Category: English

A child can’t be more than an adult sees him. He needs at least one adult to believe in him… to invest in him, to listen to him, to teach him, to encourage him… to wipe his nose, to teach him to wash his hands, his face, brush his teeth, to buy him shoes, clothes, books, notebooks, pencils, sharpeners and erasers… to teach him to hold a pencil… to smile at him and say ‘Well done! ‘ or ‘Man, you’re so good at this! I wouldn’t have done so well on my first try!’ That’s just so he can laugh too, because he knows the ‘first’ is actually the 89th try.

After 100 hours of learning, 2100 km of going back and forth, 50 sandwiches, 200 cherry tomatoes, 100 cookies, 12 colouring sheets, 20 worksheets, a notebook, 10 pencils, a box of colored pencils, a sharpener and 4 erasers, ONE CHILD learns to sit at a table, hold a pencil and write his first letter. If we knew it involved so much, we probably would have given up on day one.

Home is a small, improvised room built from scraps of material. Home is a single room with two beds, a smoky stove and a small cupboard. Home is where there might be light in the evening, when the neighbour, who gives them electricity, doesn’t pull the plug.

We have installed and equipped exterior bathrooms for two large families.

 

Bread vouchers are a help to our children’s families. In most families, neither parent works. Some of the children go begging. Most of the time the children are hungry.

“ANDREI!” I call his name and I stare at him and smile. He knows how happy I am to see him.

Andrei: “Present!” We’ve been practicing for days and he knows what to say.

Then I call “FLORI!” And I look at Flori who is fixing her dress of excitement and joy.

Andrei helps her: “Flori, say ‘present’!” And Flori shouts, “Flori,” not knowing exactly what the other word means.

And one by one I call out one by one: “MĂDĂLINA! ELENA! DANI! MIRUNA! ANASTASIA! BOGDAN! IONUT! ROMINA! ….”

This is the first of three groups of children enrolled at the school outside. Each group consists of ten children. We know them by name and we notice when one is missing and immediately ask about them.

When a child is missing, the saddest answer is: “He’s in Brasov!” That actually means he’s begging in town and won’t be back until later in the evening. He’ll have to make some money before he can get home.

And I know he didn’t want to go, because the outside school is so much fun and we serve snacks. But, he had no choice…

With a sad heart that one is missing, we begin the activity. We wash our hands with soap. We throw the napkin in the trash after wiping our hands and then we sit down at the table. We wait for the lesson because we have so much to learn before school starts in the fall and we have to be ready.

At school outside we learn to come on time, sit in our chairs, pay attention, take turns talking, hold a pencil. We learn about colours and how to draw. We learn which is our right hand and which is our  left hand, or ‘the other right’.

Outside School is a program for children who have never at on a chair at a table and never held a pencil in their hand. It is a support program designed to prepare children for school in the classroom.

We found Grandpa Vasile reading from the Bible by a stove where no wood was burning. Mutulica rushed to show me that there was no firewood in the padlocked shed.

I then learned that the old man had worked all his life without a contract, and now, at 72, he has no pension and no other income.

So, we created a pension for him. Because we value Grandpa Vasile’s dignity, that’s what we’ll call this monthly allowance that we want to give him for the rest of his life.

In December 2020, we brought his first pension. With joy and frozen hands, we handed him a pen. He, teary-eyed, searched for the place where he had to sign. I also asked him for his ID, just like the officials do, and then handed him the envelope with his first “pension”.

It’s hard to build when you first have to fill a hole so deep, dug by deprivation, ignorance and despair. This is what we are doing now. We try to bring them up to the level of dignity and then build with them.

“An ingenious solution”, the Brasov newspapers called our Bread Voucher programme. We created some vouchers and signed a contract with a local bakery. With these vouchers, which we give out to our children and elders, people can go and buy a loaf of bread, and then, once a month, we collect these vouchers and pay for them. We have given out around 3000 bread vouchers so far in FIser and Rupea.

In the autumn we enjoyed the harvest in the garden. Grandma Mihaela opened her doors to all the children in the neighborhood. We prepared food outside in the yard on the wood stove, potatoes and “big cucumber”, which is also known as zucchini. The children entered the yard and they stood in line as Grandma Mihaela put a plate in their hands. “Here, have something to eat.” Their eyes sparkled with joy and with a smile they walked carefully so that they didn’t drop their food and sat down on the floor and found a place next to the other children. That’s how the children in Africa used to sit.

Grandma Mihaela knew them all by name. “Come and join us! I think this child hasn’t eaten since yesterday,” she assured me that the most hungry children in the village were there with us.

I found them more upright and more enlightened. They are different people. Now they know the meaning of the word hope. And we have all learned that hope is built brick by brick, in a team and having a lot of people envolved.

2020:

2017:

I believe that every child from these poor communities needs a “brick” of hope.  And we can build a different future for them. 

I handed the keys from the new house. I thought I was done and I could put my constructor’s helmet down. But instead, I discovered that there are so many more children with no hope: children that are lost in the darkness of poverty and need us to build a brighter future for them.

“Kids’ Club” is what we call the educational support centers for village children. We have two Kids Clubs in Brasov and two in Buzau. The children receive a warm meal, help with their homework or are being taught how to read and write. 

            

We also organize activities that help them develop their skills through play. Through this program, we try to substitute a family environment, where the parents are absent or neglecting their children. 

           

Once the schools suspended their activities, we also had to stop out educational programs. We visited the children at home, gave them reading books, hygiene products, medicine and food. 

           

Not being able to go out of their homes, most parents could not even provide food for their children. 

     

Even if the situation at home was hard before, the children could have a warm meal at the Kids Club.