Child Protection Romania Project #30626

Provide Summer Camps for 500 Youth in Transylvania

by Care2Travel

Provide Summer Camps for 500 Youth in Transylvania

Project Report | Apr 26, 2023
Spring has sprung!

By Nikoletta Feher | Volunteer Coordinator

Hello Friends,

We hope that you're enjoying the beautiful spring weather as much as we are! Finally, we can enjoy the warmth of the sun after a cold winter.

We have been busy with the children and we're thrilled to share some of our recent progress with you. Since November of last year, we've had three wonderful volunteers, Amela from Poland, Sjoerd from the Netherlands, and Linus from Germany, who visit After School Clubs daily. We are incredibly grateful for their hard work and dedication to our cause. In February, we welcomed Jilke from the Netherlands, who is staying until the end of the summer so she will be joining our annual summer camps. These volunteers have been working alongside other foreign volunteers tirelessly to help prepare fun and at the same time practical non-formal activities for the children.

The aforementioned three volunteers, Amela, Linus, and Sjoerd are slowly preparing to go home. When asked what was the best part of their volunteering they all said it was the fact that they could see the children improving day by day.

Our after-school clubs are located in six different villages, namely Csicsó, Bánkfalva, Delne, Pálfalva, Csomortán & Csatószeg. We are thrilled to be able to support these communities, and we've seen how much the children benefit from our program.

This time around we were also focusing on the environmental aspect of the after-school clubs. The volunteers did some litter picking around there together with the children. This activity not only helped to clean up the environment but also instilled in the children a sense of responsibility and care towards the community. The kids were excited to be part of the effort, and it was heartwarming to see them working together towards a common goal.

We also had some upcycling initiatives, where together with the children they made costumes from trash. It was a great opportunity to show the kids that trash can be turned into treasure and that even small things like using recycled materials can make a positive impact on the environment. The kids loved the idea and were excited to create unique costumes from materials that would otherwise have been discarded. Overall, this initiative was a great success, and we are incredibly proud of our volunteers and the children who participated.

As summer approaches, we will be holding our week-long camps in these villages. This is a fantastic opportunity for the children to learn and grow as our previous summer camps have already proven that.

We are grateful for the support we've received and we're excited to continue making a positive impact on the lives of these children.

Thank you for your support and we hope to share more exciting updates with you in the future!

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Dec 31, 2022
Winter months

By Nikoletta Feher | Volunteer Coordinator

Dear Friends,

Even if the winters are quite chilly in our small town of Miercurea Ciuc, our work with local disadvantaged kids does not stop. Our current volunteers help us enormously to look after and educate these kids through indoor and outdoor non-formal activities. They visit after-school clubs on a weekly basis. By visiting these after-school groups, we can keep the kids interested and get them excited for the summer because the activities are similar to those we do during the summer camps. This way we can maintain their comprehension of social and life skills and help them remember everything they learned in the previous year. These youngsters may become more open, value the knowledge they have learned, and be motivated to learn more as a result of ongoing and extensive care and involvement.

Our volunteers Lisa & Lotti (Germany) held an Autumn camp for local kids. Although it was a smaller camp it was full of fun and learning, and of course for the Halloween spirit, full of pumpkin carving.

In the meantime, Amela(Poland), Linus(Germany), and Sjoerd(The Netherlands) are taking care of the kids in 6 different After School Clubs. They are here for the next 4 months so they are going to take care of the local kids. Next to our previous afterschool clubs, we are going into two new ones in Csíkcsicsó and Csomortán.

Our previously mentioned volunteers Lisa, Linus, and Sjoerd together with our volunteers Jeanne (Singapore) and Cris(Germany) are hosting two winter camps, one at the end of this year, and another at the beginning of 2023. One in Bánkfalva for aprx.15 kids and another one in Delne for aprx. 30 kids.

Jeanne: ‘Spending 4 days with these youths were fun, fulfilling, and enriching. We had a blast playing all kinds of games, unboxing many topics, and just getting to know each other through English. This will definitely be one I will remember for a long time and it was my pleasure to be part of something special.’

Thank you for all your support this year. We wish you a lovely new year!

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Sep 2, 2022
Summer of '22

By Nikoletta Feher | Volunteer Coordinator

Bingo time!

Dear Donors,

Summer is slowly ending and the first day of school is right around the corner. Our last week was quite rainy. Rest assured we've just had a pleasant and busy summer, filled with lots of sunshine and laughter. During this summer we reached out to local children and engaged them in informal, playful English-speaking activities.

A couple of our volunteers shared their experience and their favourite moments about the camps :

James, UK: “I am 16 years old, I used to participate in summer camps. I was one of them not too long ago, this program reminds me of a happy time. Seeing their happy faces means a lot to me. They are a group of friendly, happy kids, and more than happy to help each other. I can see their progress every day, which makes me very satisfied.”

James choose 3 words to describe his experience. “Inspiration. The children are so positive and happy, which also inspired my optimism. They are very enthusiastic about studying and willing to help us and each other. Learning experience. Every child is different and has his/her own thoughts and personality. You need to find the balance between collective and individual. You need to think more, prepare more, and be more creative. I learn a lot from kids.”Satisfaction. I feel satisfied every time I see their smiles and progress, and I feel useful and needed here. ”

Amaia, Spain: “On my last day, the children were so sad, they hugged me, kissed me, gave me gifts, and they said they will miss me. That was so lovely and touching. You can feel their love and their hearts are so pure.”

She also choose a couple of words to describe how the camp was for her: “New. For me, it is a new experience that I have never had before. This is the first time I work with kids. I was afraid at the very beginning, but children made things much easier, I got to love them so quickly. Creative. Working with kids you must be creative. Because each kid is special and different, and they will change your plan every moment, so you need to find a way to improve all the time. Great. Just great. It is so great so far. I can not think of anything better than this.”

For children, the summer camp is a great way to learn as well as to learn how to help each other and work together. For the volunteers, it’s also satisfying to see the children’s progress. As the children laughed and ran around the field, we became acutely aware of the importance of this job. It means so much to all of us.

For me personally, the greatest moment in all the camps is always in the end. I guess it's somewhat bittersweet as well. It's the moment when the kids leave, they hug us and tell us how great they felt, they got to play and learn as well. They tell us that they are definitely going to return next year. This year we also had kids returning from last year. It's so nice seeing them again, seeing how much they grew and their excitement of the camp altogether. I hope we can continue these camps, we keep seeing each other and see them learn & grow more.

A huge thank you to all our donors and volunteers who made this amazing camp possible! Here's to the next one!

Creating abstract masterpieces

Out in the fresh air

Gagaball - hugest hit in all our camps

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