Greetings Buckhannon, from the Danube River! We spent May 15-16 in Timisoara, Romania, just across the border from Hungary. Timisoara was the scene of the start of the Romania Revolution where they ousted and executed long-time dictator Nicholas Ceausescu in 1989. While there, we toured “Revolutionary Square” where hundreds of unarmed students, were killed by Ceausescu’s police, the “Securetate.”

The catalyst of the revolution in Timisoara revolved around a group of local parishioners, who formed a human wall around their minister. Students from the nearby university joined them and formed a large crowd in the town square, where the police fired shots repeatedly into the crowd.

Word spread quickly of the innocent deaths to the capital city of Bucharest, also home to the university. Similar demonstrations began there as well, and once again, the unarmed students were fired upon. Thousands were killed in both cities, but their sacrifice led to the capture, and eventual execution of Ceausescu and his wife. For American students, especially those on tour with the Jazz Ensemble, this was a very sobering history lesson.

We played at the “House of Culture” on our first night in Timisoara. On the 16th, our concert was the opening of the annual “Timisoara Festival.” Many local people came up to us to express their appreciation to us for coming so far to perform for them.

Our host in Timisoara was Harry Morgan, former editor of Reader’s Digest, and founder of Friendship Ambassadors Foundation in 1972, the organization that makes our arrangements in Eastern Europe. This is the 10th tour that our Wesleyan groups have had the opportunity to take.

Then we traveled to Cluj-Napoca, and performed to a packed house. This concert was broadcast live over a very large area. Again, we opened a major festival -- The Festival Internationale.

Next we will take a bus to the Danube River, and cross by ferry to Bulgaria. We are all doing well and again send our appreciation for all our sponsors who helped make this trip possible.