Due to the many requests for information about the Summer USA experience of the Hungarian Bridgebuilders involved in the accident with the Duck Boat in Philadelphia on July 7, we provide a breakdown of the trip, the preparation and a brief overview of the days they were in the USA.

PLANNED SCHEDULE OF THE SUMMER USA TRIP 

July 2-5: Metropolitan New York and New Jersey

July 6-11: West Chester PA region - Marshallton United Methodist church

July 11-15: Shamokin Dam PA - The Shamokin Dam Alliance church

July 15-18: Endicott NY - The First Presbyterian church

July 19-23: Nyack NY  - the Nyack YMCA

The preparation for the Summer USA trip

The Mosonmagyarovar group met together with two other Hungarian Bridgebuilders clubs the weekend before Christmas last year to start preparations for the trip. It was a great and fun weekend during which the various parts of the program were explained and the team building started. Expectations were high. During the first half of 2010 they regularly met together to go through the Bricks cross cultural training curriculum. The trip was arranged through the office of Atlantic Bridge in The Netherlands; and in May director John Oostdyk travelled to the hosting settings to work out the final layout of the trip, after which Jackie Kennedy from Marshallton PA took over the coordination to work out further details.

Their time in the Big Apple (New York) 

 Hosting in the Metropolitan region

 During their first days in the New York Metropolitan area they were hosted in smalled groups by the St Albans Presbyterian Church, the Neighbourhood Church in Greenwich Village, the Trinity Reformed Church in Newark, NJ and the Ruud and Loura Zijdel family in Gillette NJ.

Rev. Davis from the St Albans Presbyterian church picked up four of the boys at JFK,.and that same day showed them Manhattan, the Empire State building, Harlem and various places. He remembers them having a wonderful time. On Saturday morning he brought them to the meeting point at Penn Station, from which their grand Manhattan Discovery Day began. Though the time at St Albans was brief, a strong impression was made and in both services people wept for Szab and Dora after they received the news. 

On the 4th of July, the four boys celebrated Independence Day with families of the Trinity Reformed Church, some of whom did not know where their next meal would come from. 

Four girls, among them Dora, were hosted by members of the Neighborhood Church on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village . They had a wonderful stay in the middle of this unique part of Manhattan. They celebrated the 4th of July with the Neigbourhood Church family, a very small church with a big heart for music and the arts.

The remaining students stayed at the home of the Zijdel’s a Dutch family in Gillette and with a house large enough to sleep seven. Enjoying their back yard swimming pool and building friendships with their teenage children, Marjolein and Marco, certainly added to the joy of the home stay experience.

On Monday 5 July the team gathered in Gilette, went rock climbing and ended the day with a BBQ at the Zijdels; where they all stayed overnight in sleeping bags gathered from friends. On Tuesday the group left the Gillette NJ region after lunch for the West Chester PA area in a caravan of 5 different cars. They were welcomed in Marshallton with a dinner and fun gathering at the home of Jackie and Clint Kennedy before they were divided over two guest homes

The tragedy in Philadelphia of July 7

On Wednesday, July 7, 2010, the first day at their new location, the Hungarian Bridgebuilders went on a sightseeing tour of Philadelphia together with 7 of their new hosts. Part of this was an hour long trip with a Duck boat. The tragedy occurred just before 2 pm on the Delaware river when the Duck they were travelling in was hit and run over by a large river barge.

Following the accident, after being helped out of the water, the victims were taken to the Maritime museum, where the Red Cross helped them. Three of the youth, one adult leader from Hungary, and one adult leader from Marshallton were taken to the hospital by ambulance. A count was taken and it was discovered that two of the Hungarian youth were missing.

Director of Atlantic Bridge, John Oostdyk, received a call at his home in The Netherlands as 02.00 in the morning on Thursday. Within hours he caught a flight to Philadelphia and arrived at the Kennedy home at 1.30 pm that day (US time) to join the group.

The suspense of not knowing what happened to Szab and Dora brought the group together. They watched every news program till finally on Friday both bodies were found. Hearing this news was a final blow to the hope they still had that Szab and Dora might still be alive.

