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Report from Vice-President Challenge Camp Romania 2005
I would like to start this years report with a big thank you for the members of the charity “Romanian Challenge Camp” committee for their trust to name me as Camp Chief of the 2005 Zamostea Camp.
For me it was a big honour, but at the same time it increased the responsibility I had this year in organising the camp and making sure everything was ok. I know that I have made mistakes, but not because I wanted to, but because of not having enough experience or because I didn’t realise there was another way to resolve a problem. I want to apologise that this year I had to miss a few days from the campsite to attend a funeral in my family, but the rest of the team managed to do a great job. Thank you very much for understanding. If I was a bit stressed out it was because after a week of the camp I had the final exam for graduation for university. I hope I wasn’t too serious and not smiling! I tried my best to please and to help any person who asked for my help!
This year once again we didn’t manage to bring on to the campsite children from orphanages, but I was pleased that I managed to organise a three-week camp for people with handicaps. I must say that we are the only charity from Suceava area taking them out of town and offering them a holiday! For them it is the only thing that they realise is going to happen again next year, a holiday with good meals and great activities and the main thing all the leaders affection is going to them! In the first week this year we went to Sasca hospital where 400 people are! I would like to thank once again the director for his support and hospitality shown to us during the week.
We organised for those people concerts, (thank you Smiler for your help, you were fantastic), disco, barbecue, games followed by rewards (bingo, ludo, football, dance competition). We visited them all every day in the rooms make and made them feel that there are people in this world who care a lot for them. On our last night we organised a concert for them where all the leaders, Romanian and English, sand for them and danced for them.
The director said that usually they are the ones who sing and dance for guests, but what we have done this year was for the first time and was a huge success! After that they danced for us, costumed in traditional clothing for that area, and we danced then with the rest of the people who attended the concert. A wonderful evening and I hope we will do this thing again and again because everybody enjoyed it! Thank you to all the people who gave us the chance to do that.
Back on the campsite, on, on Sunday afternoon the leaders organised the first day of Fun Day for children from the villages around the campsite. More than 100 children attended the party and had a great time in Zamostea camp. Sweets and gifts were given to them. I couldn’t attend the party because I was in Suceava resolving some of the charity problems but I heard it was great. Thank you to leaders who organised it.
In the second week of the camp a group of thirty people from Sasca came for a week on our campsite. Also thanks to three of the carers who helped us at Sasca. We went to the forest on the first ay and had a great afternoon, singing and playing games! Because of the weather (raining the rest of the week) we couldn’t do any more visits to the forest or to the river Siret, so we had the rest of the activities on the campsite in the main new building. Face painting, making Christmas cards, friendship bracelets, dance competitions, concerts, camp fire (a wonderful night) and a quick visit to the village for an ice-cream and sweets were things we did in this week.
We managed to keep the tents dry inside during all this rain and the cricket umbrellas kept us as dry as it was possible during our visits outside the building. We had a flag break every morning followed by a prayer to god to be with us. At the end of the week we had the second fun day for children from the village (thank you Paul Whitehead for the suggestion) and it was another successful activity on Zamostea campsite!
In the last week we had people from Siret hospital during the day. The first two days we went there, because of the rain, we couldn’t bring them on the campsite. We improvised some activities to make them feel loved and not forgotten. Then on Wednesday we brought them (about 35 each day) on to the campsite, and we had a great time together! They enjoyed the games and the food! We gave them all hospital blankets and clothing. For them this is the cherry on the cake! The nurses told me that after camp they are looking forward to the next one, and are talking almost all the time about it.
I hope that we will manage to organise next year another camp for them. And then as every year happens, on the last day we had a part with all the leaders involved. Thank you to those who organised it. The last day came and we had to say good-bye to the camp and to our friends from England. I was sad that the people who created this camp, Joyce and David Kennington could not attend, also to thank the rest of the team and the teams from the Casino Evenings. I wish to tell them that they helped to make it possible for the children and handicapped to have a great holiday! Thank You once again for the support (not only financial) and in the name of the people who were on the campsite I hope we make you feel how appreciated is your hard work in fundraising!
Best wishes to all and I hope we will meet again!
Helen Vladiuc, Camp Chief and Vice President “Challenge Camp Romania”
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