The team will work on construction projects with the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Past projects have been refurbishing a Church that had fallen into disuse and the restoration of two cemeteries that were destroyed by the Turks in the riots of the 1950's. The trip also includes sightseeing to various places (Agia Sophia, Church of Chora, Grand Baazar, etc.) and a private audience with His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Information about the Ecumenical Patriarchate
The Patriarchate of Constantinople is also known as the Ecumenical Patriarchate. This means that it holds the position of "first among equals" between all Orthodox Christian Patriarchates throughout the world. It is an institution with a history spanning seventeen centuries, during which it retained its see in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). It constitutes the center of all the local Orthodox Churches, heading these not by administration but by virtue of its primacy in the ministry of pan-Orthodox unity and the coordination of the activity of the whole of Orthodoxy.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate has the historical and theological responsibility to initiate and coordinate actions among the Churches of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Russia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Albania, The Czech Land and Slovakia, Finland, Estonia, and numerous archdioceses in the old and new worlds. This includes the convening of councils or meetings, facilitating inter-church and inter-faith dialogues and serving as the primary expresser of Church unity as a whole.
His All Holiness, Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch is the 270th successor of the 2,000 year-old local Christian Church founded by St. Andrew. As Archbishop of Constantinople and New Rome, Patriarch Bartholomew occupies the First Throne of the Orthodox Christian Church and presides in a fraternal spirit among all the Orthodox Primates. As Ecumenical Patriarch he transcends every national and ethnic group on a global level and today is the spiritual leader of approximately 250 million faithful worldwide.
Guatemala - Hogar Rafael Ayau
Information about the Hogar
Located in Guatemala City, The Hogar Rafael Ayau is a home for orphans. In the year 1857, Don Rafael Ayau built the first orphanage in Guatemala City, known as "The Home of Mercy". Because of broken homes, crime, war, unemployment, poverty, domestic violence, prostitution, alcohol and drug abuse, hundreds of poor children could not be well taken care of by their parents. Many lived in the streets to survive. For the sake of these homeless children, one man's dream became a reality!
But during the early 1970s, the Guatemalan government expropriated the orphanage and named it "Hogar Rafael Ayau", in honor of its founder. In the year 1996, under the administration of President Álvaro Arzú and the First Lady Patricia Arzú, Hogar Rafael Ayau was given back to private stewardship, to the Orthodox Church, and a new chapter in it's history was written.
His Eminence, Metropolitan Antonio Chedraoui Archbishop of the Antiochian Orthodox Church of Mexico, Central America, Venezuela and the Caribbean, officially received the neglected orphanage from the Guatemalan authorities. On August 9th of 1996, the feast day of St. Herman of Alaska, His Eminence, Metropolitan Antonios entrusted to Mother Abbess Inés and the Nuns of the Orthodox Monastery Lavra Mambré the administration and financial responsibilities of the Hogar.
On October 13th, 1997, after more than one year of general repairs and renovations of the eight dilapidated buildings of the Hogar, and spending half a million US dollars, from private donors alone, the Hogar reopened its doors once again to welcome 115 children!!!
Activities
The team will be staying at the Orphanage, working with the children in various capacities (playing with toddlers, crafts, reading, teaching, sports with children and maintenance projects such as cleaning, painting, organizing, landscaping, etc.)
Romania - Valea Plopului
Information about the Pro Vita Association
Valea Plopului is a remote village about 70 miles north of Bucharest, Romania. This community takes care of about 220 orphans, handicapped children and children from families with financial hardships. The orphanage is a ministry of the Pro Vita Association, an orthodox, non-profit, non-governmental organization. The association's purpose is to put into practice an Orthodox Christian, pro-life, praxis.
Fr. Nicolae Tanase and his wife Maria founded the association. It's activities take place in the villages Valea Plopului and Valea Screzii, Posesti, Prahova. In Valea Screzii there are houses already sheltering tens of children. The association receives homeless or abandoned children, young people thrown out of orphanages because they are 18 years old, future mothers who have been sent away by their families because they refused to have an abortion, children kept temporarily because they belong to families with financial problems, and children abandoned in hospitals because they have certain deficiencies or who are on the way to recovery. Father Tanase has invited the members of the Valea Plopului community to take care of a child. Although some of the families already had up to 6 children, they found a place for helping yet another child. Because of this, the association supports them financially, with food, clothes and shoes for the children.
The older ones are involved in labor activities and have become reliable persons within the community. Children living in the parish house are taken care of by the staff of the association and volunteers. Some children actually return to their families. Some of the young people get married and are supported by Fr. Tanase until they can start a stable family themselves. Regardless, the association is in continuous contact with the persons it has helped.
The association receives no help from the Romanian state. It is the families in Valea Plopului who support these children. Because these villagers earn their living through agricultural activities and small crafts, their incomes are extremely small. Unfortunately, despite their goodwill and desire to help the children, the adults are often not able to offer the children an appropriate healthy meal.
