October 2019

Vlădești School

October came with a new challenge, a new school în the rural area, new students – “Grigore Mihăescu” Secondary School in Vlădești. We stayed in this school approximately one week and worked with students starting from grade o until 8^th grade. Every day we adapted the activities according to the ages of the students with which we were supposed to work. “Deve, cuce” (a Turkish game), “Ear to ear”, “Matele-ncurcate” (“Mixed bodies”), “Statues”, “The Rope”, “The Alphabet”, “Community Map”, “Countries Map” (with 10 touristic objectives), “Fruit salad” were some of the activities to which the students actively participated with enthusiasm and somewhat curiosity. Curiosity was even when, one of those days, we also presented on maps made by us the places where we come from. They didn’t know a lot about Northern Macedonia and Turkey, but we liked them because they put a lot of questions.  Vlădești is a village next to Râmnicu-Vâlcea and it was pretty easy to arrive in the middle of the students here. It was interesting that, in one of these days, the second grade students asked us to help them in finishing some layouts of their village. They were already split into groups and were working on these for a few days. At the end, we enjoyed the mini-concert ofered by the little ones coordinated by their teacher.

BIG BUILD 2019 – Habitat for Humanity Romania

            In October, with the help of one of our mentors, we had the opportunity to participate in the construction of some houses for 10 families which remained homeless following some floods and landslides in 2014. Powerful floods left completely homeless dozens of families in Romania and, from that time on, ten families from Vaideeni, Vâlcea county, are forced to live in containers. In these containers, they cooked and slept, while the children would write their homeworks and play in the same place. In these metal boxes, winter is cold and summer is hot, while the improvised electric system is all that can be called “utilities”. No running water, heat, or toilet. After a disaster, a container can become a shelter for the victims only as an emergency solution, for maximum several months, until the wrecked housed are rebuilt. But for the parents and children in Vaideeni, Vâlcea, the temporary solution became a permanent one, as the containers turned into houses, in the absence of another form of support. Habit for Humanity Romania, through BIG BUILD project, changes the life of such unfortunate families. This year we were among the hundreds of volunteers – Romanians and foreign, even from different continents – which helped build a decent home for these people. Our support and participation within this BIG BUILD communitarian event was emotional and we so glad to be in this great team. And one message for all of you: “A container cannot take the place of a decent home” – humanity also should be in the first place in your mind.

Râmnicu Sărat Conference

During one week in October, our host organization – FCASEC – offered us the possibility to participate at a national conference together with other EVS volunteers in Romania, organised by “Speranța Râmniceană” Youth, Culture and Education Association in Râmnicu Sărat. Our team spent a wonderful time in a city named Râmnicu Sărat, together with volunteers from Drăgășani and Miercurea Ciuc. The main topic of this conference was the Promoting of Erasmus Plus Programmes. We made a presentation of our project and learnt new ideas and opportunities to improve our activities and to implement new ones. We also performed a Romanian traditional dance in the city centre making people happy. We also made a workshop in a church, painted and made some pictures for some children. It was a new experience for us, both because we participated in activities in a different space that the one we were familiar with, another region of Romania, and that we were together with EVS volunteers from other cities.

Pleșoianu High School

            “Captain Nicolae Pleșoianu” Technologic High School – Rm. Vâlcea is a high school with technologic specialisation, where the majority of the students come from the rural area. The meeting with the principal and the pedagogue of this high school represented an opportunity to find out more information about the students, about the specialisations they have acces to, as well as regarding the type of activities we could make with them. Thus, considering the recommandations of the two persons from above, we decided to implement activities focused on communication, team spirit, self-awareness, sports.   The week was productive, as we were both facilitators and guides for another group of EVS volunteers, without any experience in non-formal activities and working with youngsters from the rural area.  Games such as “Horses and the jockey”, “Take your place”, “Matele-ncurcate” (“Mixed bodies”), “Ear to ear”, “The Rope”, “The Alphabet” were appreciated by the EVS volunteers we needed to guide and by the students.  Working with the students in this school brought us satisfaction and some of us remembered the first impact of directly working with youngsters. We left the youngsters here with the promise of returning.