Roma Camp! One last time BABY!

Last year I had my first real experience working with roma children in the small town of Minjir when we put on a summer camp for them! That experience deeply impacted me, and solidified my role as a Roma advocate for the rest of my life. This year I had one more opportunity to do the same with another one of my partner organizations "Ograda Noastra" and my fellow RISE members: Josh Boissevain, Kim Davis, Ryne Peterson, and Holly Walker.

Last week I got to work along side one of my most favorite colleagues Ruslan Stanga on a Roma camp. We had about 18 children from the village Zinernesti in Cahul! Our two days in the woods were filled with society building activities such as communication training through social theater and civic education through camp elections! Our days were also filled with plenty of fun games, bonding and arm tattoos! Scorpions, roses and dragons were particular favorites!

It always shocks me how far classic games like "Steal the bacon" and a good "ol" water balloon toss will go with kids no matter where you are in the world!

But my favorite part was definitely our section on teaching children how to show non-verbal communication through film (something I have gotten quite accustomed to over these past two years of film ahem! :P) It was wonderful to be able to play back their scenes and see their reactions to their work, they were fascinated!

And after every single day I was exhausted, barely able to lift my glass to celebrate our teams awesome successes, I was pretty sleep deprived, and being on the road takes a toll on you, ( I hadn't been home for a whole week!). I was actually just wearing "loot me" clothes by that point (loot me is a section in our Peace Corps lounge where PCVs can leave/donate clothes for other PCVs to take) and shoes that were killing me for days! But the team pulled together, Ryan let me wear his sandals most of the time, I was really broke at the time and wasn't able to purchase any shoes of my own (long story didn't prepare to well for this trip down south AGAIN! LIFE ON THE ROAD). Thanks RYAN!

BUT that's the theme of my Peace Corps service: stress, discomfort, not enough sleep and then ultimate satisfying gratification and joy!I had an amazing time! So this is how my final days in Moldova are winding down with my colleagues and friends next to me, doing the work I love to do, RISE work! I couldn't ask for a better way to spend my summer!

What I will remember about "Roma Boots"

RISE's "Roma Boots" drop will forever be in my memories as one of the best things I have done thus far in my Peace Corps service.

Over 40 children were given rain boots to shield their feet from the harsh mud and snow that often prevents them from attending school.

There are many things about this event I can write about. I could write about the long absurd bureaucratic process and hidden fees my partners and I had to endure to get our boots through customs. I could write about crying because the clock was ticking and we couldn't get a health clearance for the boots. Or I could tell you about being stuck at the border for 6+ hours, coordinating separate individuals to meet each other in Romania to pick up our boots from Moldova with no money in my pocket to call but, figuring it out anyway. I could tell you about the RISE members' hard work taking inventory, bagging and taging all 200 pairs of boots, and then sitting outside forever trying to transport them back to Peace Corps! I could complain about the stress, the time, the people, the endless emails and the STAMPS!

Tarna Rom, helping us complete the paper work necessary for customs

But no, what I want to share with you is this:

On July 9th, 2011, Peace Corps volunteers and Samual Bistrian, "Roma Boots" founder, spent their time and money to go into a village they had never heard of before, to give out dearly needed supplies to impoverished Moldovan children.

Without much rehearsal or direction, these volunteers organized themselves, led a wonderful presentation about self empowerment, fitted and gave away boots to children in a tiny room, on a very hot day. They began to work in unison, with care and smiles.

And when all the papers were signed and the last pair of boots was given away, I looked around at all of the RISE members, and remembered Samuel's words about overcoming hardship. My final thought, "Thank you, this is why I joined the Peace Corps."

We took a last tour of Schinoasa with the local children as they played with us (and continued to try to get us wet! lol) and eventually said good bye to our newly made friends feeling that

on that day, we did something amazing!

This event was made possible by all the things I mentioned before, but more importantly, it was remarkable because it was truly a work of love, compassion and our deep commitment to spread peace and friendship. For many of us the embodiment of why we go across the world to help others is rarely something we can see, but our trip to Schinoasa was just that.

So what I will remember about our boot drop is deep wrinkles being formed by wide smiles on the faces of some of Moldova's most impoverished people. Watching children looking into their Roma boot bags, and admiring their shiny new boots with glistening eyes . Long hugs, endless thank you's, smiles filled with gratitude, an older women telling me "thank you for not forgetting us", my fellow volunteers who made me proud to serve my country along side them, and Samuel, who allowed us to participate in his dream.

What a truly memorable day!

Visit Samuel's ogranization's webpage here: http://www.romaprovisions.com/

Sam and I, "Roma Boots, giving poverty the boot!"

It's Computer Time!

After working hard on writing a grant and experiencing some Moldovan bureaucracy, we finally got 4 brand new computers for Brindusa!!!

Now these vulnerable children will be able to learn the vital technical skills they will surely need in the future.

Computer lessons, games, and trainings have begun!! And next week we will have a computer week full of fun computer activities to get the kids excited about technology!!! :D :D Will post pics!

Super excited for the future of my center Brindusa!

Food for our friends in need...

After meeting the flood victims of Codru Morii, help came in the form of food and shoes!

Being able to assist in the distribution of food to 34 displaced Moldovan families was one of the most memorable expeiences I've had here in Moldova.

Me handing out shoes to the children of Codru Morii.

We made a nice assembly line of food and handed out canned goods, fresh veggies and fruit, we were even able to hand out some frozen chickens as well!

The gratitude and happiness felt by everyone was overwhelming and emotional, we were officially adopted by all the "bobas" from that point on.

The food drops continued for the rest of spring until our friends were able to move into their brand new houses built for them by the government. I hope we will meet again.

Brindusa is Heard in L.A.! News update from my center

Some of the amazing Brindusa Staff

Our year has been full of amazing people helping us reach our goals as educators and to provide love to our children here at our center. Even after all this we know there is still lots of work to do to bring our center up to speed with all we wish to do for our children.

Our play room continues to lack several things, our book shelves are falling apart, our walls need repairs and we would like to create a parent/child conference area for our parenting meetings.

So once again the Brindusa team and their Peace Corps volunteer (ME! :D) came together and asked themselves how can we repair our children’s room? They decided to take one of their strengths, arts and crafts, and make it into a fundraiser to reach their goals. We were going to create handmade greeting cards and sell them!

We all agreed that these beautiful cards could create more revenue for the center if we sold them abroad, hence Marlene Lopez reached out to her sister in Los Angeles Hiliana Lopez, and asked her for help.

Hiliana Lopez

Hiliana and several other people came together and decided they wanted to hold a fund raiser for the center and sell the cards there! With the help of Marlene’s family, sister and best friend Mercedes Vega, the Lopez family held a fun filled event at Mel’s Bar in Los Angeles with the slogan “Help the children of Moldova”.

Mel was kind enough to allow this event to happen there for free! The night was full of raffles, sales, dancing, and even popcorn!

The staff’s greeting cards were extremely popular, one attendee stated about the cards:“I regret not getting more! I have my card displayed at work at my desk and my co-workers asked if there were any more?! Bring some back to sell if you can! : D”

The night was a complete success and now the Brindusa center will be able to begin the repairs in their children’s room!

We thank everyone who made this event happen from the bottom of our hearts! You have truly helped the children of Moldova!