Second week in Romania; program with Ukrainian refugees

4 augustus 2022 - Zwolle, Nederland

Here is the last update about my trip to Romania. A little bit later then planned because of a cold with fever after coming home. But I still would like to share about my last days in Romania.

As I told in the last blog it was a difference to life with 35 people on a house or with 5 people. It was quiet in the house but not boring.

Morning morning, Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning we had program for refugees from the Ukrain. Most of the refugees are mothers with kids because the dads have to stay in the Ukrain. Monday and Tuesday morning with did program at the community centre. Most of the kids were playing inside of outside and I did some crafting with some kids. The crafting activity of Monday was making make bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. Some kids were done after making one thing and others they couldn't stop. There was one girl she also wanted to continue after lunch and Tuesday her mom also asked for making bracelets and also on Thursday, she asked for it. Yesterday I got a message that the girl continued with what I taught her and that she had asked for me two times. That was great to hear. During the activity it was nice to see how kids found ways to ask for help even though we didn’t spoke the same language. After crafting we had lunch together and then the people left.

Monday afternoon I had a quiet afternoon. I did a bit of cleaning and afterwards I was sitting outside with a book enjoying the weather. In the evening I started to prepare a creative activity for the next day. While I was preparing one of the Ukrainian kids who lives in the community centre helped me. The activity was to make flags which we could put together and hang up in the community centre. The girl had 4 ladybug stickers on her flag: 2 big ones and 2 small ones. She pointed to the big ones and said, papa, mama. And by the small ones she said her own name and the name of her sister. I was touched when she said it because at that moment, I realized that her dad is still in the Ukrain and that she probably misses him very much.

The next day all the crafting stuff was laying at the table in the centre and the kids could make their own flag. While they were crafting, I was peeling potatoes in the kitchen. When I came back to the table the kids, they had cleaned up everything and, on a shelf, I found 16 beautiful, decorated flags. I have put them together on a rope and hang it up in the centre. My goal was to make them feel a bit more home in the centre because of their own crafted decoration.

Wednesday morning, we went to Dracula Park. It’s a park with different animals, like; horses, goats, deer, peacock, rabbits, camel and more. It was great to see the families enjoying being there, having fun together and to see them laughing. I enjoyed seeing that. After eating ice cream/cake in the restaurant at the park we went back to the centre to eat lunch.

Later in the afternoon I walked to the house of Liviu and Elena to have dinner at their place. I said that I still knew the way to their house, but I took the old way what made that I got stopped because of a wall. So, I took another way which I honestly never took before. Anyway, now I am sure that I know the way to their house ;) We have had a good time together, nice talks and delicious food. After dinner we went back to the center because we had a movie night with the youth group. First there was time to talk and to play table soccer. Later we build an outside cinema in the backyard, and we watched a movie. I really love outside cinemas when it’s getting more and more dark.

Thursday morning I went with two friends to Sighisoara. We went to a coffee bar and we had good talks. We also had a talk about faith and a Dutch guy came to our table and asked quite a bit of questions about how we know that God is a "He" and about the old and new testament and about the connection between the Bible and the Koran and more. But he had to stop the talk because of his yelling kid. It was an interesting talk but I to short in a way. I wonder why he had the questions he had and also if he was a Christian. Afterwards we walked a bit through the city centre, we went to a souvenir shop and then we went to a restaurant for lunch. I really enjoyed the time together and the talks we had. I think we have had a precious time together.

In the evening there was a movie night with the refugees from the Ukrain. I was a bit surprised because mostly a movie night is something that kids really like. Now I saw quite a bit of kids playing around without having attention for the movie. Some of the mothers and kids they watched the whole movie. Probably/hopefully the message of the movie was helpful for them.  

Friday morning it was time for me to pack all my stuff and to book a hotel in Cluj-Napoca for spending the night there. And like always it was hard to say goodbye. I just love being in Romania, it always feels like coming home. I loved to do kids programs and the other things we have done during the time in Romania. But I also know it is good to go back to The Netherlands. Hopefully next year I can go back to Romania.

This was the last update. Hopefully you enjoyed reading the updates. Thank for reading and be blessed!

Foto’s