On Friday morning they deicided to go on with part of the planned program and visited a high school in West Chester. That afternoon they the Red Cross, Coast Gueard, Hungarian Consulate and translators showed up for an intense time of questioning trying to discover what happened. . 

Survivors and friends frequently gathered at the back porch of the Kennedy home.

Saturday July 10

A solemn Memorial Service was held near Penns Landing, close to where the tragedy took place.  Mathew Fenlon, who is part of the Atlantic Bridge support team in the Somerset, NJ region, organized  the service that brought people from the religious community in Philadelphia and dignitaries together, including mayor Nutter of Philadelphia, the Hungarian Ambassador and the Consulate. During the service. Philadelphia Mayor Nutter read a passage of the Bible, as did other church representatives.  For a few minutes John Oostdyk shared about Szeb and Dora, about their vigor and joy and their great potential that was brought short through this tragic event. For a Christian there is a reason for everything that happens, but this event makes that very difficult to believe. Yet, said Mr Oostdyk, he still believes this.

The final part of the ceremony involved going down to the river to throw a white rose on the water to commemorate the lives of Szeb and Dora. Two white doves were set free and the two birds circled twice, flying close to each other. Peter, a close friend to both Dora and Szeb, remarked, that he believed they are together now. 

The last of the three bouquets of flowers is thrown into the Delaware by Timi, one of the Hungarian teachers.  

 Back at the home of the Kennedy's the students were able to reflect on all that had happened. In the evening Charles Deza, a local musician from the Chester county region, performed in a living room setting. Most of the students know Charles from two years ago, when he came to their school to perform.

Saturday was also David’s birthday. A special cake was delivered, large enough for everyone to have a piece. Everyone means at least 25 people because the group was always surrounded by caring friends -- who at time looked like angels -- at the Kennedy home in Marshallton. Celebrating David’s birthday became a time of joy.

Sunday July 11

The 10am worship service at the Marshallton United Methodist Church brought friends and families together to surround the survivors of the tragedy (both Hungarian and American) with faith and community. After the service people lined up to sign a large memorial card for the parents and friends in Mosonmagyarovar.

A bonding community through grief
In the afternoon some of the Hungarian youth went to visit the Amish community while others went to experience a big mall, the Mall of Prussia. In the evening it was Philadelphia cheese steak at the Kennedy’s and we ended the day with a country-presentation by the Hungarians for the group of old and new friends from Marshallton. The video presentation had been prepared by Peter, Szeb and Dora -- and they appeared frequently in the video. Seeing them again brought renewed sadness, yet there was, perhaps for the first time, an almost contradictory sense of relief and release. Can we begin to look at this all from a different angle? Is there a deeper meaning behind the events of the past week? How are we to understand it?

We asked the students to think with us about a meaningful way to commemorate the events of the past week, and particularly to commemorate the lives of Szeb and Dora so that their deaths can become a seed of life for others.

_{Monday July 12}

The group returned home, leaving the Kennedy home in Marshallton, PA at 8.30 in the morning. This home will become a place of faith and of remembrance as it is in this place where they grieved and bonded, and received the love and care they needed through members of the Marshallton United Methodist Church. We in Atlantic Bridge are especially grateful for this supprt.

Memorial service at the International Youth Festival on August 4.  

A few weeks later some of the students came to the annual International Youth Festival which was held from August 1-7 in Hungary in the town of Koszeg. It was a time for them to find healing through the friends and the fellowship experienced. The Memorial service on Wednesday evening August 4 in the Lutheran church in Koszeg brought the festival participants together to share in the grief of their friends from Mosonmagyarovar. In that same church Dora and Szab had participated in a Start weekend of the Bridgebuilders in Hungary just before Christmas 2009. 

THE 7TH DAY OF EACH MONTH

One of the ways we will remember Dora and Szab is through the KARAVAAN KRONICLE, the email paper that will be sent to each of the Bridgebuilders and Karavaan participants on the 7th day of each month. It will remind us of the tragedy of July 7th and also of the start of the Karavaan on August 7, one month later. We carry them with us in the KARAVAAN as we seek to build bridges to create communities of faith, hope and love across Europe.