With the income from the selling of religious objects (icons, painted wooden crosses made in their workshops) and some limited donations, Father Tanase has managed to acquire two peasant bread ovens, some animals, and two cars needed for the transportation of basic food supplies, construction material, and agricultural produce.
Mission
This trip will be lead by Fr. Robert Miclean of Holy Archangels Orthodox Mission in Annapolis, MD. Students on this trip will work on maintenance projects at the orphanage as well as interact with the children who live there. There will also be an all-day excursion to the nearby city of Bucharest.
Project Mexico - St Innocent Orphanage
Information about Project Mexico and
St. Innocent Orphanage
Project Mexico is an outreach that involves Orthodox young people in the alleviation of suffering by building homes for Mexico's poor. Thousands of teens and young adults from all jurisdictions across the United States and Europe have participated in Project Mexico. Their outreach also includes St. Innocent Orphanage and Mission Church in Tijuana, Mexico. This facility serves as a base for homebuilding trips and as a center from which evangelistic outreach can be conducted into neighboring communities.
St. Innocent Orphanage provides a home for teenage boys who otherwise would be forced to live on the streets. This is the only facility in all of Tijuana which focuses on orphaned and abused teenage boys.
Working in Mexico offers a unique environment for spiritual growth and a time to experience God's blessings. Each person involved has an opportunity to give to others in a special way -- serving those who can only repay with sincere gratitude. Participants often find it to be a life-changing experience and have a chance to evaluate their lives, deepen their commitment to Christ, and receive a new perspective on life.
Mission
Participants will be serving different needs of the orphanage, specifically working on construction/maintenance projects. Each day there will be a chance to interact with the boys from the Orphanage that live there. Please remember that we are guests in their home, so we must be courteous and respectful to their culture, and way of life. If weather and circumstances permit, teams may have the opportunity to build a home for one of Mexico's many poor families living in makeshift homes.
Houston-IOCC & Habitat For Humanity
Information about International Orthodox
Christian Charities & Habitat for Humanity
International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), in the spirit of Christ's love, offers emergency relief and development programs to those in need worldwide, without discrimination, and strengthens the capacity of the Orthodox Church to so respond. It was established in March 1992 as the official international humanitarian organization of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA). In seeking to provide assistance to the poor, either in response to emergencies or long term socio-economic development needs, IOCC's fundamental policy is to develop a sustainable indigenous capacity to carry out such programs. All programs are guided by the two goals of program integrity and the highest standards of stewardship to donors.
Overseas offices are established by IOCC when, and if, the Orthodox hierarchy of the country in question have made a request; if there is a need to use IOCC skills to enhance the capacity of the Church and other institutions to reach the poor more effectively; and if the scale of the program requires an on-site presence to monitor targeting of beneficiaries, program implementation and reporting.
IOCC maintains relationships with other institutions so that Orthodox Christian humanitarian concerns and initiatives are appropriately represented. IOCC is registered with the U.S. Agency for International Development and is eligible to receive funds for foreign assistance from the U.S. Government. It is a member of the ACT Alliance, a global coalition of churches and relief agencies engaged in development, humanitarian assistance and advocacy, and InterAction, a coalition of U.S. based non-governmental organizations that carry out humanitarian assistance programs overseas. As a member, IOCC is bound by the InterAction code of professional ethics. IOCC is active in ecumenical initiatives both with the National Council of the Churches of Christ and with the World Council of Churches and the ACT Alliance.
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian ministry founded on the conviction that every man, woman and child should have a decent, safe and affordable place to live. They build homes with people in need regardless of race or religion and welcome volunteers and supporters from all backgrounds.
It was founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller. The concept that grew into Habitat for Humanity International was born at Koinonia Farm, a small, interracial, Christian community outside of Americus, Georgia. Koinonia Farm was founded in 1942 by farmer and biblical scholar Clarence Jordan.
The Fullers first visited Koinonia in 1965. They had recently left a successful business and an affluent lifestyle in Montgomery, Alabama to begin a new life of Christian service.
At Koinonia, Jordan and Fuller developed the concept of "partnership housing." The concept centered on those in need of adequate shelter working side by side with volunteers to build simple, decent houses.
In 1968, Koinonia laid out 42 half-acre house sites with four acres reserved as a community park and recreational area. Capital was donated from around the country to start the work. Homes were built and sold to families in need at no profit and no interest. The basic model of Habitat for Humanity was begun. Today, Habitat for Humanity is a true world leader in addressing the issues of poverty housing.
Mission
In partnership with International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) and Habitat for Humanity, Real Break Houston is an opportunity to offer relief to those affected by recent Natural Disasters. Major Hurricanes and flooding damaged many homes along the Gulf coast and left many without a home. This team will serve the needs of these people by building homes.
Information concerning Real Break Mission Trips for 2013 will be posted when available.
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