Hiya, thanks for checking out the Year 2 Blog at Pennington
Infant School!
This final Romania adventure update has been very long
coming due to poor internet connections, busy teaching schedules and trying to
locate photographs from various members of the team!
All that aside here is the blog, enjoy! Well what an
incredible week this has been! It really has been life changing, I take back
everything I said in yesterday’s blog - yes the town itself isn't “poor” by the
standard I was expecting but once we had visited the Roma community I was
humbled.
The children we have attending us live in conditions that
make my shed at home look appealing. In fact they are quiet similar except my
shed is slightly more insulated and lacks an outside toilet! The children are
always happy, always pleased with what they have which is just so little! We
visited some of the children’s homes, one family - Argentina and Tamara’s house was
lovely, a small well kept clean area
around 30ft square with 3 shed like buildings with an extra layer of insulation
for warmth. This family is not supported by the church but are rewarded for
their hard work and self sustainability. They keep chickens and had the cutest
little puppy!
We visited a construction site where a 2 bed house is being
built by the British teams that are venturing out, however the family is
currently living in 2 shed like buildings linked by tarpaulin. It brought me to
tears, children living in states like this are so polite, kind and happy with
what they have which is so little compared to some of the children and the
societies that we have at home! Jumping back in time, here is how the rest of
the day went.
Earlier in the day: Our day began at 10 am, with the children
being picked up at brought to us, we then all climbed aboard the coach which
was paid for by Lion Hunt Ministries Church in Merley, Wimborne (THANKS!) we
then ventured off to the Bear sanctuary.
Upon arriving at the sanctuary and having some lovely sandwiches,
we ventured into the Bear sanctuary. We watched a short video in Romanian and
then in English explaining as to why the bears are there and where they were
from. 5 Minutes later we were on the back of a tractor pulled cart heading up
the side of the hill watching the bears in their very large enclosures.
After this and our wonder back around looking at the bears
we boarded the coach and journeyed back to Rasnov for a pizza! Well again the
children impressed me, sitting quietly and talking to each other with their
food in-front of them baring in mind they had only had a sandwich earlier in
the day. The children had 2 large slices each and a bottle of pop, we said
grace and then they tucked in. However the older children with younger brothers
or sisters only ate their first slice and would then wait and offer the second piece
to their younger sibling. After first seeing Tamara do this, I observed the
other siblings and it was the same! We cut up any pizza that was left and kept
passing it around until all the children were full. Singing, chatting and
enjoying ourselves for the next hour whilst our tables were cleared we then
climbed into the mini-bus and dropped the children back to their houses before
we as a team went to visit the community.
Saturday
We had a lovely “half” day teaching which started at 10
which was meant to end at 1 but instead we finished around 3. Water fights,
bon-fires and arts and crafts, what an exciting day. We were meant to share the
experience with the children’s parents but due to lack of transport the parents
were unable to attend. Finally it was time for farewells and thank you to all
the children for coming and touching our lives, hoping we had done something
similar in return!
As a team we celebrated the week by venturing to Brasov
which is a large town or a small city just 10miles away. After a delicious
dinner and a heavy down poor of rain we headed back to pack, enjoy a Alex’s hot
chocolate heart attack special (4-5 chocolate bars, full fat milk, nesquik
cereal, nesquik milkshake and a sprinkling of hot cocoa powder all melted
together) before climbing into bed.
Sunday morning -
breakfast followed by saying goodbyes to Aurel, Helena, Ana and Livui before
jumping in the mini-bus for the 3 hour drive back to Bucharest airport. Being
caught in traffic for 2 hours, made the trip slightly more exciting! We arrived
back around midnight Sunday.
Thanks for reading and showing your amazing support, I hope
from reading today’s entrance you are able to understand the message I was
trying to get across, but i had no idea that this trip would alter my
perceptions or values but I believe it has and will continue to in the future.
The countdown until next year’s trip begins now.
Thanks,
Alex.
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