Provide Summer Camps for 500 Youth in Transylvania

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!

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!