We are now into the full swing of our after-school program here with the kids, and we’d like to share some more about us:
We are now 12 workers from Moldova, Romania, the United States and Ukraine.
We work with around 60 children weekly.
We provide game time outside and inside in our two game rooms; we play soccer, volleyball, and badminton. We also have jump ropes, card games, books to read, cars, Legos and a lot of stuffed animals!
We have a computer room with three computers on which the children are able to play based on their behavior.
We have begun a hygiene program to ensure the physical needs of our children are met. A generous donation has provided us with a washing machine that we are able to use here at the school.
Another generous donation was made to buy a ping-pong table. We are excited to be able to offer the adolescents who come to our program an engaging sport as up until now we were lacking age-appropriate games and activities.
We have begun guitar and English lessons with some of our children.
Six of our children receive homework help.
We weekly cover the following topics with our children: moral-spiritual education, art, social skills and nature discovery.
Our theme for this year is “Listening;” we will be working all year on this.
We are now creating and planning to sell handmade greeting cards and cloth purses, makeup bags and telephone cases made by the adolescents. We hope that this will serve as a form of advocacy as well as generate some local income for our organization.
Another form of advocacy that we are continuing this year is our magazine, Childhood’s Echo. Childhood’s Echo is published three times a year, and we hope to increase its distribution this year so that more of the people of Chisinau have the opportunity to see the gifts that are these precious children.
We look forward to sharing photos with you in the near future of what the children are creating!