The Summer School is an educational program that takes place during the summer vacation, as a part of A pencil for Romania Project. That’s the definition.
In reality, we get up early, load the car with materials, call each other to make sure we are all ready on time, so that we can leave Brasov not later than 8:00, because all the children from the village are waiting for us in Fisher, before 10 o’clock.
We rush through the store to buy 40 yogurts and 40 cookie packs, for snack. While in the car, we plan details for the day. Which one of us takes over the youngest group, who will teach the lesson on geometric shapes, how long is everyone’s lesson and we shouldn’t forget to stamp their passports at the end of each lesson.
When we finally arrive, there are a lot of big smiles waiting for us. How could we not show up?
One day, it has rained very hard. This didn’t stop the children from coming to our summer school program. They were all there. Wet, but there.
“This was the best summer vacation ever”, said one of the girls.
We chose Fisher because there is already a family of 5 children which we have been supporting over the years. We also signed a collaboration contract with the school in order to help children attend school regularly.
The summer vacation is so long when there is nothing to do. So, for one month we went to the children and tried to teach them new things in fun ways. All the children from the village took part.
The program was called “Vacation Passport”. Each child made a passport. Each page was going to get stamped at the end of every activity, so four stamps in a day. At the end, the children with a fully stamped passport could join us for a day field trip to the Zoo in Brasov.
The children have done chemistry experiments with Teresa. Peter taught them math by playing games. Alex showed them how to create and recognize geometric shapes. Matthias taught them about rhythm in music. Daniel and Christa talked to them about obedience, faith and forgiveness.
I was the goat. The goat that lost two of her kids (Romanian traditional story). I told the children all that had happened to me and my kids. At the end of the story, the children gave interviews as witnesses of the whole drama. “What happened?” And their answers were their first public speaking lesson.
We taught them about countries, passports, cities, and they taught us about their village.
Among our group of children we found some with very sad eyes, some were abandoned by one of their parents, most of them were very, very poor, but they all had hearts filled with hope.
At the end of July we got everyone on the bus and took them to the Zoo in Brasov. We had some lonely “grandparents” from the Fisher Elder’s Home join us on the field trip.
We got free of charge access to the Zoo in Brasov. Special thanks to Mr Horia Nistor and to Mr. Alin Pinzaru, the director of the Brasov Zoo. Delaco sponsored all the diary products for the sandwiches.
Now, the children seem to have a different spark in their eyes; a bit more joy. And every time they see us, they smile really big. They know we are up to something good. We will be visiting them during the next school year. You have seven months to think about it. In May, we will be putting together our team for the 2019 Summer School and we would love to have you as part of it.
And this is serious business. You will have to:
1. Wake up early, even if you are off from work.
2. Come and teach something useful and interesting.
3. Prepare an illustration, a story or an activity connected to your lesson.
In case you don’t have teaching abilities, you can still help by:
1. Serving the snack.
2. Slicing the watermelon.
3. Making sandwiches for the field trip.
But, if you can not make yourself available for these activities either, (someone has got to work), you could donate money for materials and activities, mentioning it’s for the summer school.
Treasuring the children’s right to development and truly thankful for your support,
Eltera Team
by
Caty Roos – the boss 🙂