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CHALLENGE CAMP ROMANIA Vice-President's Report Firstly, I would like to say thank you to all who helped our charity to run the activities for orphanage children successfully. I know that without their financial support we could not manage to run our programmes. This year, in January, our charity donated $250 to the Blind School in Targu Frumos, Iasi (150 kilometre’s from Suceava) to buy equipment for their children to learn Braille at school. They didn't have any machine for them, the ones they used at that time belongs to the blind teacher. It was a big help and they are grateful for our help! In February I visited Gulliver orphanage, where there are 48 children with HIV and AIDS, every weekend. I found out that they wanted to organize, on the 1st of March, a party to celebrate the first day of spring! It is a traditional party in Romania! So our charity's committee decided to help them with some money to buy few things they really needed. I spoke with the director of the orphanage and she told me that they are desperate for a vacuum and a CD player! They had one, but because it was very old, had broken and could not be repaired. Also, we donated some money so they could buy some drinks and sweets for the children. Another charity from Romania gave, to every child, a bag of fruits and a pair of sunglasses which was a nice surprise for the kids! Of course the children were very pleased with the CD player! They themselves bought tapes and CD with music, so now they have the chance to hear it! They had at the end a disco party, which was a great success. Since then I volunteered to teach any of the children interested English on my Sundays off from university. I was surprised when 20 children wanted to learn. In March and April I came to England for the training weekend and to work with the charity. It was a good chance for me to see again the people who have been to Romania before, and also I had the chance to meet the new ones. We had a meeting where we talked about activities, which should be done in Zamostea camp 2002. Also, I was invited to speak about Romania and our camp activities to a Late Learning group in England in front of the members! It was a good chance for our charity to get known and to tell others what we do, and also to raise some money. I was also invited by the members of the Fun Casino Team to help at their casino night to deal games and to talk to people about Romania and our camp for children. It has been once again a real challenge for me to practice my English, and get to know a lot of people who have donated money to our charity Thank you again for all your help. Of course the casino team were very kind to me and patient with me when I made mistakes. They made me feel very welcome while I was so far away from home! Thank you very much! While I was in England I helped to clear jumble sales for recycling. I got a chance to visit a few friends of mine from another charity in Birmingham took me on a trip to Shakespeare's birthplace and museum that made my trip very exciting After I came back home I went to the West Romanian border, for the first time in my life, to help a truck from England carrying humanitarian aid, to get into Romania. It was a challenge because I had the chance to see how the legislation is, and how difficult it is for foreigners to manage with papers and all sort of things. When I got back home I went to Bucharest to wait in the airport for David Kennington, the founder director of our charity. He came here to sort some of the legal papers, which required his signature. Then when we had arrived back at my home I went back to the border to help Jean and Jock, who had arrived from England with the minibus. They came to bring some equipment for the camp. This time was easy for me because I knew what to do and where to go. While they were here we went to visit the blind school and Gulliver, and donate some games for the children. At the same tine I went to the Child Protection Department to get the permission for our charity to take the children in camp. I went to the orphanages to arrange with them the date when they were invited to come in camp. Some of the Romanian leaders this year received sponsorship. Also, in May was the interview for the Romanian leaders who will come on camp. At the interview there were about 24 people, but in reality on camp there were about 20. The interview and the written part gave us the chance to find out the reason they wish to come on camp, what are their abilities and their suggestions for activities. I think it was a good opportunity to meet them, and at the same time for them to meet us and to find out more details about camp. After that I went back to the university for my summer exams. While I was there I went several times to Gulliver orphanage, and I found out they need some support for children's day. In Romania, every year on the 1st of June we celebrate children. We donated them $100 for drinks, sweets, some videotapes and music tapes, which was a really great surprise for the children. I promised them that in October, when I come back to university, I will teach them English, a basic one, which I hope will be a great help for them in the future. They have some English people who visit them every year, so they will have the chance to understand what they say After university I went straight to camp, 3 days before the camp started. This gave me the chance to buy the food, some equipment for activities, to sort the papers for the police, to arrange the transport for children and to take the money out from the bank for all these jobs. Unfortunately, we had a lot of rain in camp this year! We needed to take the children, the little ones, from the tents and accommodate them in a room. It was difficult and not very healthy to put 30 children in one small room, boys and girls. Once again we realise the necessity for having a wet weather shelter on camp for children In the first week we had 80 children in camp from Suceava's town orphanage " The Hope", from neuropsycatrical hospital Sasca, and for the first time we had children aged from 3 to 6 years of age, from an orphanage with children with mental illness from Falticeni (20 miles away from Suceava). But because of the rain the little ones left the camp a day earlier! It was obvious to everybody how much these children were enjoying the camp, of course when it wasn't raining! The children from Suceava orphanage had the chance to go on a trip to the astrological museum, to the citadel, and had lunch at McDonalds. For them it was a very nice surprise. Also, later on they went in the forest where they played some games and had a hot snack in a nice restaurant in the forest. On the way back they bought for the rest of the children happy meals. Thank you very much to the Romanian leaders who donated the money and got the bus free of charge! Unfortunately, we didn't have a campfire because of the rain, so they spent the night dancing and talking with the English and Romanian leaders from camp. At the weekend I had to go to Bucharest to wait for another party of leaders from England and put them on the train to Suceava. The second week, on the Monday, we couldn't have adults from the neuropsycatrical hospital from Siret because of the rain; we could only have them on site for two days. We had about 50 adults aged from about 17 to 30 we had with them a few activities and we offered them a lunch and a disco. They came about 10am and left the camp about 6 pm. Because of the rain we couldn't have them on the other three days, but we went to the market and bought bananas for all of them, and then went to the orphanage where we organised some activities with them for about 4 hours. At the weekend I went with David Kennington to Bucharest with some of the leaders who left the camp, and also to meet the rest of the leaders from England! The third week was rain every day so we couldn't have any children at all on camp from Gura Humorului. The tents were wet, there was a lot of mud, and so it was impossible to bring children on camp. We organised 2 trips to this orphanage, bought sweets, fruits, brought games and we went to run the activities there. The children were sad because they couldn't be on camp, but were happy to see us and see that we hadn't forgotten them! It was a shame because we would have liked to have children on camp, to play with them and to offer them a real holiday At the weekend we held a fun day for the local children on Saturday, and on the Sunday the English and Romanian team visited the Blind school and took games for the blind purchased from Royal Institute for the Blind and then on to Guliver (The HIV unit) On the last week we had the chance to have 60 children from Falticeni orphanage for all the week. Also, for the first time this year we had a great campfire. We danced, sang, had sketches and had fun. At the end of the camp we had a meeting where we talked about camp, the problems we had, what we thought we should improve on next year, and of course our gratitude for all who worked hard in camp. To end I would like to say thank you to all who made this camp possible again and keep supporting our charity! Of course we had problems, but 1 think we managed to find solutions. In the name of the children, thank you very much, and we are hoping to have a good camp next year! Elena Vladiuc (Helen Vice President Challenge Camp Romania
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