The road to freedom was paved with divine intervention for a couple of former Romanians who are singing at the Centrium during the annual Canadian Gospel Music Celebration.
Simon Ivascu and Wesley Pop are part of the four-member Freedom Singers from Kelowna, B.C., but their voices would never have been heard in Red Deer if it wasn’t for an act of God, Ivascu said this week.
The two young men had just graduated from high school in the former Eastern Bloc country in the mid-1990s.
They decided that instead of being drafted into an army that wouldn’t allow them to worship God, they would escape to freedom.
They were both raised Christians in the former communist country, Ivascu said. If they refused to join the army, they could face long years in prison. They escaped Romania and went to Italy. Ivascu spent two years in Italy before he was faced with deportation.
So he and Pop crawled into a cargo ship container full of ceramic tiles headed across the ocean.
They had heard about Canada and the freedom it offered. It was a long nightmare away, said the engaging Ivascu.
“We were locked into the container and we didn’t know it at the time but it was at the very bottom of the ship.
“We soon started running out of food, water and oxygen, so we found a way to drill two little holes in the container and managed to breathe through straws.”
They also managed to make a hole big enough to crawl through. Weak from no food or water for several days, the pair found a couple of locked hatches. Pounding on the doors was useless because of the noise from the ship’s engines.
Adding to their woes was a powerful Atlantic storm that tossed the ship so much that the captain told them later he nearly gave the order to abandon ship.
“We knew we were in trouble.” They waited near a hatch, hoping someone would open it but eventually decided to crawl back to die in their “little home” in the container.
“Wesley crawled in the hole first but I looked around at that hatch a last time and saw a little light shining through.”
Gathering their last strength, both crawled back to the hatch and eventually got it open.
“The captain told us that hatch hadn’t been open for years because he had been the master of the ship for about 25 years. He said it was checked to ensure it was locked during the storm.
“I don’t have a doubt that God was looking out for us at that moment,” Ivascu said.
“I believe there was a different captain on that ship then.
“At the right time God can help if you have faith.”
Ironically, both Ivascu and Pop have found careers in the construction industry as ceramic tile layers.
The Freedom Singers will join the Cornerstone Gospel Chapel gathering at 5911 63rd St. on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. to share their story. Everyone is welcome.
The group also includes Simon’s brother, Steven, and Donovan Diminyatz, also from Romania, who is a university student.
They have toured Western Canada and performed at gospel singing events in Nashville, Tenn., and other southern states.
jwilson@www.reddeeradvocate.com