Updates–2022

Link to the Day Centre 2022 gallery here

October 2022 – The children are back to their routine of school in the mornings then coming to the Day Centre for a hot meal and homework help. It seems they have extra homework this year because they stay longer than usual.
There are quite a few children in grade 2 this year who will have to learn multiplication. Our staff is preparing them by getting them familiar with it. Winter wood for heating has started to be used as there have been rainy, cold days and the children come from school with wet clothes. We bought the year's wood this summer because it's cheaper then. We also bought shoes for all the children so that they could start school without feeling ashamed of their ripped shoes.
The village school teachers said that it was clear the children had help with their summer homework because their reading, writing and math are good. It is so important for the children to keep up, to stay in school, and having summer homework completed means a lot to the teachers because they know the children aren't able to get help at home.
The children had fun summer activities too at the Centre, the highlight being a gift of 2 ponies which the children just love.

July 2022 – Another school year has finished with the children being successful because of the help of our Day Centre staff. They all passed and some even got awards. The village school teachers are grateful for the help we give the children and the school supplies we provide. Our staff has been preparing sweet and hard working Izabela for the high school entrance exams. Her family is very poor and they are worried about the costs of her travelling to the city for high school but we will help. It's only through education and learning how to earn a living that the cycle of poverty can be broken.
Twelve year old Lavinia is going to the Centre daily with her 1 year old sister who she has to take care of so their mother can look for day jobs. Lavinia needs help with her summer homework (which the children all get). She loves the meal and the activities at the Centre too.
Since April a judo champion friend of Oana's has been going to the Centre twice a week to train interested children. Mattresses and outfits were donated. All the children are benefitting but it is making a huge impact on 9 year old Sorin's life. He has ADHD and with his aggressive and agitated behaviour he had not been getting along with his parents or teachers. Since attending the judo classes and with the discipline he is learning, he has changed in a huge way. Everyone says that without the Centre and the judo, he'd be lost.
Another 9 year old boy, George, is very talented at sports but his parents are too poor to buy running shoes. We bought him a pair and he's won medals from the village school, greatly increasing his confidence.
Thirteen year old Julian who was devastated when his father left the family, is finding healing with our social worker Marius. When the programs at the Day Centre finish, he stays on just to be with Marius and help around the barn. Cosmin enjoys the activities at our farm so much that he says he wants to be a farmer when he grows up. Marius is an excellent role model for the boys.
They'll have a good summer of homework help, food and activities, the children being taken care of so the parents can get day jobs in agriculture. 

April 2022 – Everyone in the village has been feeling apprehension because of the war and the children need extra reassurance and emotional support which our staff is giving them.
They are doing well with their schoolwork and for the past month have been going to the village church on Saturday afternoons to be instructed by the priest who is a warm and loving man. They are more attentive and calm in the church and they like going. The church community is welcoming our marginalized children and they feel it.
A few weeks ago Oana had some doctors come to the Day Centre to talk with the children and it was a big success. The children loved being able to ask questions and be taken seriously.
The children are getting more and more involved with the animals, going to the barn to feed, clean and hug them. It is an emotionally stabilizing place. The hen house is finished, built from donated materials. A calf was born the other week, with the help of one of the village men, and it was a relief that it went well. Seven and a half acres of the farm have been planted with alfalfa and corn, and a large space has been cleared for a vegetable garden.

January 2022 – The children passed their first semester with the teaching, love and support from our teachers, and are going into the second semester with confidence. We are providing a secure place for these children. Seven year old Patricia asked why she never heard anyone say there was no money for food, at the Centre. The children feel cared for with us. A 13 year old boy Razvan said how good it was that when he needed something he could say, and he would be helped. His parents consider it normal to grow up without anything.
Oana and Marius, our social workers, are such a help for the families. They have resolved the treatment for 14 year old Izabela's worsening scoliosis which her parents were unable to pay for. The whole family is so happy now. They also convinced the parents of 14 year old Adriana who finishes grade 8 this year, to let her go to high school in the nearby city in the fall. This family is of traditional Roma ethnicity and doesn't value education. But they saw it would be good for Adriana, and she is delighted. 
Parents as well as children go to Oana and Marius for help, like when Gabriel's and Cosmin's father stopped them in the road saying the boys' shoes had ripped and they were cold. 
Soccer practice for girls and boys continues twice a week which is uniting the children and making them more disciplined and responsible. Oana and Marius are glad they worked so hard convincing the mayor to finance this activity.
More animals are coming to the farm; we just got given a cow and 8 pigs. They join another cow and 2 calves, 4 sheep and a donkey. Chicks will come in the spring. The children love the animals. Iulian, Razvan and Iosif go daily to hug the animals and the boys' anger and sadness simply disappear.