Education for 50 disadvantaged Romanian children

Dear donors,

it’s a pleasure for us to send you this short report after the summer 2018. A lot of events, people, smiles, children and nice days passed at the Centre Pinocchio.

At the end of school in June, all children have passed and this has been a very rewarding results for the educators and the volunteers: it means that the after-school's work has a relevant impact and guarantees positive achievements for everybody. It means that the Centre Pinocchio can really contribute changing the lives of the most disadvantaged children and building for them and with them a better future. As Mandela once said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”.

July has been a month full of new meetings: in the first half of the month, a group of 10 Italian volunteers came to the centre and organized many recreational activities, games, workshops, excursions. This has been an enriching opportunity for the children, the staff and the young volunteers: children benefited of new stimula and new encounters; local staff met new volunteers and had the occasion to exchange ideas and experiences in the socio-educational field; young Italian volunteers discovered a new reality and touched with hand the meaning of social inclusion. The workcamp has thus been a real example of richness of diversity, of intercultural exchange and promotion of solidarity.

On the 14th July, a new long-term volunteer arrived at the Centre Pinocchio...this time from a far and little-known country: Peru. Andrès is a young guy, an artist with a long experience in working with graffiti as a tool for involving children and young people in reinventing local spaces. He arrived with a baggage full of ideas, culinary traditions, music, dances and arts typical of Latin America. His stay in Panciu is bringing a gust of “fresh” air and interculture.

In August and September the Centre Pinocchio hosted other important visits: Anna, an Italian woman, friend of an ex-volunteer who was curious to discover this socio-educational reality and to contribute with her time and energy to summer activities; Maite, a Spanish volunteer, who spent 8 months at the centre and decided to come back because of the strong affection she felt for children and staff.

Last but not least, two representatives of IBO Italia realized a monitoring visit at the project in Panciu; the President and the responsible of fund raising spent some days at the beginning of September in order to visit the Centre, to exchange ideas and future plans with local staff and volunteers. IBO Italia stongly believes in the importance of positive relationships between the Italian desk and the local project, because it’s the first fundamental step in order to build sustainability and transparency.

After such an intensive summer of visits and encounters, the Centre Pinocchio is ready to start a new scholastic year together with its 50 children and youngsters. IBO Italia will guarantee the same enthusiasm and efforts in carrying on such an important project.

Your continuous support is precious for us and helps us changing the lives of many vulnerable children and youngsters! With you, we are stronger!

Dear friend,

with this letter we would like to thank you for your constant support and we would also like to update you on what we’ve accomplished with the children.

A lot of things happened; finally the weather has changed and we are now able to do a lot of outdoor activities which are delighting kids’ soul.

In particular, we wanted to tell you about two special days which happened last month.

In order to celebrate the center’s birthday we decided to create a more interactive day than usual and we called it Portilor Deschise (Open Doors), as it involved the whole community of Panciu, from the city's authorities to all the children.

The volunteers, together with the local staff, worked very hard to make everything perfect and this hard work was rewarded by a huge satisfaction.

The activity which was most appreciated by the children was the face painting, done with great effort and commitment by our volunteers Sara and Manuel. Every request was successfully dealt and for this reason we found ourselves in a colorful atmosphere, made of hearts, flowers, ladybugs and superheroes...you’ll see the pictures!!!

We are delighted to let you know that the little ones had a lot of fun and in the meantime we took the opportunity to let the adults know better our work and to offer more visibility of what happens daily here in the Center Pinocchio.

The other remarkable event was the long awaited trip, made possible by all the kind donations of the last period. Destination Galati, 100km from Panciu: wake up at dawn, all the children on time and full of energy. With a huge quantity of sandwiches for our lunch, off we go. The trip, despite all the bus sicknesses, runs smoothly. First we visit the zoo and then the aquarium. All the kids are enthusiastic, some of them seem disappointed by the lack of elephants and giraffes but as soon as they see the giant park full of games and exercise equipment, all the disappointment disappears.

During the trip back home, the long day has its effects on children and all of a sudden a deep sleep hits them like a domino effect.

We are thankful we had this opportunity and we hope we will make other trips soon because for the kids it means a lot to be able to see something outside the reality of Panciu.

Thank you very much from the bottom of our heart, see you soon!!