ADVIT Moldova experience report by: Ingrid van der Heijden, The Netherlands

“Bine at venit!” echoed though the Charity Centre for Refugees in Chisinau on the 8th of May 2010. The sign to start the day was given and “Ziua copiilor” (Children’s Day) had officially started. After a short presentation of the day, given by Alf and Chris, two international volunteers, the 141 exited children could start to discover what was waiting for them. Some of them knew immediately were they wanted to go to, while others looked doubtfully around for a few minutes before they made a decision where to start.

Only a little later all the children managed to make a decision between activities such as football, making bracelets, twister, limbo dancing, face painting, making windmills, origami, dance workshops, juggling and the big bouncy castle. Between all these activities there was special guest “Clown Jozef” walking around, ready to make the most amazing figures out of balloons for the children. “Ziua Copiilor” was initiated and organized by four EVS volunteers hosted by ADVIT Moldova. The activities were prepared and carried out by the 25 of ADVIT’s international volunteers.

The main purpose of this event was to gather children from the different organisations and institutions ADVIT sends volunteers too. These were; children of refugees, children from broken families, children from poor families, children with disabilities (both mental and physical) as well as children who are not with fewer opportunities. By involving all those children from different backgrounds in creative and outdoor activities, we wanted to make them aware of diversity.

During the afternoon the workshops of dancing, juggling and football were offered in two rounds, while the face painting and handicrafts activities were on-going. Also the bouncy castle was welcoming the children the children all though the afternoon, ready to be jumped on. While everybody was busy and concentrated on the activities, a surprise guest showed up during the day: the national TV station “Moldova 1″ came to make recordings for the evening news.

After a couple hours of having fun it was time to serve the lunch: 30 kg of Placinta and 45 litres of lemonade for all the children, parents and educators. While everybody was enjoying the food and drinks, there was another surprise for the children. The day ended in with a lottery in with some beautiful prices; stuffed animals in all sizes and shapes, footballs and other toys were won by some of the children. For the children who didn’t win, small presents were waiting for them on their way out.

When the last child was given a small price, a day of fun had really come to an end. All what was left was “La revedere”, before it was really time to end the event. With a smile on their faces, and balloons in the hand the children left the refugee centre to go home. In the end of the day we could look back on what turned out to be an exiting day for everybody involved; parents, children, educators and volunteers, all had enjoyed the day.